The triumph of music :: :: University of Virginia Library

Then with a groan, that seem'd to rend his breast,
And all the conflicts of his soul exprest
Donado said, scarce able now to stand;
“This, this, indeed is Heaven's apparent hand;
O blest Manfredi! thou hast nought to fear;
Mark but a penitent at last sincere!
Believing, as I learnt by treacherous aid,
Thee on the bed of ling'ring sickness laid,
I came an horrid purpose to fulfil;
But see the power of Heaven's o'er-ruling will!
It bids me now most loudly, ‘sin no more!
But here enrich the sire, I robb'd before!’
Venusia is thy child; thy bliss, thy pride!
'Twas thought, that in her infancy, she died;
She died by substitute;—a child of mine,
Nurst by her nurse, appear'd in quick decline;

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My wealth, depending on a living child,
To base deception my proud heart beguil'd;
To change the infant girls I brib'd the nurse;
Crime leads to crime; the lighter to the worse!
But blest be God, that, still unstain'd with gore,
All I have wrongly gain'd, I can restore;
And I relinquish, with a spirit free,
Wealth to my relatives, a child to thee;
Yet happy, if her virtues plead at last
For my repented crimes, and long injustice past!”