PRINCESS.—A young king! beautiful, charming, in love, beloved! And by whom? And who was this king? How old was he? What has become of him? Where is his kingdom? What is his name?
SERPENT.—See, I have scarce begun, and you have already interrupted me. Take care. If you have not more command over yourself, you are undone.
PRINCESS.—Ah, pardon me, sir. I will not repeat my indiscretion. Go on, I beseech you.
SERPENT.—This great king, the most valiant of men, victorious wherever he carried his arms, often dreamed when asleep, and forgot his dreams when awake. He wanted his magicians to remember and inform him what he had dreamed, otherwise he declared he would hang them; for that nothing was more equitable. It is now near seven years since he dreamed a fine dream, which he entirely forgot when he awoke; and a young Jew, full of experience, having revealed it to him, this amiable king was immediately changed into an ox for—
PRINCESS.—Ah! it is my dear Neb——
She could not finish, she fainted away. Mambres, who listened at a distance, saw her fall, and believed her dead.
[1] A prophetic reference by the serpent to Milton's Paradise Lost.—E.
