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"In broken, melting accents, I will swear, "Henceforth to trust my heart with none but her ;" Then own, the joys which on her charms attend, Have more than paid me for my faithless friend.

[Altamont breaks from Lavinia, and exit. Hor. Oh, raise thee, my Lavinia, from the earth. It is too much; this tide of flowing grief, This wond'rous waste of tears, too much to give To an ungrateful friend, and cruel brother.

380

Lav. Is there not cause for weeping? Oh, Horatio! A brother and a husband were my treasure, 'Twas all the little wealth that poor Lavinia Sav'd from the shipwreck of her father's fortunes. One half is lost already. If thou leav'st me; If thou should'st prove unkind to me, as Altamont, Whom shall I find to pity my distress,

To have compassion on a helpless wanderer,

And give her where to lay her wretched head?

Hor. Why dost thou wound me with thy soft complainings?

Tho' Altamont be false, and use me hardly,

Yet think not I impute his crimes to thee. Talk not of being forsaken; for I'll keep thee Next to my heart, my certain pledge of happiness. "Heav'n form'd thee gentle, fair, and full of goodness, "And made thee all my portion here on earth: "It gave thee to me, as a large amends "For fortune, friends, and all the world beside."

Lav. Then you will love me still, cherish me ever, And hide me from misfortune in your bosom. 400

"Here end my cares, nor will I lose one thought, "How we shall live, or purchase food and raiment. "The holy Pow'r, who cloaths the senseless earth, "With woods, with fruits, with flow'rs, and verdant

grass,

"Whose bounteous hand feeds the whole brute crea,

tion,

"Knows all our wants, and has enough to give us."

Hor. From Genoa, from falshood and inconstancy, To some more honest, distant clime we'll go. Nor will I be beholden to my country,

For aught but thee, the partner of my flight.

"Lay. Yes, I will follow thee; forsake, for thee, "My country, brother, friends, ev'n all I have. "Tho' mine's a little all; yet were it more, "And better far, it should be left for thee, "And all that I would keep, should be Horatio. "So, when a merchant sees his vessel lost, "Tho' richly freighted from a foreign coast, "Gladly, for life, the treasure he would give; "And only wishes to escape, and live :

421

"Gold, and his gains, no more employ his mind; "But, driving o'er the billows with the wind, "Cleaves to one faithful plank, and leaves the rest

behind.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV. SCENE I.

A Garden. Enter ALTAMONT.

Altamont.

" WITH what unequal tempers are we form'd? "One day the soul, supine with ease and fulness, "Revels secure, and fondly tells herself

"The hour of evil can return no more;

"The next, the spirits, pall'd and sick of riot, "Turn all to discord, and we hate our beings, "Curse the past joy, and think it folly all, "And bitterness and anguish. Oh, last night! "What has ungrateful beauty paid me back, "For all the mass of friendship which I squander'd? "Coldness, aversion, tears, and sullen sorrow, "Dash'd all my bliss, and damp'd my bridal bed. "Soon as the morning dawn'd, she vanish'd from

me,

"Relentless to the gentle call of love.

"I've lost a friend, and I have gain'd

a wife! "Turn not to thought, my brain; but let me find "Some unfrequented shade; there lay me down, "And let forgetful dulness steal upon me, "To soften and assuage this pain of thinking. [Exit.

LOTHARIO and CALISTA discovered.

Loth. Weep not, my fair; but let the God of Love Laugh in thy eyes, and revel in thy heart,

Kindle again his torch, and hold it high,
To light us to new joys. Nor let a thought
Of discord, or disquiet past, molest thee;
But to a long oblivion give thy cares,

And let us melt the present hour in bliss.

Cal. Seek not to sooth me with thy false endearments,

To charm me with thy softness: 'tis in vain : Thou can'st no more betray, nor I be ruin'd. The hours of folly, and of fond delight, Are wasted all, and fled; those that remain Are doom'd to weeping, anguish, and repentance. I come to charge thee with a long account, Of all the sorrows I have known already, And all I have to come; thou hast undone me. Loth. Unjust Calista! dost thou call it ruin, To love as we have done; to melt, to languish, To wish for somewhat exquisitely happy, And then be blest ev'n to that wish's height? To die with joy, and straight to live again; Speechless to gaze, and with tumultuous transportCal. Oh, let me hear no more; I cannot bear it ; 'Tis deadly to remembrance. Let that night, That guilty night, be blotted from the year; "Let not the voice of mirth or music know it; "Let it be dark and desolate; no stars

"To glitter o'er it; let it wish for light,

"Yet want it still, and vainly wait the dawn;" For 'twas the night that gave me up to shame, To sorrow, to the false Lothario.

40

Loth. Hear this, ye pow'rs! mark, how the fair de

ceiver

Sadly complains of violated truth;

She calls me false, ev'n she, the faithless she,

Whom day and night, whom heav'n and earth have heard

Sighing to vow, and tenderly protest,

Ten thousand times, she would be only mine;
And yet, behold, she has given herself away,
Fled from my arms, and wedded to another,
Ev'n to the man whom most I hate on earth.—
Cal: Art thou so base to upbraid me with a crime,
Which nothing but thy cruelty could cause?

If indignation raging in my soul,

For thy unmanly insolence and scorn,
Urg'd me to a deed of desperation,

And wound myself to be reveng'd on thee,
Think whom I should devote to death and hell,
Whom curse as my undoer, but Lothario;
Hadst thou been just, not all Sciolto's pow'r,
Not all the vows and pray'rs of sighing Altamont,
Could have prevail'd, or won me to forsake thee.
Loth. How have I fail'd in justice, or in love?
Burns not my flame as brightly as at first?
Ev'n now my heart beats high, I languish for thee,
My transports are as fierce, as strong my wishes,
As if thou ne'er hadst blest me with thy beauty.

61

Cal. How didst thou dare to think that I would live A slave to base desires, and brutal pleasures,

To be a wretched wanton for thy leisure,

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