Far from us both be such design, O, far!
Let it not pain us at the awful bar,
Where souls are tried, where known the mother’s part
That I sustain, and all of either heart.
“To wed with thee I must all shame efface,
And part with female dignity and grace:
Was I not told, by one who knew so well 350
This rebel heart, that it must not rebel?
Were I not warn’d, yet Reason’s voice would cry,
‘Retreat, resolve, and from the danger fly!’