nt, and one that might very well presume to lay claim to a
Maid of _Isabella's_ Beauty and Fortune.

As the time approach'd, when he must eternally lose all hope, by
_Isabella's_ taking Orders, he found himself less able to bear the
Efforts of that Despair it possess'd him with, he languished with the
thought, so that it was visible to all his Friends, the decays it
wrought on his Beauty and Gaiety: So that he fell at last into a Feaver;
and 'twas the whole Discourse of the Town, That _Villenoys_ was dying
for the Fair _Isabella_; his Relations, being all of Quality, were
extreamly afflicted at his Misfortune, and joyn'd their Interests yet,
to dissuade this fair young Victoress from an act so cruel, as to
inclose herself in a _Nunnery_, while the finest of all the youths of
Quality was dying for her, and ask'd her, If it would not be more
acceptable to Heaven to save a Life, and perhaps a Soul, than to go and
expose her own to a thousand Tortures? They assur'd her, _Villenoys_ was
dying, and dying Adoring her; that nothing could save his Life, but her
kind Eyes turn'd upon the fainting Lover; a Lover, that could breath
nothing, but her Name in Sighs; and find satisfaction in nothing, but
weeping and crying out, 'I dye for Isabella!' This Discourse fetch'd
abundance of Tears from the fair Eyes of this tender Maid; but, at the
same time, she besought them to believe, these Tears ought not to give
them hope, she should ever yield to save his Life, by quitting her
Resolution, of becoming a _Nun_; but, on the contrary, they were Tears,
that only bewail'd her own Misfortune, in having been the occasion of
the death of any Man, especially, a Man, who had so many Excellencies,
as might have render'd him entirely Happy and Glorious for a long race
of Years, had it not been his ill fortune to have seen her unlucky Face.
She believ'd, it was for her Sins of Curiosity, and going beyond the
Walls of the Monastery, to wander after the Vanities of the foolish
World, that had occasion'd this Misfortune to the young Count of
_Villenoys_, and she would put a severe Penance on her Body, for the
Mischiefs her Eyes had done him; she fears she might, by something in
her looks, have intic'd his Heart, for she own'd she saw him, with
wonder at his Beauty, and much more she admir'd him, when she found the
Beauties of his Mind; she confess'd, she had given him hope, by
answering his Letters; and that when she found her Heart grow a little
more