future;' add to which, that he was as firm in fulfilling the object of those desires, as she was patient and constant in her oath of obedience. Consequently, upon a certain day, in the open audience of his whole Court, he delivered to her, in a stern and boisterous tone, the following declaration.
'Although I acknowledge, Griselda, the great comfort I have experienced in your truth, goodness, and obedience, since we have been husband and wife (though not in the quality of your lineage, or in the wealth I took with you), yet now I find, of a sad truth, that loftiness of birth and dignity of station are burthened with a heavy and dreary servitude. I may not act like the meanest hind in my domains; but all my people, strengthened by this order from the Pope, daily require of me to take another wife; to which constraint I have so far yielded, that it has become necessary to inform you that my new bride, your successor, is now on her road to Saluzzo. Be therefore strong of heart, and void her place. All the dowry you brought me, I give back again—prosperity never flows in an unbroken cur-
