158 „ H I N D O 
Dujhm. My foul will be delighted even by her pifture. 
-‘-Show the way to the bower. 
Madh. This way, ray friend.—[ They both advance, Mif- 
racefi following than.'] —The arbour of twining Madhavis, 
embellilhed with fragments of ftone like bright gems, ap¬ 
pears by its pleafantnefs, though without a voice, to bid 
thee welcome.—Let us enter it, and be feated. 
[ They both fit down in the bower. 
Mifr. [Afde.] From behind thefe branchy Ihrubs I fliall 
behold the picture of my Sacontala.—-I will afterwards 
haften to report the lincere affection of her hufband. 
[S/ie conceals herfclf 
Dujhm. [Sighing.] O my approved friend, the whole 
adventure of the hermitage is now frelh in my memory.— 
L informed you how deeply I was affefted by the firft 
fight of the damfelj but when Ihe was rejefted by me you 
were not prelent.—Her name was often repeated by me 
(how, indeed, Ihould it not?) in our converfation.— 
What ! haft thou forgotten, as I had, the whole ftory ? 
Mifr. [ Afde .] The fovereigns of this world mull not, I 
find, be left an inftant without the objefts of their love. 
Madk. Oh no: I have not forgotten it; but at the end 
of our difeourfe you allured me that your love-tale was 
in dented folely for your diverfion ; and this, in the fnnpli- 
city of my heart, 1 believed.—Some great event feems in 
all this affair to be predeitined in heaven. 
Mifr. [Afde. ] Nothing is more true. 
Dujhm. [Having meditated.] O! my friend, fuggeft fome 
relief fof my torment. 
Madh. What new pain torments you ? Virtuous men 
Ihould never be thus afflifted: the moft violent wind 
(hakes not mountains. 
Dujhm. When I refleft on the fituation of your friend 
Sacontala, who mull now be greatly affefted by my defer- 
tion of her, I am without comfort.—She made an attempt 
to follow the Brahmins and the matron : Stay, faid the 
fage’s pupil, who was revered as the lage himlelf; Stay, 
faid he, with a loud voice. Then once more (he fixed on 
me, who had betrayed her, that celeltial face, then be¬ 
dewed with gufhing tears ; and the bare idea ot her pain 
burns me like an envenomed javelin. 
Mifr. [ Afde .] How he afflifts himfelf! 1 really fympa- 
thize with him. 
Madh. Surely fome inhabitant of the heavens mull have 
wafted her to his manfion. 
Dujhm. No; what male divinity would have taken the 
pains to carry off a wife fo firmly attached to her lord ? 
Menaca, the nymph of Swerga, gave her birth; and fome 
of her attendant nymphs have, I imagine, concealed her 
at the delire of her mother. 
Mifr. [Afide.] To reject Sacontala was, no doubt, the 
effect of a delirium, not the aft of a waking man. 
Madh. If it be thus, you will loon meet her again. 
Dufim. Alas ! why do you think fo ? 
Madh. Becaufe no father or mother can long endure to 
fee their daughter deprived of her hufband. 
Dujhm. Was it fleep that impaired my memory ? Was 
it delufion ? Was it an error of my judgment ? Or was it 
the deltined reward of my bad aftions ? Whatever it was, 
I am fenfible that, until Sacontala return to thefe arms, I 
(hall be plunged in the abyls of affliction. 
Madh. Do not delpair: the fatal ring is itfelf an exam¬ 
ple that the loft may be found.—Events which were fore¬ 
doomed by heaven mult not be-lamented. 
Dujhm. [ Looking at his ring.] The fate of this ring, now 
fallen from a ftation which it will not eafily regain, I may 
at leaft deplore.—O gem, thou art removed from the foft 
finger, beautiful with ruddy tips, on which a place had 
been alligned thee; and, minute as thou art, thy bad 
qualities appear from the fimilarity of thy punilhment to' 
mine. 
Mifr.. [Afde .] Had it found a way to any other hand, 
its lot would have been truly deplorable.—O Menaca, how 
would ft thou be delighted with, the converfation which 
gratifies my ears 1 
OSTAN. 
