’Twas snaring souls,” they said; and how he dared
They did not know—they wonder’d—and were snared.
“It is a marriage, surely! Conscience might 310
Allow an act so very nearly right;
Was it not witness to our solemn vow,
As man and wife? it must the act allow.”
But Conscience, stubborn to the last, replied,
“It cannot be! I am not satisfied;
’Tis not a marriage: either dare be poor,
Or dare be virtuous—part, and sin no more!”