“The rest of my youth,” added Selim, “was spent in the like amusements, always women, and of all sorts, seldom any mystery, a number of oaths, and no sincerity.”

“But at this rate,” says the favorite, “you have never been in love?”

“Psha!” replied Selim, “I thought much of love at that time; I aim’d at pleasure only, and at those women who were most likely to afford it me⁠—”

“But,” interrupted the favorite, “is there any pleasure without loving? What can it be, when the heart says nothing?”

“Alas! madam,” rejoined Selim, “is it the heart that speaks at the age of eighteen or twenty?”

“But infine , what is the result of all these experiments? What have you pronounced on women?”