he Bath.

At Vulaines, beneath the impenetrable shade of flowering osiers
and willows, which, as they bent down their green heads, dipped
the extremities of their branches in the blue waters, a long and
flat-bottomed boat, with ladders covered with long blue curtains, served
as a refuge for the bathing Dianas, who, as they left the water, were
watched by twenty plumed Acteons, who, eagerly, and full of admiration,
galloped up and down the flowery banks of the river. But Diana
herself, even the chaste Diana, clothed in her long chlamys, was less
beautiful--less impenetrable, than Madame, as young and beautiful
as that goddess herself. For, notwithstanding the fine tunic of the
huntress, her round and delicate knee can be seen; and notwithstanding
the sonorous quiver, her brown shoulders can be detected; whereas, in
Madame's case, a long white veil enveloped her, wrapping her round and
round a hundred times, as she resigned herself into the hands of her
female attendants, and thus was rendered inaccessible to the most
indiscreet, as well as to the most penetrating gaze. When she ascended
the ladder, the poets were present--and all were poets when Madame was
the subject of discussion--the twenty poets who were galloping about,
stopped, and with one voice, exclaimed that pearls, and not drops of
water, were falling from her person, to be lost again in the happy
river. The king, the center of these effusions, and of this respectful
homage, imposed silence upon those expatiators, for whom it seemed
impossible to exhaust their raptures, and he rode away, for fear of
offending, even through the silken curtains, the modesty of the woman
and the dignity of the princess. A great blank thereupon ensued in
the scene, and perfect silence in the boat. From the movements on
board--from the flutterings and agitations of the curtains--the goings
to and fro of the female attendants engaged in their duties, could be
guessed.

The king smilingly listened to the conversation of the courtiers around
him, but it could easily be perceived that he gave but little, if any,
attention to their remarks. In fact, hardly had the sound of the rings
drawn along the curtain-rods announced that Madame was dressed, and that
the goddess was about to make her reappearance, than the king,
returning to his former post immediately, and running quite close to
the river-bank, gave the signal for all those to approach whose duty
or pleasure summoned them to Mada