The parent view'd his lost desponding child,
But did not chase the sufferer from his breast,
For Christian charity, benign and mild,
Was deeply on his noble heart impress'd:
Patient enquiries taught him the base art
With which the vile seducer spread his snare,
The weakness of her lost deluded heart,
And present struggles of her wild despair;
To snatch her from th' abyss with haste he ran,
And warmly thus the tender sire began: