He allowed that he could not but feel shocked at an event so terrible, nor could he blame his sensibility; but he besought him not to torment himself with vain regrets, and rather to struggle with affliction, and preserve his life, if not for his own sake, at least for the sake of those who were fondly attached to him. While he laboured thus to make Lorenzo forget Antonia’s loss, the duke paid his court assiduously to Virginia, and seized every opportunity to advance his nephew’s interest in her heart.