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Page:The Amyntas of Tasso (1770) - Percival Stockdale.djvu/59

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AMYNTAS.
27
And in sweet accent murmured certain verses;
But murmured them so low I could not hear them.
Astonishing effect! immediately,
The pain, and bite that caused it, were removed;
Whether by virtue of the magick words,
Or rather, as I ween, by Sylvia's lips,
Whose touch, with more than Esculapian power,
Must balsam give to body, and to soul.
I, who till then no higher bliss desired
Than to enjoy the golden privilege
Of viewing the mild lustre of her eyes,
Or hearing the sweet musick of her tongue,
Far sweeter than the murmuring rivulet,
Whose gliding stream the pebbles gently break;
More soothing than the breath of vernal Zephyr,
In whisper stealing through the trembling leaves:
———I from that moment felt a new desire,
Wishing that Sylvia's lips, and mine might meet:
And on a sudden, from a rustic boy,
Grown to a politician (strange! how love

Whets