Page:The Mysterious Mother - Walpole (1781).djvu/46

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THE MYSTERIOUS MOTHER.
Penance attracts respect, and not reproach.
How dare I be esteem'd? Be known my crimes!
Let shame anticipate the woes to come!
—Hah! monster! wouldst disclose the frightful scene?
Wouldst teach the vicious world unheard-of sins,
And be a new apostle of perdition?
—My Edmund too! has not a mother's hand
Afflicted him enough? Shall this curs'd tongue
Brand him with shame indelible, and sting
His honest bosom with his mother's scorpions
Shall Adeliza hear the last of horrors,
E'er her pure breast, that sighs for sins it knows not,
Has learn'd the rudiments of human frailty?
No, hapless maid—

Enter a Servant.
No, hapless maid—Madam, young Adeliza
Intreats to speak with you. The lady abbess
Sickens to death.

COUNTESS.
Sickens to death. Admit her. Now, my soul,
[Ex. Servant.

Recall thy calm; support alone thy torments;
And envy not the peace thou ne'er must know.

SCENE II.

COUNTESS, ADELIZA.

COUNTESS.
Approach, sweet maid. Thy melancholy mien
Speaks thy compassionate and feeling heart.
'Tis a grave lesson for thy blooming years,
A scene of dissolution! But when Death

Expands

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