Poems (Sewell)/To M. G. Lewis, Esq.

by Mary Young Sewell

To M. G. LEWIS, Esq. ON READING HIS TRAGEDY OF ALFONSO. 1803.

Sweet Muse! and hast thou found the honour'd way,Where holy Truth bestows her golden ray?Tho' clouds appear, and Terror's dreadful stormRends the fair drap'ry from thy beauteous form;Tho' freezing Sorrow proves thy mournful choice,Enraptur'd Virtue listens to thy voice.— Ah! surely, then, she view'd her future care,When melting Mercy form'd the "Orphan's Pray'r,"And hapless Jane, Misfortune's darling childFrom broken Mem'ry snatch'd her sorrows wild.—Ne'er let a weed disgrace those precious flow'rs,Whilst faithful Truth records thy tragic pow'rs.—Fair filial Duty, with each soften'd grace,In mild Angela's form^[1] we fondly trace,And deck the shadowy form with pow'rs anew,Which charm'd to agony her conscious view.Distracted Guilt, the partner of Despair!By Horror's torch, beheld the Spectre there;And felt, while Conscience still inflam'd the dart,The pow'rs of Vengeance at his murd'rous heart! —Alfonso! There we view the stately tow'r,Which nobly stands amid the whirlwind's pow'r!One luxury still the hapless monarch knows,A Friend restor'd, amidst a thousand foes!—In spite of wrongs, the great Orsino lives,And where Revenge wou'd strike—his soul forgives.—Oh! is there one who coldly there can gaze?I ask not—claim not—wish not for his praise:I seek not (vain attempt!) the pow'rs of art,To melt the critic ice that chills his heart.

Oh, Lewis! still may gen'rous zeal refine,And Nature's noblest feelings glow in thine!True mayst thou prove to bright Religion's laws,And teach ev'n Passion to promote her cause!

1. Angela in the Castle Spectre.