perfectly. Herr von Spinoza, you must read his poems; a soul overflowing with human love is expressed in them. He had a Rubric of his own, Tessalica, in which he sang to his mistress as she sat her horse, and as she sang to her harp, to her ruff and her string of pearls; everything of hers inspired him to poetise. In one ode he sang,
Tessela quae coelo potes deducere lunam,
Et tetricos cantu demeruisse Deos—[1]
Do you understand the pun by which he changed the name Tesselschade into Tessela?"
"No."
"In the second Idyl of Theocritus Tessela is an infallible love-charm, the name was given to the plant from which the philter was prepared, but we do not know the plant itself."
"You will always and forever be my instructress," said Spinoza.
"Will you not, when you have found out how, instruct us in magic?" inquired Kerkering.
"You are already an enchanted prince," replied Olympia. " Herr von Spinoza, do you believe in magic?"
"In yours," he replied hastily. Oldenburg shook his head disapprovingly.
"You have forgotten one main point in the love
- ↑ Tessela, thou canst draw down the moon from Heaven with thy songs, and bind the gods of darkness with gratitude.
