Page:Gilbert Original Plays.djvu/28

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"Those men alone are happy who are good."
Then would the world immediately repent,
And sin and wickedness be known no more!
Loc. Association with so foul a thing
As man must needs be unendurable
To souls as pure and sinless as our own:
Yet, sister dear, it has occurred to me,
That his foul deeds, perchance, proceed from this—
That we have kept ourselves too much aloof,
And left him to his blind and wayward will.
Zay. Man is every thing detestable—
Base in his nature, base in thought and deed.
Loathsome beyond all things that creep and crawl!
Still, sister, I must own I've sometimes thought
That we who shape the fortunes of mankind,
And grant such wishes as are free from harm,
Might possibly fulfill our generous task
With surer satisfaction to himself
Had we some notion what these wishes were!
Neo. We give him every thing but good advice,
And that which most he needs do we withhold.
Dar. Oh! terrible, dear sister, to reflect,
That to our cold and culpable neglect,
The folly of the world is chargeable!
Sel. To our neglect!
Zay. It may in truth be so.
Lei. In very truth I'm sure that it is so.
Sel. Oh! horrible! It shall be so no more.
A light breaks over me! Their sin is ours!
But there—'tis easy still to make amends.