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"And to behold among our neighbours fine,
"More than perhaps became a wife of mine;
"And now among her neighbours to explore,
"And see her poorest of the very poor!-
"I would describe it, but I bore a part,
"Nor can explain the feelings of the heart;
"Yet memory since has aided me to trace
"The horrid features of that dismal place.
"There she reclined unmoved, her bosom bare
"To her companion's unimpassion'd stare,

"And my wild wonder:-Seat of virtue! chaste "As lovely once! O! how wert thou disgraced! ८८ Upon that breast, by sordid rags defiled, "Lay the wan features of a famish'd child;— "That sin-born babe in utter misery laid, "Too feebly wretched even to cry for aid; "The ragged sheeting, o'er her person drawn, "Served for the dress that hunger placed in pawn.

"At the bed's feet the man reclined his frame: "Their chairs were perish'd to support the flame "That warm'd his agued limbs; and, sad to see, "That shook him fiercely as he gazed on me.

"I was confused in this unhappy view:

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My wife! my friend! I could not think it true;

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My children's mother,-my Alicia,-laid "On such a bed! so wretched,-so afraid! "And her gay, young seducer, in the guise "Of all we dread, abjure, defy, despise, "And all the fear and terror in his look, "Still more my mind to its foundation shook.

"At last he spoke ::-'Long since I would have died, "But could not leave her, though for death I sigh'd, "And tried the poison'd cup, and dropp'd it as I tried.

"She is a woman, and that famish'd thing "Makes her to life, with all its evils, cling: "Feed her, and let her breathe her last in peace, "And all my sufferings with your promise cease!'

"Ghastly he smiled :—I knew not what I felt, But my heart melted-hearts of flint would melt, "To see their anguish, penury, and shame, "How base, how low, how groveling they became : "I could not speak my purpose, but my eyes "And my expression bade the creature rise.

"Yet, O! that woman's look! my words are vain "Her mix'd and troubled feelings to explain;

"True, there was shame and consciousness of fall, "But yet remembrance of my love withal,

"And knowledge of that power which she would now recal.

"But still the more that she to memory brought,
"The greater anguish in my mind was wrought;
"The more she tried to bring the past in view,
"She greater horror on the present threw ;
"So that, for love or pity, terror thrill'd

"My blood, and vile and odious thoughts instill'd.

"This war within, these passions in their strife,
"If thus protracted, had exhausted life;
"But the strong view of these departed years
"Caused a full burst of salutary tears,
"And as I wept at large, and thought alone,
"I felt my reason re-ascend her throne."

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My friend!" Sir Owen answer'd, "what became "Of your just anger?—when you saw their shame, "It was your triumph, and you should have shown

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Strength, if not joy-their sufferings were their own."

"Alas, for them! their own in very deed!
"And they of mercy had the greater need;
"Their own by purchase, for their frailty paid,-
"And wanted heaven's own justice human aid?
"And seeing this, could I beseech my God
"For deeper misery, and a heavier rod?"

"But could you help them?"-"Think, Sir Owen, how
"I saw them then-methinks I see them now!
"She had not food, nor aught a mother needs,
"Who for another life and dearer feeds:

"I saw her speechless; on her wither'd breast
"The wither'd child extended, but not prest,
"Who sought, with moving lip and feeble cry,
"Vain instinct! for the fount without supply.

"Sure it was all a grievous, odious scene, "Where all was dismal, melancholy, mean, "Foul with compell'd neglect, unwholesome, and unclean;

"That arm, that eye,—the cold, the sunken cheek,--Spoke all, Sir Owen-fiercely miseries speak!"

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"And

you relieved?"

"If hell's seducing crew

"Had seen that sight, they must have pitied too."

Revenge was thine—thou hadst the power, the right; "To give it up was heaven's own act to slight.”

"Tell me not, Sir, of rights, and wrongs, or powers! "I felt it written-Vengeance is not ours!"

"Well, Ellis, well!-I find these female foes, "Or good or ill, will murder our repose; "And we, when Satan tempts them, take the cup, "The fruit of their foul sin, and drink it up: "But shall our pity all our claims remit, "And we the sinners of their guilt acquit ?"

"And what, Sir Owen, will our vengeance do? "It follows us when we our foe pursue,

"And, as we strike the blow, it smites the smiters

too."

"What didst thou, man?”

"I brought them to a cot

"Behind your larches,-a sequester'd spot,
"Where dwells the woman: I believe her mind.
"Is now enlighten'd-I am sure resign'd:
"She gave her infant, though with aching heart
"And faltering spirit, to be nursed apart."

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