Page:The Monk, A Romance - Lewis (1796, 1st ed., Volume 2).djvu/268

 "To obtain her by such means, I neither can nor will. Cease then to persuade me, for I dare not employ hell's agency."

"You dare not? How have you deceived me! That mind which I esteemed so great and valiant, proves to be feeble, puerile, and grovelling, a slave to vulgar errors, and weaker than a woman's."

"What? Though conscious of the danger, wilfully shall I expose myself to the seducer's arts? Shall I renounce for ever my title to salvation? Shall my eyes seek a sight which I know will blast them? No, no, Matilda, I will not ally myself with God's enemy."

"Are you then God's friend at present? Have you not broken your engagements with him, renounced his service, and abandoned yourself to the impulse of your passions? Are you not planning the destruction of innocence, the ruin of a creature whom he formed in the mould of angels? If not of dæmons, whose aid would you invoke to forward this laudable design? Will