University of Virginia Library

SCENE IV.

Mrs. Freeman enters.
Mrs. Freeman.
Was ever pleasant morn o'ercast like this!
O! my lov'd son, for much expected joy,
Aray yourself with sadness and despair.
I have receiv'd
Such fatal tydings as I dread to tell.

Y. Freeman.
They have already reach'd my ear, and pierc'd
My heart: but I've a friend
Who, while he plung'd me in a sea of woe,
Lifted me up, and bad me cherish hope;
And, like the wretch just ready to be drown'd,
I'm glad to catch at any twig that offers.
Madam retire, and leave to us to guide
The shipwreck'd bark thro such a storm as this.
What comfort I can bring you
My honour'd mother may be sure I'll give.

Mrs. Freeman.
Talk not to me of comfort; I'll have none;

For none do I deserve. O! cou'd I but recall the
hour in which my pride drove me to Briar's house,
contented I'd meet death in any form; for my fears
tell me that the visit, which then I made, may be the
secret spring of all

The miserys in which we're now involv'd.
O! look not on me with an eye of love!
For your rash mother merits all your hate:
But you may spare reproaches; for my thoughts
Are scorpions to me; and my burning brain
Almost deprives me of the pow'r of thinking.

Y. Freeman.
Add no fresh griefs
To those which now are scarcely to be borne.
O! my poor Charlotte, what hast thou to feel!

Mrs. Freeman.
The torrent has o'erwhelm'd that lovely flow'r;
Which I committed to the care of those
Who will not be unmindful of their charge.

Y. Freeman.
That charge be only mine.