Madh. Let me know, I pray, by what means the ring 
obtained a place on the finger of Sacontala. 
Dujhm. You lhall know, my friend.—When I was 
coming from the holy forell to my capital, my beloved, 
with tears in her eyes, thus addrelfed me: “ HoW long 
will the fon of my lord keep me in his remembrance ?” 
Madh. Well; what then? 
Dufim. Then, fixing this ring on her lovely finger, I 
thus anfwered : “ Repeat each day one of the three lylla- 
bles engraved on this gem ; and, before thou haft fpelled 
the word Dulhmanta, one of my nobleft officers lhall at¬ 
tend thee, and conduft my darling to her palace.”_Yet 
I forgot, I deierted her in my phrenly. 
Mifr. [Afde.] A charming interval of three days was 
fixed .between their feparation and their meeting, which 
the will of Brahma rendered unhappy. 
Madh. But how came the ring’to enter, like a hook, 
into die mouth.of a carp ? 
Dufim. When my beloved was lifting water to her head 
in the pool of Sachitirt’ha, the ring mull have dropped 
unfeen. 
Madh. It is very probable. 
Mifr. [Afde.] Oh! it was thence that the king, who 
fears nothing but injuftice, doubted the reality of his 
marriage; but how, I wonder, could his memory be con¬ 
nected with a ring ? 
Dujhm. I am really angry with this gem. 
Madh. [Laughing.] So am I with this Half. 
Dufim. Why fo, Madhavya ? 
Madh. Becaufe it prefumes to be fo ft might when I am 
fo crooked.—Impertinent ftick ! 
Dufim . [ Not attending to him.] How, O ring, couldft thou 
leave that hand adorned with loft long fingers, and fall 
into a pool decked only with water-lilies ?—The anfwer 
is obvious; thou art irrational.—But how could I, who 
was born with a reafonabk foul, defert my only beloved ? 
Mifr. [Afde.] He anticipates my remark. 
Madh. [ Afde. ] So; I mult wait here during his medi¬ 
tations, and perilh with hunger 
Dufim. O my darling, whom I treated with difrefpeft, 
andforlbok without reafon, when will this traitor, whole 
heart is deeply flung with repentant forrow, be once more 
bleffed with a fight of thee ? 
A Damlel enters with a piBure. 
Damf Great king, the pifture is finilhed. 
[Holding it before him. 
Dufim. [Gazing on it.] Yes ; that is her face ; thofe are 
her beautiful eyes ; thole her lips embellilhed with fmiles, 
and furpaffmg the red luftre of the Carcandhu fruit: her 
moiith leems, though painted, to fpeak, and her counte¬ 
nance darts beams of affeftion blended with a variety of 
melting tints. 
Madk. Truly, my friend, it is a pifture fweet as love 
itfelf: my eye glides up and down to feaft on every par¬ 
ticle of it; and it gives me as much delight as if I were 
aftually converting with the living Sacontala. 
Mifr. [Afde.] An exquifite piece of painting!—My be¬ 
loved friend feems to Hand before my eyes. 
Dufim. Yet the pifture is infinitely below the original j 
and my warm fancy, by lupplying its imperfections, repre- 
fents, in fome degree, the lovelinefs of my darling. 
Mifr. [Afde.] His ideas are 1 'uitable to his exceffive love 
and fevere penitence. 
Dujhm. [Sighing.] Alas! I rejefted her when Ihe lately 
approached me, and now I do homage to her pifture; 
like a traveller who negligently paffes by a clear and full 
rivulet, and foon ardently thirfts for a falfe appearance of 
water on the landy delert. 
Madh. There are fo many female figures on this canvas* 
that I cannot well diftinguilh the lady Sacontala. 
Mifr. [Afde.] The old man is ignorant of her tran- 
feendent beauty; her eyes, which fafeinated the foul of 
his prince, never fparkled, I luppofe, on Madhavya. 
Dufim. Which of the figures do you conceive intended 
for the queen ? 
Madh * 
