A Metrical History of England :: :: University of Virginia Library

A Metrical History of England

Or, Recollections, in Rhyme, Of some of the most prominent Features in our National Chronology, from the Landing of Julius Caesar to the Commencement of the Regency, in 1812. In Two Volumes ... By Thomas Dibdin

Dibdin, Thomas (1771-1841)

II.

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[I grieve, yet dare not shew my discontent]

[_]

The succeeding Stanzas, from the Ashmolean Museum, signed “Eliza Regina, upon Mount Zeurs departure,” may serve to show the state of Elizabeth's heart, and the strength of her passions at fifty-two, when, it is supposed, she entertained “an uncontrolable passion, which carried her very absurd lengths,” for the Duke of Anjou, between whom and herself a treaty of marriage had been nearly concluded. Civil and Military History of Great Britain.

I grieve, yet dare not shew my discontent;
I love, and yet am forced to seem to hate;

I dote, but dare not say I ever meant;
I seem stark mute, but inwardly do prate.
I am, and not,—I freeze, and am yet burned;
Since from myself my otherself I turned.

My care is like my shadow in the sun,
Follows me flying; flies when I pursue it;
Stands, and lies by me; does what I have done;
This too familiar care doth make me rue it.
No means I find to rid him from my breast,
Till by the end of things it be supprest.

Some gentler passion steals into my mind,
(For I am soft and made of melting snow);
Or be more cruel, love, or be more kind;
Let me, or float or sink, be high or low.
Or let me live with some more sweet content,
Or die, and so forget what love e'er meant.

She published a Comment on Plato: several Translations from Greek to Latin; part of Sallust into English; and many devotional Tracts, Letters, &c.