 | The triumph of music |  |
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The vocal talents, that his guests attain'd;
Had yet a tender suavity of song;
And his rich voice, pathetically strong,
Made an immediate passage to the soul
By sensibility's supreme controul.
Its tones announc'd a heart, with virtues fill'd,
Fervent by nature! by misfortune chill'd!
His notes in soft Venusia's breast excite
The deep sensations of a sad delight:
She lov'd him as a child; and long'd to shew
Her filial eagerness to soothe his woe.
Lucilio prais'd her sympathy; his mind,
Vers'd in the wide afflictions of mankind,
Perceiv'd, with pain, a length of mental strife
Had fill'd Manfredi with disgust of life.
He, with his lovely partner, wish'd to mend
The gloomy spirits of their guardian friend.
The quick Venusia hasten'd to prepare
A letter, fraught with kind and anxious care,
In which her soft persuasive spirit tries,
Whate'er her grateful pity can devise,
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And lull his dark inquietude to rest.
“He mourns a child; and she has lost a sire;
These losses to supply, let both conspire!
Finding in him a guardian father's heart;
She begs for leave to fill a daughter's part:
Panting, with hope, to see his grief beguil'd
By fresh endearments, from the fondest child,
That e'er adoption to a parent gave,
His lonely life from ling'ring pangs to save;
And much of sorrow, that she long has prov'd,
Will from her lighten'd spirit be remov'd,
If a paternal benediction, shed
Daily by him, on his Venusia's head,
May one lost comfort of her youth replace,
A tender, sacred, fatherly embrace!”
| The triumph of music | |