Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/478

 340 THE POEMS OP ANNE �Which makes me banish, from my lab'ring Thoughts, Those Mystick Words, which serve but to perplex them. Arc. From Mine they will not part, nor shou'd from Yours; 30 �Which to prevent, ev'n now I will repeat them; �The Isle of Rhodes shall be of Peace bereft, �Unless it by the Heir thereof be left, �And that He wed, ere he returns agen, �The Beauteous Daughter of the Best of Men; �Whose Father's presence there shall save the State, �And smooth the threatning Brow of angryFate. �dim. But, Who this Man, or, Where his Daughter is, Was left in Darkness, to employ our Search: Yet, in Obedience, Hither did I come 40 �To feed a Flock, and mix with simple Swains; Because the Priests, who sway in Princes Courts, Declar'd, that perfect Innocence, and Virtue Was to be found but in their lowly Rank, And There, the Best of Men was to be sought for. �Arc. 'Tis True, they did; and therefore urg'd our Prince; That slighting (in a Case of such Importance) The Pride of Titles, and of equal Birth, You might espouse One of these Rural Maids, Whose Parents harmless Presence in our Land 50 �Might bring the Blessings of the Gods upon us ; And, lest the Wars (which still infest these Countries) Shou'd tempt you from from the Fates, and his Design, How strictly did He Charge it on your Duty, That, 'till the Time, which now, Two Days must end, You shou'd not leave these Plains, to seek the Camp! �dim. Nor have I done it, as Thyself can witness; But here have spent the long and lazy Hours, Carelesly stretch'd beneath some Sylvan Shade, ��� �