condescend to be the wife of a prince. I shrink at my own littleness; I am in a state of obligation for my support, but I never will incur my own contempt, by deserving it from others. My mind is indeed, I hope, superior to my situation: I will preserve a rectitude of principles under every evil that may befall me; those principles impel me to avow, with the greatest solemnity in the face of heaven, that under the disgraceful circumstances in which my fate seems enveloped, I never will be yours." "Hold, hold, madam, (cried the Count, endeavouring to interrupt her) great God! what have you vowed!" "What duty to myself and you required of me, (said she;) and now, my Lord, let this subject never be renewed. If it can afford you any consolation, (added she, softened by the disorder and distress of his appearance) be assured, my Lord, that as I never can be yours, I never will be another's; and if my happiness is as dear to you as yours will ever be to me, you will from this moment cease to think of me but as an unfortunate girl, de-
