Hayley, William (1745-1820)

The Triumph of Music; a Poem: in Six Cantos ... by William Hayley

London

Printed by and for J. Seagrave; And Sold by T. Payne

1804

"The tender fair, whose heart is pity's throne, / With ease forgives all errors, but her own"

Good Heaven! must life, to purest hearts, remain
A quick vicissitude of joy and pain?
Must every fount of bliss be ting'd with grief?
Her infant, solitude's most sweet relief!
This baby-beauty, to Venusia grows
A source of pain, beyond a mother's throes.
The parent deem'd her child of sov'reign use,
To aid her to restore the lov'd recluse.
To him an invitation she addrest,
To visit Venusina on her breast;
The resolute recluse still urg'd his vow,
That could not such sweet intercourse allow;
Yet begg'd her nurse, (a servant of his own,
Whose long-tried sense and secrecy were known,)
Might to his chamber bring his little guest,
Some peaceful night, before he sunk to rest,
That he might, from society apart,
So bless the child, and fold it to his heart.
The tender parent, pleas'd with his desire,
Complied.--In all Manfredi could require,
Her grateful spirit was most quick to show
The fondest zeal to mitigate his woe.
The darling infant he devoutly kist;
With blessings then, scarce audible, dismist.
The nurse obedient, as she closed the door,
Hearing him kneel, in anguish, on the floor,
Sent instant aid; a good old priest serene,
The sole physician of this secret scene!
Who found his heart convuls'd, in nature's strife,
And throbbing with such pangs, as threaten'd life.
The child had raised, within his feeling brain,
Too keen remembrance of past grief, and pain,
That agoniz'd his soul.--Devotion's balm
Restor'd, by slow degrees, a patient calm;
Tho' all the powers of life appear'd deprest
By the convulsive torture of his breast,
And melancholy built her baleful sway
On stronger signs of premature decay.
Hence the good priest, with a benignant care,
Gently implores Venusia, to beware,
Lest her kind zeal may, unawares, inflame,
Grief, unextinguish'd in Manfredi's frame.
The tender fair, whose heart is pity's throne,
With ease forgives all errors, but her own,
Severe in self-reproach! she ponders still
How to compensate unintended ill,
And with the priest, good old Anselmo's, leave
To teach their mournful guardian less to grieve,
Within the spacious ante-room, that leads
To the dark chamber, where his grief he feeds,
The kind musicians breathe melodious prayers,
To soothe his troubled mind with pious airs.
Friendship and faith inspir'd the notes sublime,
With which Lucilio grac'd his monitory rhyme.

Government::Throne

Searching "throne" and "heart" in HDIS (Poetry)

Text from The Triumph of Music; a Poem: in Six Cantos (Printed by and for J. Seagrave; And Sold by T. Payne, 1804). <Link to Google Books>

08/07/2004