was overblown;
then, assuming an air of condolence, animated with that resolution which
a friend ought to maintain on such occasions, "My dear Count," said he,
"I am not at all surprised at your emotion, because I know what an heart,
susceptible as yours, must feel from the apostasy of one who has reigned
so long the object of your love, admiration, and esteem. Your endeavours
to drive her from your thoughts must create an agony much more severe
than that which divorces the soul from the body. Nevertheless, I am so
confident of your virtue and your manhood, as to foresee, that you will
allow the fair Monimia to execute that resolution which she hath so
unwisely taken, to withdraw herself from your love and protection.
Believe me, my best friend and benefactor, this is a step, in consequence
of which you will infallibly retrieve your peace of mind. It may cost
you many bitter pangs, it may probe your wounds to the quick; but those
pangs will be soothed by the gentle and salutary wing of time, and that
probing will rouse you to a due sense of your own dignity and importance,
which will enable you to convert your attention to objects far more
worthy of your contemplation. All the hopes of happiness you had
cherished in the possession of Monimia are now irrecoverably blasted; her
heart is now debased beneath your consideration; her love is, without all
doubt, extinguished, and her honour irretrievably lost; insomuch, that,
were she to profess sorrow for her indiscretion, and implore your
forgiveness, with the most solemn promises of regarding you for the
future with unalterable fidelity and affection, you ought not to restore
her to that place in your heart which she hath so meanly forfeited,
because you could not at the same time reinstate her in the possession of
that delicate esteem without which there is no harmony, no rapture, no
true enjoyment in love.

"No, my dear Renaldo, expel the unworthy tenant from your bosom; allow
her to fill up the measure of her ingratitude, by deserting her lover,
friend, and benefactor. Your glory demands her dismission; the world
will applaud your generosity, and your own heart approve of your conduct.
So disencumbered, let us exert ourselves once more in promoting your
departure from this island, that you may revisit your father's house, do
justice to yourself and amiable sister, and take vengeance on the author
of your wrongs; then dedicate yourself to glory, in imitation of your