A boy showed King Arthur a mantle which no wife not leal could wear. If any unchaste wife or maiden put it on, it would either go to shreds or refuse to drape decorously.
At Ephesus was a grotto containing a statue of Diana. If a chaste wife or maiden entered, a reed there (presented by Pan) gave forth most melodious sounds; but if the unfaithful or unchaste entered, the sounds were harsh and discordant.
Alasnam’s mirror remained unsullied when it reflected the unsullied, but became dull when the unchaste stood before it. (See Caradoc, p. 160.)
Florin´da, daughter of Count Julian, one of the high lords in the Gothic court of Spain. She was violated by King Roderick; and the count, in his indignation, renounced the Christian religion and called over the Moors, who came to Spain in large numbers and drove Roderick from the throne. Orpas, the renegade archbishop of Sev´ille, asked Florinda to become his bride, but she shuddered at the thought. Roderick, in the guise of a priest, reclaimed Count Julian as he was dying, and as Florinda rose from the dead body:
Her cheek was flushed, and in her eyes there beamed
A wilder brightness. On the Goth [Roderick] she gazed.
While underneath the emotions of that hour
Exhausted life gave way.... Round his neck she threw
Her arms, and cried “My Roderick; mine in heaven!”
Groaning, he claspt her close, and in that act