STANZA I.

“NOW Philomel renews her tender strain,
“Indulging all the night her pleasing pain;

“I sought in groves to hear the wanton sing,
“There saw a face more beauteous than the spring.

“Your large stag-eyes, where thousand glories play,
“As bright, as lively, but as wild as they.

STANZA II.

“In vain I’m promis’d such a heav’nly prize,
“Ah! cruel SULTAN! who delay’st my joys! 
“While piercing charms transfix my am’rous heart,
“I dare not snatch one kiss to ease the smart.

“Those eyes! like, &c.

STANZA III.

“Your wretched lover in these lines complains;
“From those dear beauties rise his killing pains.

“When will the hour of wish’d-for bliss arrive? 
“Must I wait longer?—­Can I wait and live?

“Ah! bright Sultana! maid divinely fair! 
“Can you, unpitying, see the pains I bear?

STANZA IV.

“The heavens relenting, hear my piercing cries,
“I loathe the light, and sleep forsakes my eyes;
“Turn thee, Sultana, ere thy lover dies: 

“Sinking to earth, I fight the last adieu,
“Call me, my goddess, and my life renew.

“My queen! my angel! my fond heart’s desire! 
“I rave—­my bosom burns with heav’nly fire! 
“Pity that passion, which thy charms inspire.”

I have taken the liberty, in the second verse, of following what I suppose the true sense of the author, though not literally expressed.  By his saying, He went down to admire the beauty of the vines, and her charms ravished his soul, I understand a poetical fiction, of having first seen her in a garden, where he was admiring the beauty of the spring.  But I could not forbear retaining the comparison of her eyes with those of a stag, though perhaps the novelty of it may give it a burlesque sound in our language.  I cannot determine upon the whole, how well I have succeeded in the translation, neither do I think our English proper to express such violence of passion, which is very seldom felt amongst us.  We want also those compound words which are very frequent and strong in the Turkish language.

YOU see I am pretty far gone in Oriental learning; and, to say truth, I study very hard.  I wish my studies may give me an occasion of entertaining your curiosity, which will be the utmost advantage hoped for from them, by, Your’s, &c.

LET.  XXXI.

TO MRS S. C.

Adrianople, April 1.  O. S.

IN my opinion, dear S. I ought rather to quarrel with you, for not answering my Nimeguen letter of August, till December, than to excuse my not writing again till now.  I am sure there is on my side a very good excuse for silence, having gone such tiresome land-journies (sic), though I don’t find the conclusion of them so bad as you seem to imagine.  I am very easy here, and not in the solitude you fancy me.  The great number of Greeks, French, English, and Italians that are under our protection, make their court to me from morning till night; and, I’ll assure you, are, many of them, very fine ladies; for there is no possibility for a Christian to live easily under this government, but by the protection of an ambassador—­and the richer they are, the greater is their danger.