GIL BIAS. 45
lie had not the leafl fufpicion of the negotiation cn- trufted to my care. ’Tis true, indeed, for an Italian, he was not much addi&ed tojealoufy ; he depended upon the virtue of Lucfrccia, and Ihutting hiipTelf up in his clofet, left me frequently alone with her. I went roundly to work, the very firft opportunity ; entertained the lady with the paflion of the grand duke, and told her, that my foie defign in coming to her houfe, was to talk to her of that prince. She did not feem captivated by him ; and yet, I perceived that her vanity hindered her from rejecting his ad- drefTes : fhe took pleafure in hearing them, without feeling any inclination to anfwer his defires.’ She dicl rot want understanding ; hut fhe was a woman, and 1 obferved that her virtue yielded infenfibly to the idea of a lovereign in her chains. In fhort, the prince had reafon to flatter himfelf that,. without employing the violence of a Tarquin, he would fee Lucrecia fubjeiffc- ed to his love. An accident, however, which he lit- tfe expeffced, deltroyed his hope, as you fhall prefent- Jy hear. ,
I am naturally impudent among women, having acquired that qualification, I know not whether it be good or bad, among the Turks : Lucrecia, was hand- fome, and I, forgetting that I was only to a£i the part of an ambattador, talked to her on my own (core ; offering my fci vices with all the gallantry I was matter of. Inftead of being (hocked at my auda- cioufnefs, and replying in a rage, fhe faid, with a a fmile, “ You mutt own, Don Raphael r that the grand duke has made choice of a very faithful and zealous minifler, who ferves him with an integrity never enough to be commended.” “ (faid I, with the fame air) don’t let us examine things fernpu- loufly; but lay afide thofe refleftions which (I know very well) are not at all favourble to me. I abandon myfelf to my paflion; and' after all, don’t believe myfelf the firft confidant of a prince, who has betrayed his maftcr m affairs of gallantry; for