_Continuation of the adventures of Louisa: her quitting Vienna with
Melanthe, and going to Venice, with some accidents that there
befel them_.
Not all the gaieties of the court of Vienna had power to attach the
heart of Melanthe, after she heard that a great number of young
officers, just returned from the campaign in Italy, and other persons of
condition, were going to Venice, in order to partake the diversions of
the near approaching carnival: she was for following pleasure every
where, and having seen all that was worth observing in Germany, was
impatient to be gone where new company and new delights excited her
curiosity.
Having therefore obtained proper passports, they set out in company with
several others who were taking the same rout, and by easy journeys thro'
Tyrol, at length arrived at that republic, so famous over all Europe for
its situation, antiquity, and the excellence of its constitution.
Here seemed to be at this time an assemblage of all that was to be found
of grand and polite in the whole christian world; but none appeared with
that splendor and magnificence as did Lewis de Bourbon, prince of Conti:
he had in his train above fifty noblemen and gentlemen of the best
families in France, who had commissions under him in the army, and
seemed proud to be of his retinue, less for his being of the blood
royal, than for the many great and amiable qualities which adorned his
person. This great hero had been a candidate with Augustus, elector of
Saxony, for the crown of Poland; but the ill genius of that kingdom
would not suffer it to be governed by a prince whose virtues would
doubtless have rendered it as flourishing and happy as it has since that
unfortunate rejection been impoverished and miserable. Bigotted to a
family whose designs are plainly to render the crown hereditary, they
not only set aside that great prince, under the vain and common-place
pretence, that on electing him they might be too much under the
influence of France; but also afterward, as resolved to push all good
fortune from them with both hands, refused Stanislaus, a native of
Poland, a strict observer of its laws, and a man to whose courage,
virtue, and every eminent qualification even envy itself could make no
objection, and thereby rendered their country the seat of war and
theatre of the most terrible devastations of all kinds. But of this
infatuation of the Poles I shall have occasion hereafter to speak more
at large, and should not now have made any mention of it, had not the
presence of that hero, whom they first rejected, rendered it the general
subject of discourse at Venice. Numberless were the instances he gave of
a magnanimity and greatness of mind worthy of a more exalted throne than
that of Poland; but I shall only mention one, which, like the thumb of
Hercules, may serve to give a picture of him in miniature.
Having the good fortune one night to win a very great sum at a public
gaming, just as he sweep'd the stakes, a noble Venetian, who by some
casualties in life was reduced in his circumstances, could not help
crying out, heavens! how happy would such a chance have made me! these
words, which the extreme difficulties he was under forced from him,
without being sensible himself of what he said, were over-heard by the
prince, who turning hastily about, instead of putting the money into his
own pocket, presented it to him, saying, I am doubly indebted to chance,
sir, which has made me master of this; since it may be of service to
you, I beseech you therefore to accept it with the respects of a prince,
whose greatest pleasure in life is to oblige a worthy person.
It would take up too much time to expatiate on the grateful
acknowledgments made by the Venetian, or the admiration which the report
of this action being immediately spread, occasioned; but, added to
others of a little less conspicuous nature, it greatly served to
convince those who before were ignorant of it, how blind the Polanders
had been to their own interest.
Among the concourse of nobility and gentry, whom merely the love of
pleasure had drawn hither, and for that end were continually forming
parties, Melanthe never failed of making one either in one company or
other: Louisa, whom that lady still treated with her former kindness, or
rather with an increase of it, was also seldom absent, and when she was
so, the fault was wholly her own inclination: but in truth, that hurry
of incessant diversion, which at first had seemed so ravishing to her
young and unexperienced mind, began, by a more perfect acquaintance with
it, to grow tiresome to her, and she rather chose sometimes to retire
with a favourite book into her closet, than to go to the most elegant
entertainment.
