Forbid his ardent love to tell

Forbid his ardent love to tell, Forbid your praises to rehearse, The lover takes a long farwell, The poet bids adieu to verse.

Soon, cruel Charlotte, you shall prove, Your beauty's empire o'er my heart: I quit the scene that most I love, Nor speak to ease my hopeless smart.

And you shall own but ah! too late— To cure the deep and fatal wound, That heart deserv'd a gentler fate, If pity had in yours been found.