MARIA, alone.

How deplorable is my situation! How distressing
for a daughter to find her heart militating with her
filial duty! I know my father loves me tenderly; why
then do I reluctantly obey him? Heaven knows!
with what reluctance I should oppose the will of a
parent, or set an example of filial disobedience; at a
parent's command, I could wed awkwardness and
deformity. Were the heart of my husband good, I
would so magnify his good qualities with the eye
of conjugal affection, that the defects of his person
and manners should be lost in the emanation of his
virtues. At a father's command, I could embrace
poverty. Were the poor man my husband, I would
learn resignation to my lot; I would enliven our frugal
meal with good humour, and chase away misfortune
from our cottage with a smile. At a father's command,
I could almost submit to what every female heart
knows to be the most mortifying, to marry a weak
man, and blush at my husband's folly in every com-
pany I visited. But to marry a depraved wretch,
whose only virtue is a polished exterior; who is
actuated by the unmanly ambition of conquering the
defenceless; whose heart, insensible to the emotions
of patriotism, dilates at the plaudits of every unthink-
ing girl; whose laurels are the sighs and tears of the
miserable victims of his specious behaviour,--can he,
who has no regard for the peace and happiness of