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own daughter, took her home, and sent to inquire of the Oracle concerning her, when he received for an answer that the Queen was innocent, the child lawfully begotten, and his counsellor a traitor. He immediately released the Queen, and the traitor was drawn to pieces by wild horses.

For this example, said the Empress, my daughter shall not die.



CHAP. VIII.

The Sixth Mistress’s Intercession.

AGAIN was the execution ordered, but reprieved by the sixth Mistress's following story:

In Burgundy lived a widow Princess who fell in love with a Knight of Malta, then residing at her court, but he took his leave, and returned to his own country promising to come again very soon; but the time being elapsed, and he not returning, an old counsellor told the Princess the Knight was much offended with a favorite hound, and a parrot she kept: upon which she ordered them both to be killed. The Knight came, staid a