[619] Denham, Cooper's Hill:
Happy when both to the same centre move,
When kings give liberty, and subjects love.—Cunningham.
[620] Heloisa to Abelard: "If there is anything which may properly be called happiness here below, I am persuaded it is in the union of two persons who love each other with perfect liberty, who are united by a secret inclination, and satisfied with each other's merit. Their hearts are full, and leave no vacancy for any other passion."
[621] Heloisa to Abelard: "If I could believe you as truly persuaded of my merit as I am of yours, I might say there has been a time when we were such a pair."
[622] Mrs. Rowe in her Elegy:
A dying lover pale and gasping lies.— Wakefield.
[623] Heloisa to Abelard: "Where was I? where was your Heloise then? What joy should I have had in defending my lover. I would have guarded you from violence, though at the expense of my life; my cries and shrieks alone would have stopped the hand."
[624] For "stroke" Pope, in all editions till that of 1736, read "hand," the word in the translation. He had used "hand" in the rhyme of the previous couplet, and it was probably to avoid the repetition that he made the alteration.
[625] Careless readers may misapprehend the sense. "Pain" here means punishment, pœna.—Holt White.
Like a verse of Drummond's: