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On the Death of my Honoured Mother Mrs. Lee: A Dialogue between Lucinda and Marissa.

Lucinda.
1 WHat, my Marissa, has Lucinda done,
2 That thus her once lov'd Company you shun?
3 Why is't from her you thus unkindly fly,
4 From her, who for your Sake cou'd freely die?
5 Who knows no Joy but what your Sight does give,
6 And in your Heart alone desires to live?
7 I beg you by that Zeal I've shewn for you,
8 That Tenderness which is to Friendship due,
9 By those dear sacred Bonds our Souls have ty'd,
10 Those Bonds, which Death it self shall ne'er divide;
11 By what so e'er you love, or I can name,
12 To let me know from whence this wond'rous Strangeness came
13 Remember by your Vows you're wholly mine,
14 And I to you did all my Thoughts resign:
15 My Joy was yours, and yours was all my Grief,
16 In your lov'd Bosom still I sought Relief:
17 When you were chearful, I was truly blest,
18 And now your Sorrow deeply wounds my Breast:
19 I view it thro' the thin Disguise you wear,
20 And spite of all your Caution, all your Care,
21 Hear ev'ry rising Sigh, and view each falling Tear.
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Marissa.
22 Permit me, dear Lucinda to complain,
23 That your Unkindness do's augment my Pain:
24 How could you think that one who lov'd like me
25 Would ever let you share her Misery?
26 To see you mourn would bring me no Relief,
27 No, that would rather double all my Grief:
28 For Love's a Passion of the noblest kind,
29 And when 'tis seated in a gen'rous Mind,
30 'Twill be from mean Designs and Interest free,
31 Not interrupt a Friend's Felicity.
32 Had I been happy, with a smiling Face,
33 I long e'er now had run to your Embrace,
34 And in your Arms been eager to relate
35 The welcom Favours of propitious Fate:
36 But since ill Fortune do's me still pursue,
37 O let my Griefs remain unknown to you.
38 Free from sad Thoughts may you for ever live,
39 And all your Hours to Mirth and Pleasure give:
40 May no Concern for me your Peace molest;
41 O let me live a Stranger to your Breast:
42 No more, no more my worthless Name repeat,
43 Abandon me to this obscure Retreat;
44 Make haste from hence, my Sight will damp your Joy,
45 And the blest Calmness of your Soul destroy.
Lucinda.
46 Think not I'll leave you to your Griefs a Prey:
47 No! here with you I will for ever stay,
48 And weep with you my coming Hours away:
49 Return each Sigh, and ev'ry moving Groan,
50 And to repeating Echo's make my Moan,
51 And tell them how unkind my lov'd Marissa's grown.
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Marissa.
52 To banish all Suspicions from your Mind,
53 And that you may not think me still unkind,
54 I'll let you know the Cause that makes me mourn,
55 The Cause that does my Joy to Sorrow turn:
56 But oh! a Loss so vast, so vastly great,
57 Who can without a Flood of Tears repeat!
58 It much too strong for my Resolves does prove,
59 And do's my tend'rest, softest Passions move:
60 Disturbs the Peace, the Quiet of my Mind,
61 And for some Minutes makes me less resign'd:
62 I to my Reason willingly would yield,
63 But strugling Nature keeps by Force the Field;
64 Compel'd, I stoop to her imperious Sway,
65 And thus each hour, methinks, I hear her say,
66 Wretched Marissa! all thy Comfort's fled,
67 And all thy Joy with thy lov'd Mother dead:
68 A Mother, who with ev'ry Grace was blest,
69 With all the Ornaments of Virtue dress'd;
70 With whatsoe'er Religion recommends;
71 The best of Wives, of Mothers, and of Friends.
72 And should not such a Loss Complaints inspire?
73 Their Apathy let Stoicks still admire,
74 And strict Obedience to their Rules require:
75 And on morose, ill-natur'd, thoughtless Fools,
76 Impose the rigid Notions of their Schools:
77 Insensibility were here a Fault,
78 And 'tis a Doctrine which I never taught:
79 Tears are becoming, and a Tribute due
80 To one so worthy, and so dear to you.
81 By her thus urg'd, I gave my Sorrow way,
82 And did the Dictates of my Grief obey:
83 In this Recess, remote from Human Kind,
84 I thought I shou'd not Interruption find:
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85 Most mind themselves, the Absent are forgot;
86 And this had doubtless been Marissa's Lot,
87 Had not the kind Lucinda's tender Care
88 Sought out this close Asylum of Despair,
89 And brought her hither all my Woes to share.
Lucinda.
90 Such as have heard of good Philinda's Name,
91 Cannot with Justice sad Marissa blame:
92 A Mother's Loss, and such a Mother too,
93 Can't, my dear Friend, but be deplor'd by you.
94 All you cou'd wish she was; as Angels kind,
95 As Nature lib'ral, of a God-like Mind;
96 Steady as Fate, and constant in her Love;
97 One whom nor Wrongs, nor yet Affronts cou'd move
98 To mean Revenge, or a malicious Thought:
99 She liv'd those Truths her holy Faith had taught:
100 Joy cou'd not raise, nor Grief depress her Mind,
101 She still was calm, sedate, and still resign'd.
Marissa.
102 Yes, she was more, much more than you can name,
103 Cheerful, obliging, gen'rous, still the same:
104 The Good she prais'd, the Absent did defend,
105 And was to the Distrest a constant Friend:
106 Full of Compassion, and from Censure free,
