“Pray, madam,” replied the Sultan, “calm yourself: Selim loves again, Cydalisa will be revenged.”

“Sir,” answered Selim, “your highness may possibly be misinformed. Ought I not to have learnt, once for my whole life, by my adventure with Cydalisa, that true love was too prejudicial to happiness?”

“Without doubt,” interrupted Mirzoza, “and yet I would lay a wager, notwithstanding your philosophical reflections, that you actually love another more ardently than⁠—”

“More ardently,” replied Selim, “I dare not assert: these five years past I am attached, but attached from my heart to a charming woman. It was not without difficulty, that I made her listen to me, for she had always been of a virtue!”

“Virtue!” cried the Sultan; “courage, my friend, I am charmed, when one talks to me of the virtue of a court lady.”

“Selim,” said the favorite, “continue your story.”