BALLAD, FOUNDED ON FACT. Amelia Opie (née Alderson) Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Opie, Amelia Alderson, 1769-1853. The Warrior's Return, and Other Poems. By Mrs. Opie. 2d. ed. London Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, Paternoster-row 1808 pp. [83]-85.

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BALLAD , FOUNDED ON FACT . ROUND youthful Henry's restless bed His weeping friends and parents pressed ; But she who raised his languid head He loved far more than all the rest . Fond mutual love their bosoms fired ; And nearly dawned their bridal day , When every hope at once expired , For Henry on his death-bed lay . The fatal truth the sufferer read In weeping Lucy's downcast eye : " And must I , must I , then , " he said , " Ere thou art mine , my Lucy , die ! " No , ... deign to grant my last , last prayer ; 'T would soothe thy lover's parting breath , Wouldst thou with me to church repair , Ere yet I feel the stroke of death . " For trust me , love , I shall my life With something like to joy resign , If I but once may call thee wife , And , dying , claim and hail thee mine . " He ceased : and Lucy checked the thought That he might at the altar die , .... The prayer with such true love was fraught , How could she such a prayer deny ? They reached the church .... her cheek was wan With chilling fears of coming woe .... But triumph when the rites began Lent Henry's cheek a flattering glow . The nuptial knot was scarcely tied , When Henry's eye strange lustre fired , " She's mine ! she's mine ! " he faltering cried , And in that throb of joy expired .