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THE STEALING
caſe of aſſault whether they ſhould ſtorm with the weapons in their hands, or with the element of fire: for they were reſolved to avenge the ſhame of the virgins and wives, their countrywomen, upon theſe ſcandalous gallants, who, on their irruption into the country, had neither reſpected the ſanctity of cloiſters nor the chaſtity of venerable matrons and their tender daughters. It availed nothing that the ſeven martyrs might have been innocent of the crime of their countrymen. The ſevere commiſſion of chaſtity[1] condemned them one and allto
- ↑ This expreſſion alludes to a ſingular and edifying inſtitution of the once beautiful Maria Thereſa. Having, it ſeems, outlived the memory of the feelings of her youth, her devout age was ſcandalized by the gallantries of her loving ſubjects, or elſe ſhe envied them the keen pleaſures ſhe could no longer enjoy. She therefore determined to ſuppreſs the deſires of her Auſtrians by the dread of puniſhment. Every gueſt that taſted of the feaſt of love before grace was ſaid, ſuffered as ſeverely as if he had taken away his neighbour’s property or life. A
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