They soon espoused; for they with ease were join’d, Who were before contracted in the mind; Their age the same, their inclinations too, And bred together, in one school they grew. Thus, fatally disposed to mutual fires, They felt, before they knew, the same desires; Equal their flame, unequal was their care, One loved with hope, one languish’d in despair; And, scarce refraining tears, “Alas,” said she, “What issue of my love remains for me! How wild a passion works within my breast! With what prodigious flames am I possess’d! Could I the care of Providence deserve, Heaven must destroy me, if it would preserve; And that’s my fate, or sure it would have sent Some usual evil for my punishment: Not this unkindly curse, to rage and burn, Where nature shows no prospect of return.