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"Goodness innate, and worth hereditary

"Are in thy mind; thy noble father's virtues "Spring freshly forth, and blossom in thy youth. "Alt. Thus Heav'n from nothing rais'd his faint creation,

"And then, with wondrous joy, beheld its beauty, "Well pleas'd to see the excellence he gave." 81

Sci. O, noble youth! I swear since first I knew thee, Ev'n from that day of sorrows when I saw thee, Adorn'd and lovely in thy filial tears,

The mourner and redeemer of thy father,

I set thee down, and seal'd thee for my own:
Thou art my son, ev'n near me as Calista.
Horatia and Lavinia too are mine;

[Embraces HOR.

All are my children, and shall share my heart.
But wherefore waste we thus this happy day?
The laughing minutes summon thee to joy,
And with new pleasures court thee as they pass;
Thy waiting bride ev'n chides thee for delaying,
And swears thou com'st not with a bridegroom's haste
Alt. Oh! could I hope there was one thought o
Altamont,

One kind remembrance in Calista's breast,
The winds with all their wings would be too slow
To bear me to her feet. For, Oh, my father!
Amidst the stream of joy that bears me on,
Blest as I am, and honour'd in your friendship,
There is one pain that hangs upon my heart.
Sci. What means my son?
Alt. When at your intercession,

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Last night, Calista yielded to my happiness,
Just ere we parted, as I seal'd my vows
With rapture on her lips, I found her cold,
As a dead lover's statue on his tomb;

A rising storm of passion shook her breast,
Her eyes a piteous show'r of tears let fall,
And then she sigh'd, as if her heart were breaking.
With all the tend'rest eloquence of love

I begg'd to be a sharer in her grief:

But she, with looks averse, and eyes that froze me,
Sadly reply'd, her sorrows were her own,
Nor in a father's power to dispose of.

Sci. Away! it is the cozenage of their sex; One of the common arts they practise on us: To sigh and weep then when their hearts beat high With expectation of the coming joy.

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Thou hast in camps and fighting fields been bred,
Unknowing in the subtleties of women;
The virgin bride, who swoons with deadly fear,
To see the end of all her wishes near,
When blushing, from the light and public eyes,
To the kind covert of the night she flies,
With equal fires to meet the bridegrom moves,
Melts in his arms, and with a loose she loves. [Exeunt.
Enter LOTHARIO and ROSSANO.

Loth. The father, and the husband!

Ros. Let them pass.

They saw us not.

Loth. I care not if they did;

Ere long I mean to meet 'em face to face,

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And gall 'em with my triumph o'er Calista.
Ros. You lov'd her once.

Loth. I lik'd her, would have marry'd her,
But that it pleas'd her father to refuse me,
To make this honourable fool her husband:
For which, if I forget him, may the shame
I mean to brand his name with, stick on mine.

Ros. She, gentle soul, was kinder than her father. Loth. She was, and oft in private gave me hearing; Till, by long list'ning to the soothing tale,

At length her easy heart was wholly mine.

Ros. I've heard you oft describe her, haughty, insolent,

And fierce with high disdain: it moves my wonder,
That virtue, thus defended, should be yielded
A prey to loose desires.

Loth. Hear then, I'll tell thee:

Once in a lone and secret hour of night,
When ev'ry eye was clos'd, and the pale moon
And stars alone shone conscious of the theft,
Hot with the Tuscan grape, and high in blood,
Hap❜ly I stole unheeded to her chamber.
Ros. That minute sure was lucky.
Loth. Oh, 'twas great!

I found the fond, believing, love-sick maid,
Loose, unattir'd, warm, tender, full of wishes;
Fierceness and pride, the guardians of her honour,
Were charm'd to rest, and love alone was waking.
Within her rising bosom all was calm,
As peaceful seas that know no storms, and only

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Are gently lifted up and down by tides.
I snatch'd the glorious golden opportunity,
And with prevailing, youthful ardor press'd her,
'Till with short sighs, and murmuring reluctance,
The yielding fair one gave me perfect happiness.
Ev'n all the live-long night we pass'd in bliss,
In ecstacies too fierce to last for ever;

At length the morn and cold indifference came ;
When, fully sated with the luscious banquet,
I hastily took leave, and left the nymph
To think on what was past, and sigh alone.
Ros. You saw her soon again?

Loth. Too soon I saw her :

For, Oh that meeting was not like the former :
I found my heart no more beat high with transport,
No more I sigh'd, and languish'd for enjoyment;
'Twas past, and reason took her turn to reign,
While every weakness fell before her throne.
Ros. What of the lady?

Loth. With uneasy fondness

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She hung upon me, wept, and sigh'd, and swore
She was undone; talk'd of a priest, and marriage;
Of flying with me from her father's pow'r;
Call'd every saint, and blessed angel down,

To witness for her that she was my wife.
I started at that name.

Ros. What answer made you?

Loth. None; but pretending sudden pain and illness, Escap'd the persecution. Two nights since,

By message urg'd and frequent importunity,

Again I saw her. Straight with tears and sighs,
With swelling breasts, with swooning, with distraction,
With all the subtleties and powerful arts
Of wilful woman labʼring for her purpose,
Again she told the same dull nauseous tale.
Unmov'd, I begg'd her spare th' ungrateful subject,
Since I resolv'd, that love and peace of mind
Might flourish long inviolate betwixt us,
Never to load it with the marriage chain ;
That I would still retain her in my heart,
My ever gentle mistress and my friend!
But for those other names of wife and husband,
They only meant ill nature, cares, and quarrels.
Ros. How bore she this reply?

Loth. "Ev'n as the earth,

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"When, winds pent up, or eating fires beneath,
<< Shaking the mass, she labours with destruction."
At first her rage was dumb, and wanted words;
But when the storm found way, 'twas wild and loud.
Mad as the priestess of the Delphic god,
Enthusiastic passion swell'd her breast,
Enlarg'd her voice, and ruffled all her form.
Proud and disdainful of the love I proffer'd.
She call'd me Villain! Monster! Base Betrayer!
At last, in very bitterness of soul,

With deadly imprecations on herself,
She vow'd severely ne'er to see me more;

Then bid me fly that minute: I obey'd,

And, bowing, left her to grow cool at leisure.

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Ros. She has relented since, else why this message,

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