It is certain, indeed, that her disposition was rather inclined to
serious than the contrary, and that, joined with the reflections which
her good understanding was perpetually presenting her with, on the
uncertainty of her birth, the precariousness of her dependance, and her
enforced quitting the only person from whom she could expect the means
of any solid establishment in the world, had rendered her sometimes
extremely thoughtful, even in the midst of those pleasures that are
ordinarily most enchanting to one of her sex and age. But as she never
was elated with the respect paid to her supposed condition, so she never
was mortified with the consciousness of her real one, to a behaviour
such as might have degraded the highest birth; neither appearing to
expect it, or be covetous of honours, nor meanly ashamed of accepting
them when offered. And while by this prudent management she secured
herself from any danger of being insulted whenever it should be known
who she was, she also gave no occasion for any one to make too deep an
enquiry into her descent or fortune.
But now the time was arrived when those deficiencies gave her more
anxiety than hitherto they had done; and love in one moment filled her
with those repinings at her fate, which neither vanity or ambition would
ever have had power to do.
Melanthe here, as at Vienna, received the visits of all whose birth,
fortune, or accomplishments, gave them a pretence; but there was none
who paid them so frequently, or which she encouraged with so much
pleasure as those of the count de Bellfleur, a French nobleman belonging
to the above-mentioned prince of Conti: she often told Louisa, when they
were alone, that there was something in the air and manner of behaviour
of this count, which had so perfect a resemblance with that of Henricus,
that tho' it reminded her of that once dear and perfidious man, she
could not help admiring and wishing a frequent sight of him. This was
spoke at her first acquaintance with him; but after some little time she
informed her, that he had declared a passion for her. He is not only
like Henricus in his person, said she, but appears to have the same
inclinations also:--he pretends to adore me, continued she with a sigh,
and spares no vows nor presents to assure me of it:--something within
tempts me to believe him, and yet I fear to be a second time betrayed.
Ah! madam, cried Louisa, in the sincerity of her heart, I beseech you to
be cautious how you too readily give credit to the protestations of a
sex, who, by the little observations I have made, take a pride in
deceiving ours;--besides, the count de Bellfleur is of a nation where
faith, I have heard, is little to be depended on.
Those who give them that character, replied Melanthe, do them an
infinite injustice:--in politics, I allow, they have their artifices,
their subterfuges, as well as in war; but then they put them in practice
only against their enemies, or such as are likely to become
so:--wherever they love, or have a friendship, their generosity is
beyond all bounds.--
She pursued this discourse with a long detail of all she had ever read
or heard in the praise of the French, and did not forget to speak of the
prince of Conti as an instance of the gallant spirit with which that
people are animated.
Louisa knew her temper, and that it would be in vain to urge any thing
in contradiction to an inclination she found she was resolved to
indulge; but she secretly trembled for the consequence, the count having
said many amorous things to herself before he pretended any passion for
Melanthe; and tho' he had of late desisted on finding how little she was
pleased with them, yet that he had done so was sufficient to convince
her he was of a wavering disposition. Melanthe was not, however, to be
trusted with this secret; she loved him, and jealousy, added to a good
share of vanity, would, instead of engaging any grateful return for a
discovery of that nature, have made her hate the person he had once
thought of as worthy of coming in any competition with herself. She
therefore indeed thought it best not to interfere in the matter, but
leave the event wholly to chance.
The evening on the day in which this discourse had past between them,
they went to a ball, to which they had been invited by one of the
Magnifico's. The honour of the prince's company had been requested; but
he excused himself on account, as it was imagined, of his being engaged
with a certain German lady, who also being absent, gave room for this
conjecture: most of the gentlemen who had followed his highness from
France were there, among whom was the count de Bellfleur, and a young
gentleman called monsieur du Plessis, who, by a fall from his horse, had
been prevented from appearing in public since his arrival. The
gracefulness of his person, the gallant manner in which he introduced
himself, and the brilliant things he said to the ladies, on having been
so long deprived of the happiness he now enjoyed, very much attracted
the admiration of the company; but Louisa in particular thought she had
never seen any thing so perfectly agreeable: a sympathy of sentiment,
more than accident, made him chuse her for his partner in a grand dance
then leading up; and the distinction now paid her by him gave her a
secret satisfaction, which she had never known before on such an
occasion, tho' often singled out by persons in more eminent stations.