107 And of a most extensive Charity:
108 With winning Sweetness she did still persuade,
109 And her Reproofs were prudently convey'd:
110 In softest Language she'd the Vicious blame,
111 And none e'er lov'd with a more ardent Flame:
112 Her Friends Concerns she kindly made her own,
113 For them her greatest Care, her chief Regard was shown:
114 At no Misfortune she did e'er repine,
115 But still submitted to the Will Divine:
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116 No discontented Thoughts disturb'd her Breast,
117 What ever happen'd, she still thought was best:
118 When her last Sickness came, that dire Disease
119 Which did on her with sudden Fury seize,
120 With utmost Rage the Fort of Life assail,
121 Resolv'd by racking Tortures to prevail;
122 O with what Patience did she bear her Pain,
123 And all th' Attacks of cruel Death sustain!
124 The dreadful Ill could not molest her Mind,
125 There she did still a happy Calmness find,
126 A well fixt Pleasure, a substantial Joy,
127 Serenity which nothing could destroy,
128 Sweet Antepast of what she finds above,
129 Where she's now blest with what she most did love;
130 That sov'reign Good which did her Soul inflame,
131 And whose Fruition was her utmost Aim;
132 And in whose Presence she do's now possess
133 A long desir'd, and endless Happiness.
Lucinda.
134 Since she from all the Pains of Life is free,
135 And in Possession of Felicity,
136 'Tis unbecoming such a Grief to show,
137 As can from nothing but ungovern'd Passion flow.
Marissa.
138 'Tis, I confess, a Fault; but who can part
139 From one she loves, without a bleeding Heart?
Lucinda.
140 'Tis hard, I own, but yet it may be done;
141 Such glorious Victories are sometimes won:
142 Time will at length the greatest Grief subdue,
143 And shall not Reason do the same for you?
144 Reason, which shou'd our Actions always guide,
145 And o'er our Words, and o'er our Thoughts preside:
146 Passions should never that ascendant gain,
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147 They were for Service made, and not to reign:
148 Yet do not think I your past Sorrow blame,
149 Were the Loss mine, sure, I shou'd do the same,
150 But having paid the Debt to Nature due,
151 No more the Dictates of my Grief pursue.
152 From that dark Grave where her lov'd Body lies,
153 Raise, my Marissa, your dejected Eyes,
154 And view her Soul ascending to the Skies,
155 By Angels guarded, who in charming Lays,
156 Sing as they mount, their great Creator's Praise;
157 And to celestial Seats their Charge convey,
158 To never ending Bliss, and never ending Day:
159 And is't not cruel, or at least unkind
160 To wish that she were still to Earth confin'd,
161 Still forc'd to bend beneath her Load of Clay?
162 Methinks I hear the glorious Vision say,
163 What is't, Marissa, makes you still complain,
164 Are you concern'd that I am void of Pain,
165 And wou'd you have me wretched once again?
166 Have me t'exchange this Bliss for Toil and Fear,
167 And all these Glories for a Life of Care?
168 Or is't th' Effect of a too fond Desire,
169 Do's Love, mistaken Love, these Thoughts inspire?
170 Is it my Absence you so much deplore,
171 And do you grieve because I'm yours no more,
172 Because with me you can no more Converse,
173 No more repeat your wrongs, or tell me your distress,
174 No more by my Advice your Actions steer,
175 And never more my kind Instructions hear?
176 If this do's cause your Grief, no more Complain;
177 'Twill not be long e'er we shall meet again;
178 Shall meet all Joy in these bright Realms of Love,
179 And never more the Pains of Absence prove:
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180 Till that blest Time, with decent Calmness wait,
181 And bear unmov'd the Pressures of your Fate.
Marissa.
182 Yes, my dear Friend, I your Advice will take,
183 Dry up my Tears, and these lov'd Shades forsake:
184 I can't resist, when Kindness leads the Way;
185 I'm wholly yours, and must your Call obey:
186 With you to hated Crouds and Noise I'll go,
187 And the best Proofs of my Affection show:
188 But where soe'er I am, my troubl'd Mind
189 Will still to my Philinda be confin'd;
190 Her Image is upon my Soul imprest,
191 She lives within, and governs in my Breast:
192 I'll strive to live those Virtues she has taught,
193 They shall employ my Pen, my Tongue, my Thought:
194 Where e'er I go, her Name my Theme shall prove,
195 And what soe'er I say, shall loudly speak my Love.

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Title (in Source Edition): On the Death of my Honoured Mother Mrs. Lee: A Dialogue between Lucinda and Marissa.
Author: Lady Mary Chudleigh
Themes:
Genres: occasional poem

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Chudleigh, Mary Lee, 1656-1710. Poems on several occasions. Together with the Song of the three children paraphras'd. By the Lady Chudleigh. London: Printed by W.B. for Bernard Lintott at the Middle Temple Gate in Fleetstreet, 1703, pp. 88-94. [16],125,[17],73,[1]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T97275) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 j.452].)

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Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.