90
He saw her wasting, yet with placid shew;
And scarce could help exclaiming in his woe,
"O gentle creature, look not at me so!"
And scarce could help exclaiming in his woe,
"O gentle creature, look not at me so!"
But Prince Giovanni, whom her wan distress
Had touched, of late, with a new tenderness,
Which to his fresh surprise did but appear
To wound her more than when he was severe,
Began, with other helps perhaps, to see
Strange things, and missed his brother's company.
What a convulsion was the first sensation!
Rage, wonder, misery, scorn, humiliation,
A self-love, struck as with a personal blow,
Gloomy revenge, a prospect full of woe,
All rushed upon him, like the sudden view
Of some new world, foreign to all he knew,
Where he had waked and found disease's visions true.
Had touched, of late, with a new tenderness,
Which to his fresh surprise did but appear
To wound her more than when he was severe,
Began, with other helps perhaps, to see
Strange things, and missed his brother's company.
What a convulsion was the first sensation!
Rage, wonder, misery, scorn, humiliation,
A self-love, struck as with a personal blow,
Gloomy revenge, a prospect full of woe,
All rushed upon him, like the sudden view
Of some new world, foreign to all he knew,
Where he had waked and found disease's visions true.
