Page:The Mysterious Mother - Walpole (1781).djvu/72

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THE MYSTERIOUS MOTHER.
COUNTESS.
Hence!
Pity would bid me stab thee, while the charm
Of ignorance locks thee in its happy slumbers.

ADELIZA.
Alas! she raves—I will call help. [Exit.


COUNTESS, alone.
[After a long pause, in which he looks
tenderly after Adeliza.

—That pang, great God, was my She's gone.
—That pang, great God, was my last sacrifice!
Now recollect thyself, my soul! consummate
The pomp of horror with tremendous coolness.
'Tis fit that reason punish passion's crime.
—Reason!—alas! 'tis one of my convulsions!
Now it empow'rs me past myself: now leaves me
Exhausted, spiritless, eying with despair
The heights I cannot reach. Then madness comes;
Imperial fool and promises to waft me
Beyond the grin of scorn—but who sits there,
Supereminent?—'tis conscience!—phrenzy shield me!
I know the foe—see! see! he points his lance!
He plunges it all flaming in my soul;
And down I sink, lost in eternal anguish! [Runs out.


SCENE V.

BENEDICT, ADELIZA.

ADELIZA.
She is not here. Shall we not follow her?
Such agonies of passion! sure some dæmon

Assaults

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