LOVE
ELEGY
.
BY
THE
SAME
.
AH
,
cruel
Delia
!
must
I
still
remain
In
anxious
doubt
?
will
nought
your
pity
move
?
Must
I
still
languish
?
must
I
still
complain
?
Still
are
you
deaf
to
every
plea
of
love
?
A
stranger
to
the
odious
wiles
of
art
,
The
coxcomb's
chatter
,
and
the
beau's
grimace
,
I
spoke
the
honest
dictates
of
my
heart
,
Nor
mask'd
deceit
beneath
the
lover's
face
:
I
never
boasted
heaps
of
treasur'd
gold
,
No
dirty
acres
ever
were
my
theme
,
The
sordid
wretch
beneath
contempt
I
hold
,
Who
dares
with
love
such
worthless
trifles
name
.
And
let
the
fair
,
whom
glittering
dust
delights
,
In
lieu
of
jointure
,
barter
bliss
and
peace
;
Insipid
pleasures
waste
her
tedious
nights
,
And
jealous
wranglings
wear
away
her
days
.
Not
such
the
hours
,
I
hop'd
,
with
you
to
share
;
Not
thus
to
tread
the
vulgar
path
of
life
;
Such
base
,
such
brutal
joys
can
ne'er
endear
,
Can
ne'er
insure
the
fond
,
the
tender
wife
.
'Tis
then
,
O
then
,
we
feel
th'
inraptur'd
bliss
,
When
lost
in
soft
confusion
,
sweetly
coy
,
Each
virgin
charm
glows
with
the
melting
kiss
,
And
Nature
faints
beneath
th'
excess
of
joy
.
Tho'
this
would
cloy
,
if
pleasures
more
refin'd
Forebore
their
influence
o'er
the
breast
to
shed
;
Virtue
alone
secures
the
generous
mind
;
She
with
fresh
transport
crowns
the
bridal
bed
.
If
words
can
tell
,
let
those
whose
hearts
unite
In
virtuous
love
,
absolv'd
from
all
controul
,
Confess
the
pleasure
,
the
sublime
delight
,
Th'
extatic
sense
of
mingling
soul
with
soul
.