CHAPTER XIV.
Some Account of the two Persons who came in Chains.
I omit this chapter, as it is quite unnecessary for the story, and an absurd relation concerning the two prisoners who came in the English ship with Maurice. The woman, who is called Rosamund, is a very abandoned and wicked person; and at last, in consequence of the excessive infamy of her conduct, she has been sentenced to banishment, and ordered to be set on shore on a desert island, in company with Clodio, a man, whose crimes do not appear to be of a nature that would have brought him to punishment in the present day. "I have," says he, "a certain satirical spirit, and a backbiting one, a ready pen, and a free tongue, I delight in malicious wit, and for a bon mot, would sacrifice, not only one friend, but a hundred. Prisons could never silence my tongue, nor exile move me; threats could not intimidate, nor punishment mend me."
He thought being chained in company with Rosamund, the worst part of his sentence, and declared that death would have been preferable; whilst she, on her side, assures him, that she would have thrown herself into the sea to escape from him, had she not been deterred by the reflection, that she must have carried him into the other world with her, which would greatly increase her punishment there. "Far better," said she, "had it pleased the king to take away my life in my own country, than to make me expiate my crimes by the wounds thy tongue inflicts at every step, and from which not even angels or saints are safe."
CHAPTER XV.
Arnoldo comes to the Island where are Periander and Auristella.
Whilst they were all discoursing thus, a sailor rushed into the inn, crying out, that a large ship, in full sail, was making straight for the harbour; "and no signal has she made," said he, "by which we can discover what she is, or whence she comes." Hardly had he spoken these words, when their ears were deafened by the roar of many pieces of artillery, which the ship discharged as she entered the port; but all harmless, and not laden with shot—signals of peace, and not of war. The English ship returned the salute, and all the soldiers on board fired off their arquebuses. At the same instant, everybody in the inn hastened to the sea-shore. As soon as Periander saw the newly-arrived vessel, he knew her to be that of Arnoldo, prince of Denmark, which gave him no pleasure whatever; his heart beat very quick, and his spirit was troubled within him. Auristella shared the very same terrors in her turn, for well she knew by long experience how Arnoldo loved her, and she could not settle it satisfactorily in her mind, how the inclinations of the prince and Periander could go on together, without the sharp and bitter dart of jealousy entering into their souls.