of his murder She fancied she saw the Prince all cover'd with blood and that Face and those Eyes wherein she had been so often pleased to read the marks of a sincere and passionate Love now buried in an eternal Night she could no longer support the weight of her sorrow But as she had yet so much sense left to think that perhaps there was yet time enough to rescue her distressed Lover She conjures the Eunuch to run and tell the King That she had something of great moment to impart to him before he should carry Tachmas to be executed The Eunuch could not be won by any promise to satisfie her Request knowing his Head would be the price of his Complaisance So that Negara was forced to address her self to another from whom she concealed her knowledg of Tachmas's Doom only prays him to acquaint the King that she desired to speak with him Seliman at any other time would have caused all the Eunuchs that were in Negara's Chamber to be put to death because he strictly charged them to conceal from her those violent Resolutions he had taken against his Brother But the emotions which his Brothers presence had raised in his Soul would not suffer him to reflect upon the breach of his Commands As soon as the Princess saw him enter into the Chamber she threw her self at his feet and told him That his own interest must perswade him to let Tachmas live That she would not now speak of the Seditions and Revolts that might be stirred up amongst a people that would not quietly bear the loss of a Prince that was so dear to them condemned upon the suggestion of an imaginary Crime That History was full of Examples of these kind of Disorders raised upon such occasions But laying aside all these considerations If it were true that he had any kindness for her he ought to grant her this favour and in return she promised for ever to bury all thoughts of that kindness she formerly had for Tachmas and to answer all his designs with so perfect an obedience and intire resignation that he should even doubt whether ever she had setled her inclinations upon any other but himself but that if he would push his rigour against his Brother to the utmost extremity she durst not promise him that she should have so much command over her self as not to hate mortally that man who all cover'd over with the blood of him she had once loved should force her to marry him to make her against her will a Complice to his Crime The Princess found little difficulty in obtaining her Request of Seliman and Love happily concluded what Nature had begun But as the Sophy was infinitely Jealous he told Negara That though he had granted her Tachmas his life it should be upon those Terms she her self proposed that is Upon condition She should for ever smother all thoughts of Love or Tenderness towards him and that the least Sigh that should escape from her should be the infallible and irrevocable decree of his Death That she had his Doom in her hands That she must look well to her hits and take her measures so as she desired he should live or die He added That he gave her Fifteen days to conquer this her Passion and to facilitate her victory over her Love she should see Tachmas no more because he well knew how forcible the presence of the once beloved Object was to re-inflame a Love that had been quite extinct After this Discourse he left her and causing his Brother to be brought before him he commanded his Chains to be taken off and outwardly made a shew as if he had been perfectly reconciled to him though in his Heart he nourished still a secret Jealousie of him Tachmas now was restored to his pristine Liberty and was forbidden nothing but the sight of Negara In the interim Allagolikan knowing that Tachmas well understood the hatred he bore him doubted not but he would study a Revenge Wherefore he resolves to declare open War against him and to suggest new Crimes against him to the Sophy to ruine him And to make his Accusation less suspected He contrived to make Negara the Instrument of it and to make this unfortunate Princess the chief promoter of her Lovers Death Therefore he found out an Invention that had but too Tragical a success There was a She-slave in the Princess Begona's Retinue called Sunamire one of the best accomplished Women in all the Court excepting Negara she was transcendently beautiful and she had a vivacity of Wit surpassing her Beauty As Tachmas loved the conversation of those sparkling Beauties he had formerly made his Addresses to Sunamire as well as to Negara with much assiduity This Ambitious Slave had made such use of it that she imagined with a little Address the Prince in some short time might infallibly become her Conquest But though she made use of all the little necessary Arts for her purpose by soliciting the Prince's tenderness by her repeated sighs whether Tachmas not yet well acquainted with the intrigues of Love did not understand them or that he did purposely despise them he returned nothing but indifference And the gay humour of Sunamire was the only thing that drew him to her conversation But when she saw that after being so long blind to her Caresses he had settled his Affections upon Negara she abandon'd her self to all sorts of Resentments and by a change which is very common in the hearts of that Sex she let the desire of Revenge succeed her Love in the most violent manner imaginable She conceived a most malignant