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Ideas at the interment of Mrs. Bedford, the wife of Doctor Nathaniel Bedford of Pittsburgh, July 9th, 1790.
Whether the spirit, doth survive
The body; and doth live,
In the Elysium of the Greeks,
Or Heaven of which the Christian speaks
I know not; but, if there be,
Such immortality to thee or me,
Fair shade; this thing call'd death,
And the mere stoping of the breath,
Not being to oblivion brought,
Is a light matter in the scale of thought,
And not the proper subject of a tear.
The body; and doth live,
In the Elysium of the Greeks,
Or Heaven of which the Christian speaks
I know not; but, if there be,
Such immortality to thee or me,
Fair shade; this thing call'd death,
And the mere stoping of the breath,
Not being to oblivion brought,
Is a light matter in the scale of thought,
And not the proper subject of a tear.
Why then such shape of Melancholy here,
And chrystal distillation of the eye?
Is it because the form that there doth lie,
Was passing pleasing in her life,
And none so fair and virtuous doth survive?
And chrystal distillation of the eye?
Is it because the form that there doth lie,
Was passing pleasing in her life,
And none so fair and virtuous doth survive?
Fair ladies, I will not say none;
Nor even with the dead induce comparison?
But this will say;
The soul that animated that same clay,
Was wise and Good,
With every excellence, endued,
That could the sex exalt:
Without a foible or a fault:
Nor even with the dead induce comparison?
But this will say;
The soul that animated that same clay,
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With every excellence, endued,
That could the sex exalt:
Without a foible or a fault:
Uncensur'd and uncensurable;
Her exit answerable:
For pure as Innocence and love,
She felt the will of Jove,
With proper fortitude complied
And like an unstain'd lily drop'd her head and died.
Her exit answerable:
For pure as Innocence and love,
She felt the will of Jove,
With proper fortitude complied
And like an unstain'd lily drop'd her head and died.
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