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THE MYSTERIOUS MOTHER.

SCENE IV.

COUNTESS, ADELIZA.

COUNTESS.
Now, Adeliza, summon all thy courage.
Retrace my precepts past: nor let a tear
Profane a moment that's worth martyrdom.
Remember patience is the christian's courage,
Stoics have bled, and demigods have died.
A christian's talk is harder—'tis to suffer.

ADELIZA.
Alas! have I not learnt the bitter lesson?
Have I not borne thy woes? What is to come
Can tax my patience with a ruder trial?

COUNTESS.
Oh! yes, thou must do more. Adversity
Has various arrows. When the soul is steel'd
By meditation to encounter sorrow,
The foe of man shifts his artillery,
And drowns in luxury and careless softness
The breast he could not storm. Canst thou bear wealth,
And pleasure's melting couch? Thou hast known virtue
But at a scanty board. She has awak'd thee
To chilling vapours in the midnight vault,
And beckon'd thee to hardships, tears, and penance.
Wilt thou acknowledge the divine instructress,
When syren pleasures lap thee in delights?

ADELIZA.
If such the witchery that waits on guilt,
Why should I seek th' enchantress and her wiles?

The

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