Joy when she understood that those Lovers were crossed in their Designs when they believed themselves upon the point of perfecting their happiness However as it is very hard to wish the utter ruine of what we once loved when we see them upon the brink of the precipice our first flames which we thought extinguished easily take fire again in their favour and rebel against those motives of hatred which did animate our vengeance As soon as Sunamire heard that Tachmas was in danger of his life she used all her endeavours for his delivery without taking notice that in so doing she discovered her passion to her Rival She conjured Negara with tears in her Eyes who was but too well inclined of her self to make use of all her power and interest with the Sophy to avert the storm that threatned Tachmas's life This Prince since his being reconciled to his Brother as was said was no more at liberty to see Negara not but that he had the freedom to come into the inner part of the Palace but the Princess was locked up in a little particular Appartment whither none but Seliman Begona Sunamire some Slaves and a few Eunuchs could have ingress Tachmas came often to visit Sunamire but it was only to entertain her with talking of Negara to express to her by the most tender and sensible Requests he
a Civil complaisance and that respect which he owed to her Sex and Merit But the fatal moment was come wherein Love resolved to subjugate this Prince to his Empire to abandon him afterwards to the persecutions of Fortune which made him her Victim It was upon a day as he entertained the Princess alone in the Appartments of Begona the Sophie's Mother where she was bred and where she passed the most part of her time Tachmas fancied a more than ordinary briskness and fire in the Eyes of Negara her Words more graceful and her Wit more acute he felt secret motions which until then had been unknown to him and his heart shewed its disquiet by the often changing of his Countenance his Looks grew passionate his Discourses wild and interrupted with sighs and it is not to be wondered if his Conversation was not so divertising at that time since he was now no more his own He leaves Negara's company much in disorder this sudden change surprised him so much the more because he always had enjoyed a great tranquility of mind but when he considered the object of his Passion with the eyes of a Lover when he represented to himself that confused and flattering Idea of Beauties Vertues and Perfections he found this his bondage more pleasing to him than his former indifference He resolves to declare himself to the Princess upon the first opportunity he should meet with which happened the next day Finding her in a Room accompanied with one of Begona's slaves who out of respect withdrew he endeavoured several times to discover his passion to her but was hindered still by a kind of secret timorous diffidence which stopped the passage of his speech all he could do was to let his Eyes speak some part of the Sentiments of his heart When he was returned to his own Appartment he condemned his fears and foreseeing no reason that might hinder the Princess from giving him a favourable hearing he took a strong resolution not to let slip the next occasion of discovering his passion to her he went therefore the next day to visit her and finding her alone he spoke to her after this manner I come Madam to confess a fault to you for which I hope you will easily grant me your pardon which is That I have lived so long without being in love with you but what I have suffered since we last entertained one another is so strong and so far beyond what all other Lovers endure that the excess of my Love ought to repair the time of my indifference I offer you neither Crowns nor Scepters I have no other Empire to give you but that of my Heart If a Passion that shall ever inviolably burn for you and which shall never fix upon any other object whatever Liberty my Blood or our Laws may give me If a Complaisance which I shall ever observe to you If an unblemished Faith may win you I am ready solemnly to swear it to you at the foot of our Altars Though Tachmas had not used much action in the delivery of these words yet the Eloquent language of his Eyes and his sighs were persuasive enough to evince them It is so sweet a triumph for a Woman to see the grandeur of a Prince humbl'd at her feet and to disarm with the Charms of her Beauty a Courage that no dangers or perils of War could shake that there is no Vertue so austere that would not relent when the Question is to preserve such a Captive Though Negara were descended from the Blood of the Sophies yet she was much inferiour in Quality to Tachmas She was pleasingly surprised with the Prince's Discourse not to betray her Joy she thought it not enough to receive the Prince's offers in the most obliging manner imaginable but she assures him That she ever had a secret tenderness for him which she should have endeavoured long since to make him sensible of if the rules of Modesty and Decency had not hinder'd her and that she would most willingly shut her Eyes to all the Crowns upon Earth to open them to his Virtues alone Negara in that very instant believed that her Heart disowned her words and that it was the desire she had to see her self suddenly if not the Queen at least the first Subject of Persia that drew from her this