him; he look'd so handsome, and was so richly dress'd, ten
times finer than he was yesterday; and I promis'd him you should read
it: therefore, pray let me keep my Word with him; and not only so, but
carry him an Answer.' 'Well (said _Atlante_) to save your Credit with
Monsieur _Rinaldo_, I will read it': Which she did, and finish'd with a
Sigh. While she was reading, _Charlot_ ran into the Garden, to see if
they were not likely to be surpriz'd; and finding the Count and her
Father set in an Arbour, in deep Discourse, she brought Pen, Ink, and
Paper to her Sister, and told her, she might write without the Fear of
being disturbed: and urged her so long to what was enough her
Inclination, that she at last obtained this Answer:

_ATLANTE_ to _RINALDO_.

_+Charlot+, your little importunate Advocate, has at last subdued me
to a Consent of returning you This. She has put me on an Affair with
which I am wholly unacquainted; and you ought to take this very
kindly from me, since it is the very first time I ever writ to one
of your Sex, tho' perhaps I might with less Danger have done it to
any other Man. I tremble while I write, since I dread a
Correspondence of this Nature, which may insensibly draw us into an
Inconvenience, and engage me beyond the Limits of that Nicety I
ought to preserve: For this Way we venture to say a thousand little
kind Things, which in Conversation we dare not do: for now none can
see us blush. I am sensible I shall this Way put my self too soon
into your Power; and tho' you have abundance of Merit, I ought to be
asham'd of confessing, I am but too sensible of it:--But hold--I
shall discover for your Repose (which I would preserve) too much of
the Heart of_

Atlante.

She gave this Letter to _Charlot_; who immediately ran into the Balcony
with it, where she still found _Rinaldo_ in a melancholy Posture,
leaning his Head on his Hand: She shewed him the Letter, but was afraid
to toss it to him, for fear it might fall to the Ground; so he ran and
fetched a long Cane, which he cleft at one End, and held it while she
put the Letter into the Cleft, and staid not to hear what he said to it.
But never was Man so transported with Joy, as he was at the reading of
this Letter; it gives him new Wounds; for to the Generous, nothing
obliges Love so much as Love: tho' it is now too much the Nature of that
inconstant Sex, to cease to love as soon as they are sure of the
Conquest.