Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 5.djvu/71

her fall into the ſame Condition, from which we had ſo much Trouble to recover her; but my Precautions were all in vain as you ſhall hear: Prince, ſays ſhe, I henceforth renounce all Pleaſures as I am deprived of a Sight of you. If I have underſtood your Heart right, I only follow your Example. Thou wilt not ceaſe to weep until thou ſeeſt me again; it’s but juſt that I weep and mourn ’till I ſee you. At theſe Words, which ſhe uttered in ſuch a Manner as expreſſed the Violence of her Paſſion, ſhe fainted a ſecond Time betwixt my Arms.

Here Scheherazade ſeeing Day begin to appear, broke off, and next Night purſued her Diſcourſe thus.

SChemſelnihar’s Confident continued to tell Ebn Thaher all that happen’d to her Miſtreſs after her firſt fainting. My Comrades and I, ſays ſhe, were a long Time in recovering her; at laſt ſhe came to herſelf, and then I ſaid to her, Madam, are you reſolved to kill yourſelt and to make us alſo die with you, I beg of you be perſuaded in the Name of the Prince of Perſia for whom it is your Intereſt to live, to ſave your ſelf as you love your ſelf, as you love the Prince, and for our ſakes who are ſo faithful to you. I am very much oblig’d to you, reply’d ſhe, for your Care; Zeal, and Advice; but alas! they are uſeleſs to me: You are not to flatter us with any Hopes, for we can expect no End of our Torment, but in the Grave. One of my Companions would have diverted thoſe ſad Thoughts by playing on her Lute, but ſhe commanded her to be ſilent, and order’d all of them to retire except me, whom ſhe kept all Night with her. O Heavens! What a Night was it! She paſſed it in Tears and Groans, and always naming the Prince of Perſia. She lamented her Lot, that had deſtined her to the Califf, whom ſhe could not love, and not for him whom ſhe lov’d ſo dearly.

Next Morning, becauſe ſhe was not commodiouſly lodgeed in the Saloon, I helped her to her Chamber, where ſhe no ſooner arriv’d, than all the Phyſicians of the Palace came to ſee her, by order of the Califf, who was not long a coming himſelf, The Medicines which the Phyſicians preſcribed for Schemſelnihar were to no purpoſe, becauſe