Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916.
From ‘To the Memory of Mrs. Anne Killigrew’John Dryden (1631–1700)
[See full text.]
N
The well-proportion’d shape and beauteous face,
Shall never more be seen by mortal eyes;
In earth the much-lamented virgin lies!
Not wit nor piety could fate prevent;
Nor was the cruel Destiny content
To finish all the murder at a blow,
To sweep at once her life and beauty too;
But, like a harden’d felon, took a pride
To work more mischievously slow,
And plunder’d first, and then destroy’d.
O double sacrilege on things divine,
To rob the relic, and deface the shrine!