No sooner had this stranger seized my soul,
But Rachel knocked, to raise me from my bed,
And, with a voice of sorrow, did condole
The loss of Charles, whom she declared was dead;
Charles dost thou mean we King of England call,
That lived within the mansion of Whitehall?
Yes—'tis too true, &c.
[38] "Windsor Castle, in a monument to our late, sovereign, King Charles II.," contains some striking passages. But, for the tenuity of the pastoral, even the taste of the age can hardly excuse the author of "Venice Preserved." For example:
Ye tender lambs, stray not so fast away;
To weep and mourn, let us together stay;