Page:Arabella (Second Edition - Volume 1).pdf/93

This page needs to be proofread.

these Words, which were Part of Oroondates's Soliloquy when he received a cruel Sentence from Statira:

"Ah cruel! says this miserable Lover, and what have I done to merit it? Examine the Nature of my Offence, and you will see I am not so guilty, but that my Death may free me from Part of that Severity: Shall your Hatred last longer than my Life? And can you detest a Soul that forsakes its Body only to obey you? No, no, you are not so hard-hearted; that Satisfaction will, doubtless, content you: And, when I shall cease to be, doubtless I shall cease to be odious to you."

Upon my Soul, said Glanville, stifling a Laugh with great Difficulty, I cannot help blaming the Lady this sorrowful Lover complains of, for her great Cruelty; for here he gives one Reason to suspect, that she will not even be contented with his dying in Obedience to her Commands, but will hate him after Death; an Impiety quite inexcusable in a Christian!

You condemn this illustrious Princess with very little Reason, interrupted Arabella, smiling at his Mistake; for, besides that she was not a Christian, and ignorant of those Divine Maxims of Charity and Forgiveness, which Christians, by their Profession, are obliged to practise, she was very far from desiring the Death of Oroondates; for, if you will take the Pains to read the succeeding Passages, you will find that she expresses herself in the most obliging Manner in the World; for when Oroondates tells her he would live, if she would consent he should, the