If his good lord forbore to urge their fate,
And he the utmost of their guilt to state, 320
The felons might their forfeit lives redeem.
And in their country’s cause regain esteem;
But never more that man, whom he had shame
To call his brother, must she see or name.
Rachel was meek, but she had firmness too,
And reason’d much on what she ought to do.
In Robert’s place, she knew what she should choose—
But life was not the thing she fear’d to lose.