Forcing me from thee, never to return,
Nor in thy pangs and struggles to partake!
I hear a voice--'tis Egilona--come,
Recall thy courage, dear unhappy girl,
Let us away.


SECOND ACT: THIRD SCENE.


EGILONA enters.

EGI. Remain, I order thee.
Attend, and do thy duty: I am queen,
Unbent to degradation.

COV. I attend
Ever most humbly and most gratefully
My too kind sovereign, cousin now no more;
Could I perform but half the services
I owe her, I were happy for a time;
Or dared I show her half my love, 'twere bliss.

EGI. Oh! I sink under gentleness like thine.
Thy sight is death to me; and yet 'tis dear.
The gaudy trappings of assumptive state
Drop at the voice of nature to the earth,
Before thy feet--I cannot force myself
To hate thee, to renounce thee; yet--Covilla!
Yet--oh distracting thought! 'tis hard to see,