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Oh! rev’rend father, if you knew The charms of him, alas! untrue ; 0 had you heard the false one swear I was the fairest of the fair ; You could not, holy Sir, refuse So slight a weakness to excuse ; He swore my eyes were loveliness. Ah! let mg then my fault confess*
To grief, eternal grief a prey, His name is all my heart can say ; When bath’d in sad repentant tears, Still to my mind his name appears ; Yes, ’tis that name, that name alone, Which bends me now before thy throne; Alcander—but I can’t express, Oh! Father, must I then confess ?
Ah ! tell him, should he come to you. Should he, like me, for mercy sue ; Of all the crimes by heav’n accurst, Tell him inconstancy’s the worst; Tell him that he who’s false in love. Can ne’er hope pity from above; Tell him that I alone can bless, And send him to me to confess.
