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The Works of John Sheffield

Earl of Mulgrave, Marquis of Normanby, and Duke of Buckingham. In two volumes ... The third edition, Corrected
  
  
  
  
  

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ELEGY TO THE Duchess of R*****.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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ELEGY TO THE Duchess of R*****.

Thou lovely Slave to a rude Husband's Will,
By Nature us'd so well, by him so ill!
For all that Grief we see your Mind endure,
Your Glass presents you with a pleasing Cure.
Those Maids you envy for their happier State,
To have your Form, would gladly have your Fate;
And of like Slavery each Wife complains,
Without such Beauty's Help to bear her Chains.
Husbands like Him we ev'ry-where may see;
But where can we behold a Wife like Thee?
While to a Tyrant you by Fate are ty'd,
By Love you tyrannize o'er all beside:

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Those Eyes, tho' weeping, can no Pity move;
Worthy our Grief! More worthy of our Love!
You, while so fair (do Fortune what she please)
Can be no more in Pain, than we at Ease:
Unless, unsatisfied with all our Vows,
Your vain Ambition so unbounded grows,
That you repine a Husband should escape
Th'united Force of such a Face and Shape.
If so, alas! for all those charming Pow'rs,
Your Case is just as desperate as ours.
Expect that Birds should only sing to you,
And, as you walk, that ev'ry Tree should bow;
Expect those Statues, as you pass, should burn;
And that with Wonder Men should Statues turn;
Such Beauty is enough to give Things Life,
But not to make a Husband love his Wife:
A Husband, worse than Statues, or than Trees;
Colder than those, less sensible than these.
Then from so dull a Care your Thoughts remove,
And waste not Sighs you only owe to Love.

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'Tis Pity, Sighs from such a Breast should part,
Unless to ease some doubtful Lover's Heart;
Who dies because he must too justly prize
What yet the dull Possessor does despise.
Thus precious Jewels among Indians grow,
Who nor their Use, nor wondrous Value know;
But we for those bright Treasures tempt the Main,
And hazard Life for what the Fools disdain.