"And do not you condemn that ardent flame "Which from yourself your own fair beauty 68 came. CONSTANTIA TO PHILETUS. "YOUR abfence, Sir, tho' it be long, yet I "Neither forget nor doubt your conftancy; "Nor need you fear that I fhould yield unto "Another what to your true love is due. "My heart is your's; it is not in my claim, "Nor have I pow'r to take it back again. "There's nought but death can part our souls; no « time, "Or angry friends fhall make my love decline: "But for the harvest of our hopes I'll stay, "Unless Death cut it, e'er 'tis ripe, away." |