No More Learning

_Ang_. He did so, or it had not been bestowed.

_Mar_. Yet this strange disproportion in your years,
And, let me add, disparity of tempers,
Might make the world doubt whether such an union
Could make you wisely, permanently happy.

_Ang_. The world will think with worldlings; but my heart 90
Has still been in my duties, which are many,
But never difficult.

_Mar_. And do you love him?

_Ang_. I love all noble qualities which merit
Love, and I loved my father, who first taught me
To single out what we should love in others,
And to subdue all tendency to lend
The best and purest feelings of our nature
To baser passions. He bestowed my hand
Upon Faliero: he had known him noble,
Brave, generous; rich in all the qualities 100
Of soldier, citizen, and friend; in all
Such have I found him as my father said.
His faults are those that dwell in the high bosoms
Of men who have commanded; too much pride,
And the deep passions fiercely fostered by
The uses of patricians, and a life
Spent in the storms of state and war; and also
From the quick sense of honour, which becomes
A duty to a certain sign, a vice
When overstrained, and this I fear in him. 110
And then he has been rash from his youth upwards,
Yet tempered by redeeming nobleness
In such sort, that the wariest of republics
Has lavished all its chief employs upon him,
From his first fight to his last embassy,
From which on his return the Dukedom met him.

_Mar_. But previous to this marriage, had your heart
Ne'er beat for any of the noble youth,
Such as in years had been more meet to match
Beauty like yours?
or, since, have you ne'er seen 120
One, who, if your fair hand were still to give,
Might now pretend to Loredano's daughter?

_Ang_. I answered your first question when I said
I married.

_Mar_. And the second?

_Ang_. Needs no answer.

_Mar_. I pray you pardon, if I have offended.

_Ang_. I feel no wrath, but some surprise: I knew not
That wedded bosoms could permit themselves
To ponder upon what they _now_ might choose,
Or aught save their past choice.

_Mar_. 'Tis their past choice
That far too often makes them deem they would 130
Now choose more wisely, could they cancel it.

_Ang_. It may be so. I knew not of such thoughts.