“No strong or eager wish to wake the will,
“ Life will appear to stagnate and be still,
“ As now with me it slumbers; O! rejoice
“ That I attend not to that pleading voice;
“ So will new hopes this troubled dream succe

cceed, “ And one will gladly hear my Rupert plead.”

Ask you, while thus I could the youth deny
Was I unmoved ?-Inexorable I,
Fix'd and determined: thrice he made his prayer,
With looks of sadness first, and then despair ;
Thrice doom'd to bear refusal, not exempt,
At the last effort, from a slight contempt.

Did his distress, his pains, your joy excite?-
No; but I fear'd his perseverance might.
Was there no danger in the moon's soft rays,
To hear the handsome stripling's earnest praise ?
Was there no fear that while

my

words The eager youth, I might myself be moved? Not for his sake alone I cried persist No more, and with a frown the cause dismiss'd.

reproved

Seek you th' event ?-I scarcely need reply,
Love, unreturn'd, will languish, pine, and die:

We lived awhile in friendship, and with joy
I saw depart in peace the amorous boy.

We met some ten years after, and he then
Was married, and as cool as married men;
He talk'd of war and taxes, trade and farms,
And thought no more of me, or of my

charms.

We spoke; and when, alluding to the past,
Something of meaning in my look I cast,
He, who could never thought or wish disguise,
Look'd in my face with trouble and surprise ;
To kill reserve, I seized his arm, and cried,
“ Know me, my lord !" when laughing, he replied,
Wonder'd again, and look'd upon my face,
And seem'd unwilling marks of time to trace;
But soon I brought him fairly to confess,
That boys in love judge ill of happiness.

Love had his day-to graver subjects led,
My will is govern'd, and my mind is fed ;
And to more vacant bosoms I resign
The hopes and fears that once affected mine.

TALES OF THE HALL.

BOOK XII.

The Rector at the Hall-Why absent-He relates the Story of

Sir Owen—His Marriage Death of his Lady—His Mind acquires new Energy–His Passions awake His Taste and Sensibility—Admires a Lady-Camilla—Her Purpose—Sir Owen's Disappointment—His Spirit of Revenge—How gratified—The Dilemma of Love-An Example of Forgiveness—Its Effect.