The mind which, whenever agitated by any degree of pain or pleasure,
never fails to discover itself in the eyes, now sparkled in those of
Louisa with an uncommon lustre, nor had less influence over all her
air:--her motions always perfectly easy, gentle and graceful, especially
in dancing, were now more spirituous, more alert than usual; and she so
much excelled herself, that several, who had before praised her skill in
this exercise, seemed ravished, as if they had seen something new and
unexpected:--her partner was lavish in the testimonies of his
admiration, and said, she as much excelled the ladies of his country, as
they had been allowed to excel all others.
The encomiums bestowed on her, and more particularly those she received
from him, still added fresh radiance to her eyes, and at the same time
diffused a modest blush in her checks which heightened all her
charms.--Never had she appeared so lovely as at this time; and the count
de Bellfleur, in spight of his attachment to Melanthe, felt in himself a
strong propensity to renew those addresses which her reserved behaviour
alone had made him withdraw and carry to another; but the lady to whom
for some days past he had made a shew of devoting himself was present,
and he was ashamed to give so glaring an instance of his infidelity,
which must in all probability render him the contempt of both.
This night, however, lost Melanthe the heart she had thought herself so
secure of; but little suspecting her misfortune, she treated the
inconstant count with a tenderness he was far from deserving; and having
transplanted all the affection she once had for Henricus on this new
object, told him, at a time that such discovery was least welcome to
him, that she was not insensible of his merit, nor could be ungrateful
to his passion, provided she could be convinced of the sincerity of it.
He had gone too far with her now to be able to draw back, therefore
could not avoid repeating the vows he before had made, tho' his heart
was far from giving any asient to what his tongue was obliged to utter;
but blinded by her own desires, she perceived not the change in his, and
appointed him to come the next day to her lodgings, promising to be
denied to all other company, that she might devote herself entirely
to him.
It is possible he was so lost in his passion for Louisa, as not to be
sensible of the condescension made him by Melanthe; but it is certain,
by the sequel of his behaviour, that he was much less so than he
pretended.
The ball being ended, these ladies carried with them very different
emotions, tho' neither communicated to the other what she felt. Melanthe
had a kind of awe for those virtuous principles she observed in Louisa,
tho' so much her inferior and dependant, and was ashamed to confess her
liking of the count should have brought her to such lengths; not that
she intended to keep it always a secret from her, but chose she should
find it out by degrees; and these thoughts so much engrossed her, that
she said little to her that night. Louisa, for her part, having lost the
presence of her agreeable partner, was busy in supplying that deficiency
with the idea of him; so that each having meditations of her own of the
most interesting nature, had not leisure to observe the thoughtfulness
of the other, much less to enquire the motive of it.
One of the great reasons that we find love so irresistable, is, that it
enters into the heart with so much subtilty, that it is not to be
perceived till it has gathered too much strength to be repulsed. If
Louisa had imagined herself in any danger from the merits of monsieur du
Plessis, she would at least have been less easily overcome by them:--she
had been accustomed to be pleased with the conversation of many who had
entertained her as he had done, but thought no more of them, or any
thing they said, when out of their company; but it was otherways with
her now: not a word he had spoke, not a glance he had given, but was
imprinted in her mind:--her memory ran over every little action a
thousand and a thousand times, and represented all as augmented with
some grace peculiar to himself, and infinitely superior to any thing she
had ever seen:--not even sleep could shut him out;--thro' her closed
eyes she saw the pleasing vision; and fancy, active in the cause of
love, formed new and various scenes, which to her waking thoughts were
wholly strangers.
Melanthe also past the night in ideas which, tho' experienced in, were
not less ravishing: she was not of a temper to put any constraint on her
inclinations; and having entertained the most amorous ones for the count
de Bellfleur, easily overcame all scruples that might have hindered the
gratification of them:--her head ran on the appointment she had made
him:--the means she would take to engage his constancy,--resolved to
sell the reversion of her jointure and accompany him to France, and
flattered herself with the most pleasing images of a long series of
continued happiness in the arms of him, who was now all to her that
Henricus ever had been.
Full of these meditations she rose, and soon after received from the
subject of them a billet, containing these words:
_To the charming_ MELANTHE.