Can I—yourself a father—can I break?
“That oath which I, a living sinner, took
Shall I make void, and yet for mercy look?”
The women wept; the men, themselves distress’d,
The cruel rage of party zeal confess’d; 120
But solemn oaths, though sprung from party zeal,
Feel them we must, as Christians ought to feel.
Yet shall a youth so good, a girl so fair,
From their obedience only draw despair?
Must they be parted? Is there not a way