Mute solemn sorrow, free from female noise, Such as the majesty of grief destroys; For, bending o'er the cup, the tears she shed, Seemed by the posture to discharge her head, O'er-filled before; and (oft her mouth applied To the cold heart) she kissed at once, and cried. Her maids, who stood amazed, nor knew the cause Of her complaining, nor whose heart it was, Yet all due measures of her mourning kept, Did office at the dirge, and by infection wept, And oft enquired the occasion of her grief, (Unanswered but by sighs) and offered vain relief. At length, her stock of tears already shed, She wiped her eyes, she raised her drooping head, And thus pursued:--O ever faithful heart, I have performed the ceremonial part, The decencies of grief; it rests behind, That, as our bodies were, our souls be joined; To thy whate'er abode my shade convey, And, as an elder ghost, direct the way!-- She said; and bade the vial to be brought, Where she before had brewed the deadly draught; First pouring out the med'cinable bane, The heart, her tears had rinsed, she bathed again; Then down her throat the death securely throws, And quaffs a long oblivion of her woes. This done, she mounts the genial bed, and there (Her body first composed with honest care) Attends the welcome rest; her hands yet hold, Close to her heart, the monumental gold; Nor farther word she spoke, but closed her sight, And quiet sought the covert of the night. The damsels, who the while in silence mourned, Not knowing, nor suspecting death suborned, Yet, as their duty was, to Tancred sent, Who, conscious of the occasion, feared the event. Alarmed, and with presaging heart, he came, And drew the curtains, and exposed the dame To loathsome light; then, with a late relief, Made vain efforts to mitigate her grief. She, what she could, excluding day, her eyes Kept firmly sealed, and sternly thus replies:-- Tancred, restrain thy tears, unsought by me, And sorrow unavailing now to thee: Did ever man before afflict his mind, To see the effect of what himself designed? Yet if thou hast remaining in thy heart Some sense of love, some unextinguished part Of former kindness, largely once professed, } Let me by that adjure thy hardened breast, } Not to deny thy daughter's last request: } The secret love which I so long enjoyed, And still concealed, to gratify thy pride, Thou hast disjoined; but, with my dying breath, Seek not, I beg thee, to disjoin our death: Where'er his corpse by thy command is laid, Thither let mine in public be conveyed; Exposed in open view, and side by side, Acknowledged as a bridegroom and a bride.-- The prince's anguish hindered his reply; And she, who felt her fate approaching nigh, Seized the cold heart, and heaving to her breast,-- Here, precious pledge, she said, securely rest.-- These accents were her last; the creeping death