ACT V.
SCENE I. The Prison.
Haswell and the female Prisoner discovered.
Haswell. Rather remain in this loathsome prison!—refuse the blessing offered you!—the blessing your pleased fancy formed so precious you durst not even trust its reality!
Pris. No—while my pleased fancy only saw the prospect, I own it was delightful; but now reason beholds it within my reach, the view is changed—and what, in the gay dream of fond delirium, seemed a blessing, in my waking hours of sad reflection would prove the most severe of punishments.
Has. Explain—what is the cause that makes you think thus?
Pris. A cause that has alone for fourteen years made me resigned to a fate like this.—When you first mentioned my release from this drear place, my wild ideas included, with the light, all that had ever made the light a blessing—'twas not the sun I saw in my mad transport, but a lost husband filled my roving fancy—'twas his idea that gave the colours of the world their beauty, and made me fondly hope to grasp its sweets.
Has. A husband!
Pris. But the world that I was wont to enjoy with him—to see again without him—every well-known object would wound my mind with dear remembrances for ever lost, and make my freedom torture.
Has. But yet——