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If you suspect your Welcome, I have brought

My Leonora to assure you of it. [Henr. Salutes Leon.

Henr. O Kiss, sweet as the Odours of the Spring,

But cold as Dews that dwell on Morning Flow’rs!

Say, Leonora, has your Father conquer’d?

Shall Duty then at last obtain the Prize,

Which you refus’d to Love? And shall Henriquez

Owe all his Happiness to good Bernardo?

Ah! no; I read my Ruin in your Eyes:

That Sorrow, louder than a thousand Tongues,

Pronounces my Despair.

D. Bern. Come, Leonora,

You are not now to learn, this noble Lord,

(Whom but to name, restores my failing Age,)

Has with a Lover’s Eye beheld your Beauty;

Thro’ which his Heart speaks more than Language can;

It offers Joy and Happiness to You,

And Honour to our House. Imagine then

The Birth and Qualities of him that loves you;

Which when you know, you cannot rate too dear.

Leon. My Father, on my Knees I do beseech you

To pause one Moment on your Daughter’s Ruin.

I vow, my Heart ev’n bleeds, that I must thank you

For your past Tenderness; and yet distrust

That which is yet behind. Consider, Sir,

Whoe’er’s th’ Occasion of another’s Fault,

Cannot himself be innocent. O, give not

The censuring World Occasion to reproach

Your harsh Commands; or to my Charge lay That

Which most I fear, the Fault of Disobedience.

D. Bern. Pr’ythee, fear neither the One, nor the Other: I tell thee, Girl, there’s more Fear than Danger. For my own part, as soon as Thou art married to this noble Lord, my Fears will be over.

Leon. Sir, I should be the vainest of my Sex,

Not to esteem myself unworthy far

Of this high Honour. Once there was a Time,

When to have heard my Lord Henriquez’ Vows,

Might have subdued my unexperienc’d Heart,

And made me wholly his. — But That’s now past:

And my firm-plighted Faith by your Consent

Was long since given to the injur’d Julio.

D. Bern. Why then, by my Consent e’en take it back again. Thou, like a simple Wench, hast given thy Affections to a Fellow, that does not care a Farthing for them. One, that has left thee for a Jaunt to Court; as who should say, I’ll get a Place now; ’tis Time enough to marry, when I’m turn’d out of it.

Henr. So, surely, it should seem, most lovely Maid;

Julio, alas, feels nothing of my Passion:

His Love is but th’ Amusement of an Hour,

A short Relief from Business, or Ambition,

The Sport of Youth, and Fashion of the Age.

O! had he known the Hopes, the Doubts, the Ardours,

Or half the fond Varieties of Passion,

That play the Tyrant with my tortur’d Soul;

He had not left Thee to pursue his Fortune:

To practise Cringes in a slavish Circle,

And barter real Bliss for unsure Honour.

Leon. Oh, the opposing Wind,

Should’ring the Tide, makes here a fearful Billow:

I needs must perish in it.— Oh, my Lord,

Is it then possible, you can forget

What’s due to your great Name, and princely Birth,

To Friendship’s holy Law, to Faith repos’d,

To Truth, to Honour, and poor injur’d Julio?

O think, my Lord, how much this Julio loves you;

Recall his Services, his well-try’d Faith;

Think too, this very Hour, where-e’er he be,

Your Favour is the Envy of the Court,

And secret Triumph of his grateful Heart.

Poor Julio, how securely thou depend’st

Upon the Faith and Honour of thy Master;

Mistaken Youth! this very Hour he robs thee

Of all thy Heart holds dear.— ’Tis so Henriquez

Repays the Merits of unhappy Julio. [Weeps.

Henr. My slumb’ring Honour catches the Alarm.

I was to blame to parley with her thus:

Sh’as shown me to myself. It troubles me. [Aside.

D. Bern. Mad; Mad. Stark mad, by this Light.

Leon. I but begin to be so. — I conjure you,

By all the tender Interests of Nature,

By the chaste Love ’twixt you, and my dear Mother,

(O holy Heav’n, that she were living now!)

Forgive and pity me.— Oh, Sir, remember,

I’ve heard my Mother say a thousand Times,

Her Father would have forced her Virgin Choice;

But when the Conflict was ’twixt Love and Duty,

Which should be first obey’d, my Mother quickly

Paid up her Vows to Love, and married You.

You thought this well,