ELEGY ON A YOUNG LADY. Ann Batten Cristall 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. T126557 Cristall, Ann Batten. Poetical Sketches by Ann Batten Cristall. London Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church Yard 1795 pp. 68-74. [14],187,[1]p.; 8⁰.

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ELEGY ON A YOUNG LADY . TRANSCENDENT beauty moulders 'midst the earth ! Exquisite tints fleet with the morning dews ! All nature teems with life , while blasting death Dissolves each form ; but time again renews , From the earth's fullness , fresh perpetual stores : But O! the individual soul to us is lost ! And unresign'd we weep , by passions tost , While 'mid the tuneful spheres in bliss it soars ! If there is harmony below ; — If ever melancholy , Touch'd by melody , Her blacken'd veil withdrew ; I'll strike the chords whence solemn numbers flow , And showers of softening tears shall ease my woe , Weeping the fairest flower that ever blew ! A flower , whose bloom , By grief untimely nipp'd , Was hurried to the tomb : The spirit , of mortal lustre stripp'd , Flew from its blighted frame below ; Her virgin virtues were exhal'd above , While o'er the corpse sad streams of bitter woe Delug'd the relick of our former love . My breast , a while your potent sighs restrain , And as I sing , Ye scatter'd notes of harmony Waft here on heavenly wing The spiritual maid again . O! let me catch a glimpse by fancy's ray And mentally behold the virgin fair , Who was from our embraces snatch'd away , A martyr to despair ! Seraphic , young , and free ! — She smil'd like morning op'ning on the heaven ! Bless'd And possess'd Of earth's felicity , To her 'twas given To solace human cares : Her eyes , like shooting stars , Glanc'd swift as vivid lightning through the frame ; Possess'd of virtuous passion , and belov'd , Pure , unalloy'd , strong burnt the scared flame . O bliss ! To what excess Dost thou delude the heart ! The ties most holy and most pure Cannot endure — We all must part ! — When , bitter tears , will your sad source be dry ? When through the mental world will concord shine ? Man is the wreck of man ; — the soul divine Passion uproots ! — For frail mortality I heave the potent sigh ! Lo ! unzon'd passions , brooking no controul , Transgressing Nature's laws , rush madly on , Wounding the sacred mansion of the soul , And unresign'd , in wild excess grow strong . With love's distracting smart , Which disappointments rash and desperate make , Lo ! JASPAR wild assails the virgin's heart , Whose constancy no energy can shake ; Though sweet his lays , as if the Muses sung , And Love's warm passion harmoniz'd his tongue . Repuls'd , his madden'd spirit knew no bounds , Fierce in despair , to vengeance swift he flies , And oft his rival's heart in fancy wounds , While unrein'd passion flashes from his eyes ; Wilder and wilder still resound his cries , By furies driven on To lengths before to him unknown , Till on his murd'rous sword his rival dies ! Ill-fated son of earth ! At thy dire birth Heaven fill'd thee as a horn with sad calamity , To scatter with thy breath Contagious sorrow round ; Till the dire fiend internal , fraught with death , Threw thy young glories down ! Sudden despair rush'd on the virgin's heart , All that was mortal yielded to the stroke ; Forth the pure spirit broke , Divided from its grosser earthly part , And wing'd with love seraphic mounts on high — O! flattering hope ! in immortality T' enjoy affections Nature tears away . All here on earth is subject to decay , And every day our lessening comforts fly . Mysterious Power ! To whose dread will I bend , And tremblingly adore ! Forgive the tears which suffering mortals shed : Aw'd by our loss , and sacred virtue's pangs , Stronger on future blessings we depend , And learn how weak the thread On which all human comfort hangs . Humbled by sorrow , low in earth I bend , And yield the spotless virgin to the skies ; Nor need revenge provoke the direful steel , For pierc'd by guilt the breathless culprit lies .