Page:The works of Anna Laetitia Barbauld volume 1.djvu/155

Rh But Cupid tunes the Muse's lyre To languid notes of soft desire. In every clime, in every tongue, Tis love inspires the poet's song. Hence Sappho's soft infectious page; Monimia's woe; Othello's rage; Abandoned Dido's fruitless prayer; And Eloisa's long despair; The garland, blest with many a vow, For haughty Sacharissa's brow; And, washed with tears, the mournful verse That Petrarch laid on Laura's herse. But more than all the sister quire, Music confessed the pleasing fire. Here sovereign Cupid reigned alone; Music and song were all his own. Sweet, as in old Arcadian plains, The British pipe has caught the strains: