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THE MYSTERIOUS MOTHER.
Chose no companion of his pensive walk.
Yes, I must serve thee. May my prosp'rous care
Restore thee to thy state, and aid thy love
To make the blooming Adeliza thine!
Yes, I must serve thee. May my prosp'rous care
Restore thee to thy state, and aid thy love
To make the blooming Adeliza thine!
COUNTESS, apart to the Porter.
Methought he spoke of love and Adeliza.
Who may it be?
Methought he spoke of love and Adeliza.
Who may it be?
PORTER.
I never heard his name.
I never heard his name.
COUNTESS, approaching.
Stranger, did chance or purpose guide thy steps
To this lone dwelling?
[Porter makes signs to Florian not to discover
their former interview.
Stranger, did chance or purpose guide thy steps
To this lone dwelling?
[Porter makes signs to Florian not to discover
their former interview.
FLORIAN.
Pardon, gentle lady,
If curious to behold the pious matron
Whom Narbonne's plains obey, I sought this castle,
And deem my wish indulg'd in viewing thee.
Pardon, gentle lady,
If curious to behold the pious matron
Whom Narbonne's plains obey, I sought this castle,
And deem my wish indulg'd in viewing thee.
COUNTESS.
Me! stranger. Is affliction then so rare
It occupies the babbler Fame?—Oh! no.
My sorrows are not new. Austerities
And rigid penance tempt no curious eyes.
Nor speaks your air desire of searching out
The house of mourning. Rather should you seek
Some unsunn'd beauty, some unpractic'd fair one,
Who thinks the first soft sounds she hears, are love.
There may be such at Narbonne: none dwell here,
But melancholy, sorrow, and contrition.
Me! stranger. Is affliction then so rare
It occupies the babbler Fame?—Oh! no.
My sorrows are not new. Austerities
And rigid penance tempt no curious eyes.
Nor speaks your air desire of searching out
The house of mourning. Rather should you seek
Some unsunn'd beauty, some unpractic'd fair one,
Who thinks the first soft sounds she hears, are love.
There may be such at Narbonne: none dwell here,
But melancholy, sorrow, and contrition.
FLORIAN.
Pleasure has charms; but so has virtue too.
Pleasure has charms; but so has virtue too.
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