declaration but she was ignorant of her own thoughts since her Tongue was then the faithful interpreter of them this Discourse was followed with killing-looks wherein Love appeared with all its Charms We all have a natural bent to believe what we passionately desire and this blind propensity is no where more impetuous than in the heart of a Lover one little favourable word would suffice to convince Tachmas of the sincerity of Negara's Love insomuch that he abandon'd himself to all the excesses of Joy which the imagination and assurance of an approaching felicity can raise in the soul of a passionate Lover To hasten the accomplishment whereof he told the Princess as he took his leave of her That he would go immediately to Allagolikan to charge him to acquaint the King his Brother with this Affair It was with this precipitancy this unfortunate Prince run to his utter ruine when he hoped to raise himself to his greatest happiness Allagolikan was a man that wholly swayed the Heart of Seliman though the Power of the Persian Ministers be extreamly limited and that to weaken their Authority those Kings distribute the management of their Affairs into many hands Yet this Favourite had suprised the affections of the young Sophy with so much address he had insinuated himself into his very soul with a Zeal so passionate such flattering submissions that he was the only Ruler and Director of all his Councels He was likewise indued with all the accomplishments of a perfect Courtier He was full of dissimulation and his intentions and his words were seldom or never of one accord He had a servile Complacency with all the desires of his Prince He patiently bore with all his contempts and indignities but was above measure insolent to all other people He was a man of no Faith seldom kept his word with any man He willingly sacrificed Innocence to Treachery and believed Virtue the greatest of Crimes when it stood betwixt him and his Designs His aim was to remove from Court all those whose Virtue or Understanding might render necessary or acceptable there for he held it for an infallible Maxim That two Favourites no more than two Kings can never subsist in one Sphere Although Tacbmas's birth seemed to place him above the reach of his Jealousie Allagolikan was infinitely pleased to find that the Sophy had very sinister intentions towards his Brother He made use of all his Craft to maintain him in his wicked inclinations But there was yet a particular reason that made Allagolikan a sworn Enemy to the Prince This imperious Minister had one day spoken insolently to Tachmas whereof he complained to his
Father Sophy Chabas who confined Allagolikan to a streight Prison where he continued until Seliman came to the Empire Tachmas who being naturally Good and Generous went often to see him in Prison to testifie how much he was sorry that he had acquainted his Father with the difference that happened betwixt them who could never be brought to hear any thing in favour of Allagolikan during his life After the death of Sophy Chabas Tachmas thought it not enough to express his Joy for Allagolikans liberty but honoured him also with many other testimonies of his Love and Friendship Allagolikan answered the Prince's Caresses with the fairest appearances of gratitude that might be but following the inclination of the generality of the Persians He was implacable in his Enmity he always kept in his heart an immortal hatred against him in which Tachmas is to be blamed for his want of prudent conduct upon this occasion and for having forgotten this Maxime That Reconciled Enemies ought alwayes to be suspected This wicked Minister having had Order to acquaint his Majesty with Tachmas's Request to be permitted to Marry Negara undertook it for no other end but to destroy this unfortunate Prince and to carry on his purpose he made use of a most subtil Machination He took his time when the Sophy was in a pleasant Humour in order to his Design He Approaches him with his accustomed Submissions and usual Cringings and dexterously brings on the Discourse of Love and tells the King That he admired that among so many Beauties for whom his Majesty had shewed an inclination he had never taken notice that he had any for Negara He represents to him That besides the spendour of her Birth she was enriched with so many rare Qualities that she deserved something more than a cold indifference That there never did shine so many Virtues nor so much Wit in so beautiful a Body that it should seem that Fortune which refused to place a Crown upon her Head had reserved the Empire of all Hearts as a due Sacrifice to her Eyes alone That there was none so hard and stony that could resist her natural Sweetness and Goodness and That there was none more worthy his Love and Tenderness than her Allagolikan commended Negara with so much Zeal and Earnestness that Seliman felt a strong Curiosity to take a more attentive view of her and to have some particular Discourse with her He promised his Favourite to follow his Advice and to try how sensible her heart should prove when he spoke to her next Sometime afterwards Begona the Kings Mother who of late had been again received into favour after some disgusts that had passed betwixt them came into his Chamber to see him followed by Negara as the first person of the Court and who always went with her every where when Begona was ready