300 A Merry Tale with a Merry Moral. 



Than can be said of any other prince : w>* a#w jf 



Who reign'd on earth before him aye, or since. bib 



,, , , , ,. ,, , . ,. .,, ,, . IIH 



How happy he believ d himself with this 



Most wonderous cap ! by which he could avoid 

 Fraud, treachery, and anything amiss, 



And lead a life of pleasure unalloy'd. 

 How ignorant is man of what is bliss, 



Or how it may be kept, or how destroy'd ! 

 Each heavy ill that on our joy encroaches 

 Seems lighter, if we see not its approaches. 



Arsaces resolved, in the first instance, to try the experiment upon a 

 young male attendant, named Marzucco, of fine person, and unexcep- 

 tionable deportment, who was always about the sultaness. The moment 

 the cap was on his head, Marzucco broke out in a rapturous eulogium 

 of Irene, declared his love for her, and lamented that the frequent pre- 

 sence of her husband deprived him of the opportunities be wished to 

 enjoy. Arsaces snatching off tbe cap, put bis hand to bis scymetar, but 

 instantly remembered his oath to tbe magician. Stultus qui qucerit quod 

 nocet inventum : Arsaces retired from his court in doubt and dismay, 

 and all wondered at the sudden and extraordinary change. At last he 

 began to comfort himself with tbe hope that tbe passion of Marzucco 

 might be for some other Irene 



One whom Marzucco idly thought more fair. 

 While he indulg'd this hope, however faint, 



Irene enter'd, dress'd with careless care, 

 In purest white, and looking like a saint. 



He never saw her look more lovely, ne'er 

 Had seen a face more free from vice's taint. 



He felt convinced it was not she he meant, 



She seem'd so beautiful and innocent. 



A kiss confirmed the sultan's conviction : 



Man is at best a silly, doating thing, 

 Born to be fool'd, both cottager and king. 



As ill-luck would have it, the magic cap was lying on a marble table 

 close at hand, and while Irene was sitting on Arsaces' knee (he intently 

 gazing on her beauty, and not suspecting wbat sbe was about to do), 

 she took it up and put it on. The dreadful secret instantly escaped 

 from her lips she avowed ber love for Marzucco, and ber preference of 

 bim to the sultan, whose love she asserted was sickly and surfeiting. 

 Almost deprived of reason, Arsaces flung the cap from a window of the 

 palace into tbe sea, and then fell upon the floor in a trance: Irene, 

 unconscious of what she had said, and of the cause of the sultan's illness, 

 had him conveyed to his couch, and life presently returned, but he could 

 not recover the shock he had sustained 



His health decayed : the sultaness attended 

 Upon him, and display'd most anxious care, 



Which with such lovely blandishments she blended, 

 She seem'd to all as innocent as fair 



All but the sultan, whom she but offended 

 By new hypocrisy : as if for air 



He often thrust her back with languid force, 



And each succeeding day grew worse and worse. 



