The Coquette - The History of Eliza Wharton by Hannah Webster Foster
page 17 of 212 (08%)
page 17 of 212 (08%)
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That leads the soul to virtue or to God.
O friend! O sister! to my bosom dear By every tie that binds the soul sincere; O, while I fondly dwell upon thy name, Why sinks my soul, unequal to the theme? But though unskilled thy various worth to praise, Accept my wishes, and excuse my lays. May all thy future days, like this, be gay, And love and fortune blend their kindest ray; Long in their various gifts mayst thou be blessed, And late ascend the realms of endless rest. Among her papers, also, after her decease, was found a pastoral on "Disappointment," which here follows, evidently written during her seclusion in Danvers, with this brief and pathetic letter in stenographic characters:-- "Must I die alone? Shall I never see you more? I know that you will come; but you will come too late. This is, I fear, my last ability. Tears fall so fast I know not how to write. Why did you leave me in such distress? But I will not reproach you. All that was dear I forsook for you, but do not regret it. May God forgive in both what was amiss. When I go from here, I will leave you some way to find me. If I die, will you come and drop a tear over my grave?" The poem, which continues in the same moving strain, is touching and tender, and betrays a heart full of refinement and sensibility. DISAPPOINTMENT. |
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