Jane Shore

should I think that man will do for me, What yet he never did for wretches like me? Mark by what partial justice we are judg'd; Such is the fate unhappy women find, And such the curse entail'd upon our kind, That man, the lawless libertine, may rove, Free and unquestion'd through the wilds of love; While woman,--sense and nature's easy fool, If poor, weak, woman swerve from virtue's rule; If, strongly charm'd, she leave the thorny way, And in the softer paths of pleasure stray; Ruin ensues, reproach and endless shame, And one false step entirely damns her fame; In vain, with tears the loss she may deplore, } In vain, look back on what she was before; } She sets, like stars that fall, to rise no more. [exeunt. }

ACT THE SECOND.

SCENE 1. AN APARTMENT IN JANE SHORE'S HOUSE.

Enter Alicia, speaking to Jane Shore as entering.

Alic. No further, gentle friend; good angels guard you, And spread their gracious wings about your slumbers. The drowsy night grows