Or to be done, is doom'd by thy decree,
That, if not executed first by thee,
Shall on my person be perform'd by me.

6 Away! with women weep, and leave me here, Fix'd, like a man, to die without a tear; Or save, or slay us both this present hour, "Tis all that fate has left within thy power!'

She said nor did her father fail to find,
In all she spoke, the greatness of her mind;
Yet thought she was not obstinate to die,
Nor deem'd the death she promised was so nigh.
Secure in this belief, he left the dame,

Resolved to spare her life, and save her shame ;
But that detested object to remove,

To wreak his vengeance, and to cure her love.
Intent on this, a secret order sign'd,

The death of Guiscard to his guards enjoin'd:
Strangling was chosen, and the night the time;
A mute revenge, and blind as was the crime :
His faithful heart, a bloody sacrifice,
Torn from his breast, to glut the tyrant's eyes,
Closed the severe command; for, slaves to pay,
What kings decree, the soldier must obey:
Waged against foes; and when the wars are o’er,
Fit only to maintain despotic power?
Dangerous to freedom, and desired alone
By kings who seek an arbitrary throne.
Such were these guards; as ready to have slain
The prince himself, allured with greater gain :
So was the charge perform'd with better will,
By men inured to blood and exercised in ill.

Now, though the sullen sire had eased his mind, The pomp of his revenge was yet behind,

A pomp prepared to grace the present he design'd,

A goblet rich with gems, and rough with gold,
Of depth and breadth the precious pledge to hold,
With cruel care he chose: the hollow part
Enclosed, the lid conceal'd, the lover's heart.
Then of his trusted mischiefs one he sent,
And bade him with these words the gift present:
• Thy father sends thee this, to cheer thy breast,
And glad thy sight with what thou lovest the best ;
As thou hast pleased his eyes, and joy'd his mind,
With what he loved the most of human kind.'

Ere this, the royal dame, who well had weigh'd
The consequence of what her sire had said,
Fix'd on her fate, against the expected hour
Procured the means to have it in her power:
For this, she had distill'd with early care
The juice of simples friendly to despair,
A magazine of death; and thus prepared,
Secure to die, the fatal message heard;

Then smiled severe; nor with a troubled look,
Or trembling hand, the funeral present took;
Ev'n kept her countenance, when the lid, removed,
Disclosed the heart unfortunately loved :

She needed not be told within whose breast

It lodged; the message had explain'd the rest.
Or not amazed, or hiding her surprise,

She sternly on the bearer fix'd her eyes;

Then thus Tell Tancred, on his daughter's part, The gold, though precious, equals not the heart: But he did well to give his best; and I,

Who wish'd a worthier urn, forgive his poverty!' At this, she curb'd a groan, that else had come, And, pausing, view'd the present in the tomb; Then to the heart adored devoutly glued

Her lips, and, raising it, her speech renew'd :

Ev'n from my day of birth to this, the bound
Of my unhappy being, I have found

My father's care and tenderness express'd,
But this last act of love excels the rest:
For this so dear a present, bear him back
The best return that I can live to make.'

The messenger despatch'd, again she view'd
The loved remaius, and, sighing, thus pursued:
Source of my life, and lord of my desires,
In whom I lived, with whom my soul expires;
Poor heart! no more the spring of vital heat,
Cursed be the hands that tore thee from thy seat!
The course is finish'd which thy fates decreed,
And thou from thy corporeal prison freed:
Soon hast thou reach'd the goal with mended pace,
A world of woes despatch'd in little space:
Forced by thy worth, thy foe, in death become
Thy friend, has lodged thee in a costly tomb.
There yet remain'd thy funeral exequies,
The weeping tribute of thy widow's eyes;
And those indulgent Heaven has found the way
That I before my death have leave to pay.
My father ev'n in cruelty is kind,

Or Heaven has turn'd the malice of his mind
To better uses than his hate design'd,

And made the insult which in his gift appears
The means to mourn thee with my pious tears
Which I will pay thee down before I go,
And save myself the pains to weep below,

If souls can weep; though once I meant to meet
My fate with face unmoved, and eyes unwet:
Yet since I have thee here in narrow room,

My tears shall set thee first afloat within thy tomb :

Then (as I know thy spirit hovers nigh)
Under thy friendly conduct will I fly

To regions unexplored, secure to share
Thy state; nor hell shall punishment appear;
And heaven is double heaven if thou art there!'
She said her brim-full eyes, that ready stood,
And only wanted will to weep a flood,
Released their watery store, and pour'd amain,
Like clouds low hung, a sober shower of rain ;
Mute solemn sorrow, free from female noise,
Such as the majesty of grief destroys:
For, bending o'er the cup, the tears she shed
Seem'd by the posture to discharge her head,
O'er-fill'd before; and oft (her mouth applied
To the cold heart) she kiss'd 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 inquired the occasion of her grief
(Unanswer'd but by sighs), and offer'd 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 perform'd the ceremonial part,
The decencies of grief: it rests behind,
That, as our bodies were, our souls be join'd:
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 brew'd the deadly draught:
First pouring out the medicinable 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 further word she spoke, but closed her sight, And, quiet, sought the covert of the night.

The damsels, who the while in silence mourn'd, Not knowing, nor suspecting, death suborn'd; Yet, as their duty was, to Tancred sent, Who, conscious of the occasion, fear'd the event. Alarm'd, 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 seal'd, 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 design'd? Yet if thou hast remaining in thy heart Some sense of love, some unextinguish'd part Of former kindness, largely once profess'd, Let me by that adjure thy harden'd breast Not to deny thy daughter's last request. The secret love, which I so long enjoy'd, And still conceal'd, to gratify thy pride,

Thou hast disjoin'd; 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 convey'd ;