University of Virginia Library

SCENE VIII.

Carravagio, Teresa, Ferdinando, &c.
CARRAVAGIO.
Good friends, by order of our noble lady,
You are assembl'd for a solemn cause.
This house so long, the honour of the land,
Renown'd for hospitality and all
The liberal virtues that should wait on rank,
Has been the scene of a tremendous outrage.
Beneath the masque of darkness, in the guise
Of wedded Confidence, dire Rape last night
Stole in and rifled with opprobrious daring
The chaste embraces of our lady's love.
Th'infernal robber undetected fled;—
But various circumstance, of pointing proof,
Has fix'd the guilty charge on Ferdinando.
For bearing late commission from our lord
He did presume—Oh impious presumption!
To slip the door and glide into her room,
Unheard, unseen, as she defenceless lay,
All in the dark and negligence of sleep.
On this great fact the countess builds her charge—
But lo she comes!—make way—apart—divide.
What mighty grandeur in her form dilates
Beyond the comprehension of our thoughts!