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16

Yet forced by the dark frowns of adverse fortune To live a willing outlaw from her presence, Because I could not bear to come before her A poor despised man, rest of that comeliness And honest grace which independence gives, To bid her throw aside her flowing robes And decent ornaments of maiden pride, Unveil the sweetness of her shelter'd beauty To beating mid-day heats and chilling winds, And be a wand'ring vagrant by my side;— There was a time, my friend, when thus beset At view of any means to better fortune, A stronger pow'r had ris'n within my breast And mock'd at law. But, standing thus alone, I can as well as thou forego the gain Which this occafion offers.—Let it pass! There is within us, be it superstition, Th' unscann'd opinions from our childhood cherish'd, Or natural instinct, still a strong aversion To ev'ry act of blood. Let us yield to it, We will not strain our nature from its bent: We'll do no violent deed.

O thou hast mov'd me! thou hast conjur'd thought! Wert thou—Wert thou indeed thus circumstanc'd? And thy deserted love; what was her fate?

She felt not long the cruel separation: