The following tale was translated from the French of M. Florian, by
the present hand, about 7 or 8 years ago, for a Richmond newspaper.
That translation its author has not seen since 1827; and lately
meeting with the original again, it seemed new enough, as well as
sufficiently pretty and interesting, to be worth presenting afresh to
the public through the Southern Literary Messenger. It is seldom that
so much varied incident has been compressed into so short a compass:
yet the rapidity of the narrative has not hindered the writer from
indulging a humor both playful and caustic, upon the foibles which he
banters, and the vices and crimes which he holds up to detestation.
And the moral, disclosed in unravelling the mystery of the allegorical
personage from whom the story takes its name, is full at once of
beauty and truth.