PRESIDENT. Alas! Sir, this may not be! It will draw on us
the contempt of these barbarians.
EMPEROR. We have complied with all our minister's propositions—shall they not, then, accede to ours? Be it as it may, we will witness her departure—and then return home to hate the traitor Maouyenshow!
PRESIDENT. Unwillingly we advise that the princess be sacrificed for the sake of peace; but the envoy is instructed to insist upon her alone—and from ancient times, how often hath a nation suffered for a woman's beauty!
PRINCESS. Though I go into exile for the nation's good, yet ill can I bear to part from your Majesty! [Exeunt.
[Footnote 1: The honor of the imperial alliance being the chief object.]
[Footnote 2: Changngo, the goddess of the moon, gives her name to the finely curved eyebrows of the Chinese ladies, which are compared to the lunar crescent when only a day or two old.]
[Footnote 3: Chow-wong was the last of the Shang dynasty, and infamous by his debaucheries and cruelties, in concert with his empress Takee, the Theodora of Chinese history.]
[Footnote 4: The imperial pronoun "Tchin," me, is with very good taste supplied by I in these impassioned passages.]
~ACT THIRD~
Enter Envoy, escorting the Princess, with a band of music.