I went a second time to the Palace of Tears while she was there;
I hid myself again, and heard her speak thus to her gallant: It
is now three years since you spoke one word to me; you return no
answer to the marks of love I give you by my discourse and
groans. Is it from want of sense, or out of contempt? O tomb!
have you abated that excessive love he had for me? Have you shut
those eyes that showed me so much love, and were all my joy? No,
no, I believe nothing of it. Tell me rather by what miracle you
became intrusted with the rarest treasure that ever was in the
world?
I must confess, my lord, I was enraged at these words; for, in
short, this gallant so much doted upon, this adored mortal, was
not such a one as you would imagine him to have been; he was a
black Indian, a native of that country. I say, I was so enraged
at this discourse, that I discovered myself all of a sudden, and
addressing the tomb in my turn, O tomb! cried I, why do you not
swallow up that monster in nature, or rather why do you not
swallow up the gallant and his mistress?
I had scarcely finished these words, when the queen, who sat by
the black, rose up like a fury. Ah, cruel man! says she, thou art
the cause of my grief; do not you think but I know it. I have
dissembled it but too long; it is thy barbarous hand which hath
brought the object of my love to this lamentable condition; and
you are so hard-hearted as to come and insult a despairing lover.
Pages:
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130