 | The triumph of music |  |
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Thus to her favourite notes Lucilio sung,
Deriving from their trust in powers above
A blissful prospect of immortal love.
While, sav'd by his fond vigilance, the fair
Pour'd her full thanks for all his soothing care,
The hallow'd guard of their sequester'd scene,
As calm in peril, as in friendship keen,
Kind Theodore arrives, his charge to greet
With chearful tidings of a new retreat:
With gay benevolence his spirit glow'd;
And thus the fervour of his heart o'erflow'd:
“Now in calm rest may all your troubles close!
I come to speak of safety and repose:
We must no more, till time has cool'd his ire,
Attempt the reconcilement of your sire;
But, with Marcella, I a plan pursued
To foil his vengeance, and his wrath elude.
He thinks, that, finding supplication vain,
To soothe his anger, and his heart regain,
In fearful wishes not to wound him more,
You have resolv'd to quit Italia's shore;
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He deems you steering to the western world.
In this persuasion let his fury rest,
While I conduct you to a halcyon's nest!
A scene of wond'rous secrecy, it lies
Safe from the prying search of curious eyes;
And (strange to tell) the master of the spot,
Made a recluse by a disast'rous lot,
In this calm refuge, to the world unknown,
Has long allowed access to me alone.
A man he is of cultivated mind,
As truth unvarnish'd, and as nature kind;
'Twas his dire chance, tho' by no guilt defil'd,
To plunge in hasty death a darling child;
In his rash grief, in life's yet opening prime,
He vow'd to expiate an imagin'd crime,
By passing years, sequester'd in a glen
From social joys, and all the haunts of men.
I, as his confessor, his bosom see,
And all its secrets are consign'd to me;
With me alone he will admit discourse,
So deep, and yet so needless, his remorse;
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To pity all excess of tender thought.
A scene not far from Bergamo, but found
Before you enter on Venetian ground,
A scene most richly wild, and near the seat,
Where in his fav'rite shades of calm retreat,
Learn'd Leonardo, from the world apart,
Enjoy'd deep studies of his graceful art;
This scene, whose varied charms my praise transcend
Forms the sweet villa of my lonely friend:
His sacred sorrow keeps the spot serene;
For all revere its lord, tho' never seen.
Domestics, who have lov'd him from a child,
Grown old, yet active, in this flowery wild,
Here, with a tender awe, his passion aid
For solitude's inviolable shade.
Within a lodge, that near the mansion stands,
A faithful steward acts his lord's commands;
Comforts of neighbouring cottagers the grief,
Or chears the weary pilgrim with relief,
Opening to none that interdicted gate,
Which shields his master's solitary state.
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In gardens, guarded by a lofty wall,
Year after year, with such seclusion rests,
I and a brother are his only guests.
Haply my zeal for you has wak'd a thought,
With which Manfredi's friendly spirit fraught,
May help you to elude Donado's rage,
Till time and nature soothe his spleenful age,
Yet more!—Your talents, and your friendly zeal,
May crown the wish, that for my friend I feel;
And yet restore, ere gloomy dreams destroy,
His grief-endanger'd mind to social joy.
From this kind thought his fancy catches fire:
If he can shield Venusia from her sire,
His expiation he may deem fulfill'd,
For dire mischance, when he his darling kill'd.
On hearing all the story of your lives,
This hope, whence his pure heart new warmth derives,
Leads him by me, his proxy, to request,
Your refuge may be now the halcyon's nest;
For so he calls the calm, sequester'd scene,
Where first his stormy grief became serene;
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His hours of sorrowful existence share.
As in a feast, with festive ardour wild,
His undesigning hand destroy'd his child,
In his lone life no stated meal he makes,
But rudest viands, and at random, takes:
So wounded fancy, in a feeling mind,
Delights in torture, by itself assign'd;
But such bewilder'd minds no longer stray
By melancholy's dark depressive sway,
When friendly cares their selfish fears controul,
And active kindness reillumes the soul.
Already (blest be Heaven! so oft implor'd,
For this sweet omen of a friend restor'd!)
Manfredi, with benevolence alert,
Cheerfully conscious of your rare desert,
And anxious, that you never more may fear
Such hideous perils, as surpriz'd you here,
In his capacious all-excluding dome,
For you prepares a safe, and separate home.
From intercourse with him you must abstain;
All else is yours within his rich domain;
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And keep your secret residence secure.”
| The triumph of music | |