The duke, the dutchess, my friend and I, agreed to go to a masquerade on Shrove-Tuesday, which was the last entertainment to be given before the commencement of Lent. The two lovers previously projected a plan to profit by the throng occasioned by the great number of masks, to give the duke the slip, in order to accomplish their long impeded happiness.
It was resolved, that all four of us should go together. The count who swore he would not leave the duke, proposed to me at the request of the latter, to escort the dutchess the whole night as her cavalier or cicisbeo, I declined this honor, declaring myself wholly inadequate to the trust. The duke laughed at my modest diffidence, and the custom of the country absolutely requiring a cavalier to attend his spouse, he insisted on the count's accepting of the flattering office, It was farther settled between us, that the count and the dutchess should wear the disguise of a shepherd and shepherdess. The duke chose the costume of an harlequin, and
