"
THEODOSIUS AND CONSTANTIA.
Illa; Quis et me, inquit, miseram et te perdidit, Orpheu? -
Jamque vale: feror ingenti circumdata nocte,
Invalidasque tibi tendens, heu! non tua, palmas.
VIRG., Georg., iv. 494.
Then thus the bride: "What fury seiz'd on thee,
'Unhappy man! to lose thyself and me? -
And now farewell! involv'd in shades of night,
For ever I am ravish'd from thy sight:
In vain I reach my feeble hands, to join
In sweet embraces--ah! no longer thine!"
DRYDEN.
Constantia was a woman of extraordinary wit and beauty, but very
unhappy in a father who, having arrived at great riches by his own
industry, took delight in nothing but his money. Theodosius was the
younger son of a decayed family, of great parts and learning,
improved by a genteel and virtuous education. When he was in the
twentieth year of his age he became acquainted with Constantia, who
had not then passed her fifteenth. As he lived but a few miles
distant from her father's house, he had frequent opportunities of
seeing her; and, by the advantages of a good person and a pleasing
conversation, made such an impression in her heart as it was
impossible for time to efface. He was himself no less smitten with
Constantia. A long acquaintance made them still discover new
beauties in each other, and by degrees raised in them that mutual
passion which had an influence on their following lives.
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