with ribands and flowers, and put round its neck a collar of painted straw, so neatly made that it was a sort of chef-d'œuvre. He was himself attired in a dress of rose-coloured taffety covered with English point, and carried a crook adorned with ribands and a small basket; and thus equipped, no Celadon in the world had dared to appear before him. He found Brilliante seated on the banks of a rivulet, which flowed gently through the thickest part of the wood. Her sheep were scattered about, browsing. The deep melancholy of the shepherdess prevented her attending to them. Sans-pair accosted her with a timid air. He presented to her the little lamb, and gazing on her tenderly—"What have I done, beautiful shepherdess," said he, "to deserve such terrible proofs of your aversion? You are angry with your eyes for the least look they bestow on me!—for my passion so offends you, that you must fly me. Can you desire one more pure or more faithful? Have not my words and actions been always marked by respect as well as ardour? But, no doubt, your affections are placed elsewhere; your heart is prepossessed in favour of another." She replied to him immediately:—
"Shepherd, if I shun your view,
Should that give alarm to you?
By my flight you sure can tell
I but fear to love too well.
Were my absence caused by hate,
Would my anguish be as great?
Reason would from hence enforce me—
Love from reason would divorce me.
Even now my fluttering heart
Fails me when I should depart.
Oh, when love becomes extreme,
Stern, indeed, doth duty seem;
And how slowly do we move,
When we fly from those we love!
But, adieu! I must away,
Shepherd, from this fatal spot.
Die without you soon I may,
But, if you love me, follow not!"
As she said this, Brilliante left him. The amorous and despairing Prince would have followed her, but his grief became so violent that he fell insensible at the foot of a tree.
Ah, severe and too cruel virtue! why should you fear a man who has cherished you from his earliest infancy? He is not capable of misunderstanding you, and his passion is perfectly innocent. But the Princess doubted herself as much