to take her leave of the King he made a sign to Negara to let her know that he desired to speak with her in secret He had her unto his Closet where the better to disguise his Design He entertains her upon a Subject that was very different from what had obliged him to stay her He asked her as she was privy to all Begona's thoughts Whether she did believe that all Begona's Resentments against him were quite vanished out of her mind and whether he might confide in the outward appearances of her Love and Caresses Whether it was that Seliman was prepossess'd by his Favourites Discourses or that it was a pure effect of Negara's Charms which he had but superficially consider'd before that time besides the agreeable surprises the Princess's Beauty caused in him all her answers seemed to him so just and so expressive and so full of Wit that she left him Charmed and even angry with himself that he had not loved her sooner He left her however without saying any thing to her and because he would not derogate from the pride of his Diadem he chose to send her the tender of his Heart by another hand An Eunuch had order to wait upon her and to acquaint her with the Love the King had conceived for her He told her the Kings passion was attended with so much respect and esteem for her that he would not only place her the highest in his favours but that he would bestow upon her the title of Queen in assurance of which he would plight her his Faith before the Altars of his gods The differences of Rank and Blood is wonderful and there is little less distance betwixt a King and his first Subject than betwixt something and nothing Negara before this overture would have thought her self highly Honoured to be in the Arms of Tachmas and as she durst not carry her Ambition higher she looked upon that Prince as upon an Object whose enjoyment was great enough to fill all the Desires of her Soul But assoon as she had been informed of the Sophies favourable intentions towards her the glorious Hopes of seeing her self placed upon the Persian Throne so fill'd this young Heart with vanity that she forgot or at least believ'd she had all thoughts of Tachmas that pompous and dazling Image of all-ruling Power made her presently swallow up the Scepter and all that granduer which she admired in her first Lover appeared to her then but like a shadow or some faint glimmerings which borrowed their light from the Diadem She had so little power over her self that she could not conceal her Transports from the Eunuch she tells him with an affected Modesty more becoming a Slave than a Princess That if what he had told her was true that she had gained favour with the Sophy she would receive all his Orders with all the Submissions and Joy she could express In the mean time Tachmas desires to know of Allagolikan whether he had acquitted himself of the Commission he gave him He replies That he had not yet found a fit opportunity of doing it but that he would watch the first occasion to perform it This Traytor that sought to involve this poor Prince into an inextricable destruction being afraid that he might stifle his passion as soon as he should hear of his Brothers pretentions begun to him a long Discourse of Negara's Excellencies Applauds Tachmas's Choice and tells him That if he were a Prince born he should consecrate all the moments of his life to so fair an Object Nothing so feelingly touches a Lover as to hear what he loves praised by the mouth of a Stranger nor nothing more convincingly perswades him that his Love is grounded upon Reason All Allagolikans words were as many Arrows that made fresh wounds in the heart of poor Tachmas and wounded so much the deeper because this Discourse proceeded from a man in appearance altogether disinteressed The Prince having recommended to this pernicious Confident to speak to the King as soon as he might goes to visit Negara He tells her That he came from Allagolikan who had yet no opporunity to
speak to the Sophy but if that within two days he had no Answer he would pass by all Formalities and go himself to speak to his Brother and that his impatience was so much the greater because he was sure the Vows of this Princess agreed with his own We strive in vain to resist our selves and endeavour to oppose the bent of Nature which is so powerfully attractive in us when the Heavens have given our affection a proclivity to any one Passion all the rest are not powerful enough to draw us from it All the faculties of Negara's Soul were in distraction at Tachmas's sight and Discourse Her Ambition to no purpose shews her the Charms of a Throne and tells her This tenderness which began to make a revolt in her heart was but a shameful weakness which she ought to stifle and sacrifice to her Glory The Empire has no more that lustre when she considers she cannot attain to it but at the price of her Faith the despair into which she saw her inconstancy must throw this poor Lover touched her with pity and repentance to have so rashly precipitated her Resolution in declaring so inconsiderately in favour of the Sophy Love at that instant dispelling with his flambeau the beams of Supream Majesty left her nothing now to see but the Thorns that encompass the Crown and for a solid Good she sees nothing but a Phantasm and a vain illusion All those tumultuary insults of Pride Ambition and Vanity vanish out of the heart with