AMYNTAS.
153
But gentler, Love, is thy prolifick reign;
Of blooming children thine the sportive train;
By ruin Death extends his ruthless sway;
Thou givest, and he robs us of the day.
Thou partest, cruel foe to happy life,
The faithful husband, and the tender wife:
Cupid and Hymen, long, in vain, have shed
Their genial influence o'er an humble bed;
Smiled on their work, and seen the virtuous pair
Reap all the bliss mortality can share;
When, lo, thy hand the sacred tie destroys,
And puts a period to the purest joys:
Cold is the breast that burned with hallowed fire,
And never entertained a loose desire;
For ever mute is that persuasive tongue,
On which a strong, but artless rhetorick hung;
Dull are the eyes, that glistened oft with speech,
Which the tongue's narrow province could not reach;
Of blooming children thine the sportive train;
By ruin Death extends his ruthless sway;
Thou givest, and he robs us of the day.
Thou partest, cruel foe to happy life,
The faithful husband, and the tender wife:
Cupid and Hymen, long, in vain, have shed
Their genial influence o'er an humble bed;
Smiled on their work, and seen the virtuous pair
Reap all the bliss mortality can share;
When, lo, thy hand the sacred tie destroys,
And puts a period to the purest joys:
Cold is the breast that burned with hallowed fire,
And never entertained a loose desire;
For ever mute is that persuasive tongue,
On which a strong, but artless rhetorick hung;
Dull are the eyes, that glistened oft with speech,
Which the tongue's narrow province could not reach;
The
