Nor dreams, nor lover's secret vows;

Nor that thy heart can loyal keep.

VIII.

OLD MAN.

And why, in vain caprice of youth,

Dost thou, like furnace sighing, moan?

Here men are free, the skies are bright,

And women own no fetter-bonds.

Grieve not, nor be cast down in soul.

ALEKO.

But, father, she no longer loves.

OLD MAN.

Console thyself: she is a child.

Thy grief to reason is perverse:

Thou lovst with passion and with fire;

A passing jest is women's love.

Look up; beneath the wide expanse

The moon pursues her unchecked path,

And, as she moves, she gently sheds

Her fickle light on all below;

A moment gilds a favoured cloud,

Only the next to leave it dark,

And flood its rival with her light.

But who shall stop her trackless course,

Bid her stay and no farther roam?

And who shall say to maiden s heart,

Love one, and only one, ne'er change.

It cannot be. -

ALEKO.

How she loved me!

How tenderly she bent o'er me,

And in the silence of the night,

Her head soft pillowed on my breast,

With childish mirth and innocence