the same promptness they had been raised The Imagination of all the Excellencies that were in Tachmas offers it self with more endearing luster than ever and as the Virtues appear unto us quite different in those we love than in those who are indifferent to us Those which were common to them both seemed in Tachmas a glorious Body of which the Sophy possessed but the shadow She was a long time without being able to make any other answer than by her sighs but as he pressed her with much impatience to inform him of the causes of her sadness She related to him what the Eunuch came to tell her from the King Tachmas at this news as if he had been Planet-struck stood like a Statue As soon as he recover'd himself he resolved to run transported as he was back to this perfidious Minister to punish him for his Treachery But Negara foreseeing the danger he was going unseasonably to expose himself to threw her self in his way and with the Eloquence of her sighs and tears allay'd the heat of his fury The Princess being ignorant of Allagobikan's bad inclinations towards Tachmas endeavoured to justifie him alledging That perhaps this Favourite might know nothing of the Kings passion or that he had not concealed it from Tachmas but out of a just apprehension to hurry him into some rash undertaking that might be of very funest inconsequence That taking the proceedings in the stricctest sense he could be accused of nothing but too much Zeal towards her by desiring to see her upon the Throne She added That it was prudence carefully to conceal their Love from the Sophy That it was necessary he should go immediately to Allagolikan to desire him to keep their secret and to engage him by all manner of Endearments to make him employ all his Credit and Address to draw the Sophy from his Design That Seliman's Love might happily be but a slight Flame which might be as quickly smother'd as it was kindled That she would avoid his sight as much as it was possible for her and that nothing but force should ever trample over her constancy and fidelity to him There is no Passion predominant in mans Soul that so often makes Storms and Calms succed one another in us and agitates our minds with so many contrary motions as Love Tachmas who before this Discourse was all Fury and Rage against Allagolikan is now of a sudden all Love and Kindness towards him and his Bad Genius utterly blinding his Reason had now as favourable thoughts of his intentions as the Princess had He goes to him and by an imprudence which nothing but Love could excuse in a Prince so Judicious He furnishes him with Reasons to excuse his Treachery He told him He very well knew that he had not concealed the Sophies Love from him but through his excess of Zeal towards him and that he entreated him for the future to give him a faihtful account of what should happen by which only means he should be convinced of his fidelity to him Allagolikan after a thousand frivolous protestations swears by the Heavens and all that was Sacred and Holy that he would not fail to give him a true Account of whatever came to his knowledg without delay As he was endowed with a piercing Wit he quickly found that this unhappy Lover had let his flame encrease to that degree that there was no possibility for him ever to be able to quench it He thought it to purpose to embroil him with Negara to inspire him with so much the more hatred against his Brother because he endeavoured to rob him of his Princess's Heart as well as of the enjoyment of her Person Feigning of a sudden to repent him of his Oaths and Promises lets Tachmas know That he had a secret of Importance which he should be glad not to be obliged to declare but after shifting for a long time the Prince's importunity to raise in him a greater desire of knowing it at last told him That Negara's inconstancy ought as much to be apprehended as Seliman's Love That he had been certainly informed that she received the news of the King's passion with so much Joy and shewed so much readiness to comply with his Desires that he did not doubt but the lustre of the Diadem had dazled her Eyes Tachmas returns presently to the Princess all distracted tells her the cause of his sighs and the occasion of his Jealousie Negara that naturally loved sincerity ingenuously confesses to him That when the Sophy had sent her a Declaration of his Love she had received it favourably in respect of what he was and she regarded more his Quality than his Person so that when an Eunuch came to flatter her with the Hopes of being the Sophie's Queen she still followed the impulse of her Ambition and she could not defend her self from the attractive Charms of a Throne but that the presence of Tachmas had in a moments time dissipated all that Ambitious pride and that those Tears she had shed and those sighs which stole from her when she saw him enter ought not to be attributed to any thing else but the regret she had for shewing the Eunuch her Joy and her submission to the King's Order That since he left her her Ambition striving to rebel against her Love she had suffered all the Conflicts that those two Imperious and Tyrannical passions can raise in a Soul That her Heart after being rent by their Cruel
