Sweet love, towards thy bowery gate, Those eyes disclose a brighter day. As wand'ring Arab longs to meet Morn's beam, when darkness shrouds the land, M. DIDEROT'S GALLANTRY. In almost all countries, have cruel laws, at one time or other, contributed to render the condition of women degraded and unhappy. As civilization triumphs, her wrongs get redressed; but the most polished societies are yet far from the point at which M. Diderot-once gallantly desired to see them arrive. "Woman!" said he, "how sincerely do I lament with you! There is but one way to make amends for your sufferings, and, were I a law-giver, this, perhaps, you would obtain.-Freed from all servitude, you should be sacred, wherever you appear." ON A WATCH-PAPER CUT BY A YOUNG LADY. BY DR. RUSSELL. Long had I liv'd fair Chloe's slave, "Restore, unkind, my foolish heart, The glittering gift the fair one took, And straight the engine wide extends, Then pleas'd to shew her matchless art, I saw, and ah! dear maid, I cried, Had loosed a captive from his chain. PHILIP, DUKE OF ANJOU, AND THE FAIR GASCON. Philip, Duke of Anjou, second son of the Dauphin of France, and grandson of Louis XIV., ascended the throne of Spain in 1701, in the nineteenth year of his age. On the 31st of December in that year, he arrived at Bourdeaux; and while dining in public, the people were permitted to enter the hall where he sat. There was, consequently, a great concourse,some entering as the others went out. The dessert being brought in, a Gascon girl approached the King's table. She was about eighteen years old, R well formed, of a majestic lively countenance, very neatly dressed, and, besides, had something charming in her air, which distinguished her from the other beauties about the person of the youthful monarch. The King, without any ceremony, took a dish of sweetmeats, and turned them into her apron. She received the royal present with surprising modesty, and could not forbear deeply blushing-a circumstance which drew on her the admiration of all the spectators. The young King smiled upon her, and signified, by many tender glances, the impression she made on his heart. As the fair virgin could not bear, without confusion, such notice, she retired. His Majesty, as she withdrew, whispered to one of the pages to learn her name and abode. The repast being ended, the King retired to his chamber, and wrote a note, which he gave to the page, to carry to the one who had become the object of his solicitude. His passion was expressed in these terms :— "Love reigns in the hearts of kings as well as in those of their subjects. She knows no power superior to her own; and the greatest monarchs in the world glory in the submission to her empire. You may think it strange, my dear, that I am affected by the charms of your persou. I beg of you one hour's in terview." The King, when he delivered the billet to the page, gave to him a rich diamond, with orders to deliver it, in his name, to the young female. The page punctually performed the commands of his Majesty. The fair Gascon read the King's billet, and accepted the present. As she was of a sprightly genius, (a quality natural to the people of that country,) she answered the King's declaration of love as follows: "Sir, I do assure you, that if love reigns over the hearts of kings as it does over the meanest of their subjects, virtue, constancy, and fidelity, reign also among women of mean birth, as well as among queens. I return your Majesty my hearty thanks for the tender love you have conceived for me, and yet more for the declaration you have made in the billet you have pleased to take the trouble of writing to me. Perhaps, Great Prince, if I had been descended from the blood of queens, and sovereign princesses, you would not have noticed me. As I have never sacrificed my fidelity to a lover to whom I have promised marriage, I beg your Majesty to dispense with an interview, which cannot but be fatal to my virtue. Nevertheless, Sir, I will keep your diamond as a precious token of the love which it has pleased so great a monarch to honour me with, at a time when I cannot answer him but with sighs and regrets." |