On a Picture of Jephthah and His Daughter: By Strozzi, in the Possession of J. Brancker, Esq.

'Tis true the painter's hand can but arrest
The moment that in Nature never stays,
But fleets impatient of the baffled gaze.
Yet if that single moment be the best
Of many years, commission'd to attest
The excellence, whose beauty ne'er decays,
Let not the mute art lack a rightful praise,
That shows the lovely ever loveliest :
And thou, sweet maid ! for ever keep that look :
Thou never hadst so sweet a look till now.
Read in thy father's face, as in a book.
Thy virgin doom, the irrevocable vow.
Well were it if thy father ne'er had shook
Away the doubt that hangs upon his brow.