away and shutting himself with Allagolikan into a Closet tells him what happen'd and asked his opinion of what should be done to Tachmas Allagolikan shewed a feigned tenderness that he might strike his blow home told Seliman That the Laws of Nature would never permit him to use the rigour of his Justice in this rencounter But the Sophy pressed him to deliver his opinion without respect or regard to persons and told him That the Throne was above the tyes of Blood and that Nature must be silent where the interest of the Soveraign was in question This perjured Traytor here calling Heaven and their holy Prophets to witness That he was going to declare his sense without preoccupation or prejudice to one side or other represents to Seliman That it was of the last importance to him not to let Tachmas his offence go unpunished That the least Revolt in a Subject against the will of his Prince deserved Death That as the passion which Tachmas had for Negara could never be extinguished so he would never leave trying all ways possible to satisfie it That Tachmas was of a daring Spirit and capable of undertaking any thing That he might seek his Brothers Death as the best expedient to set the Crown upon his own Head and securely bring his Mistress into his Embraces That the execution was not difficult That having already seduced one Eunuch he might do the like to many more That perhaps Tachmas came to Negara for no other end but to concert the Design how he might rid himself of his Brother That the example of the Sophy Chabas yet fresh in memory ought to strike a terrour into him and make him sacrifice to his own security all that was suspected to him That he ought to look towards his Neighbors the Ottomans whose custom it was to Ciment their Thrones with the blood of their Brothers This venomous Discourse of Allagolikan had too strong an impression upon a Heart that was already too prone to such barbarous inclinations Seliman tells his Favourite All he said was very just and that he was resolved to follow his Advice He added That although the Wills of the Sophy's had always been a Soveraign Law to their Subjects he was resolved the better to avoid the peoples murmuring not to rid himself of his Brother without keeping some formality in putting him to death and to strengthen this Resolution with the opinion and assent of some Judges Allagolikan did not oppose the King's Will because he knew there were but too many corrupted persons to be found in the Court He makes choice of Six who with a sordid and blind Zeal had sold their Souls and condemned poor Tachmas as Siliman desired The noise of this fatal Sentence was soon spread about the Palace and some months after all the Town of Ispaham heard that the unfortunate Tachmas was to be put to death by the hands of the Executioner for some secret and important Reasons A Scaffold for this Execution was erected in one of the great Halls of the Palace where the Sophy himself resolved to be to feed his cruel Eyes with this so Tragical a Spectacle Allagolikan opposed a great while this Resolution fearing what afterwards happen'd but all his Remonstrances to the contrary did but irritate his Desires the more The Queen Begona run to Seliman's Door to conjure him by that life she gave him not to sully his Glory with so base a Parricide but he was so far from letting her in that he commanded his Eunuchs to shut her up fearing her lamentations and cryes might soften his heart or bring it to relent The time of this black Sacrifice being come they led forth Tachmas out of his Dungeon to expiate the Crime of his Love and ill-policy How strong is the voice of Nature in mans heart How difficult a matter is it to lay aside all sense How powerfully does the presence of a sad Object move us When the Sophy beheld his Brother loaden with Chains his Eyes languishing his Face pale and disfigur'd not for fear of Death but through the violence of his passionate Love It was too late to call back all his hatred and Jealousie there was no resisting of that melting tenderness with which he felt himself suddenly seized and if he had any malice left in him against Tachmas it was because he found him too innocent He suspends the Execution and orders the Prince to be confined to a larger Prison where he might have more Light and Ayr. The major part of the Judges there present were not sorry for this sudden Change because they had no hand in the Judgment given against the Prince But Allagolikan was so nearly touch'd that his displeasure was seen in his Countenance Tachmas perceived it for his Eyes that hitherto had been darkened with the Clouds of Love and Friendship let fall that mist to shew him a Traytor that had sworn his Ruine in the man he believed his most faithful Friend And one of the Eunuchs that waited upon him back to prison seeing the sentence of Death recalled helped fully to disabuse him thereby hoping to gain his affection and told him That it was Allagolikan's advice that hurried the Sophy to this Extremity In the mean time Negara's heart was rent with many mortal Disquiets she was tossed betwixt a thousand apprehensions and gave her self over as a prey to all the vexations that could perplex a Soul Death represents many violent expedient to her troubled Imagination whereby to free her self from this Abyss of Misery into which she saw her self plunged but she durst not dispose of her self without knowing Tachmas fate So true it is that amongst sincere Lovers the interest of what they love is dearer to them than their own She draws one of the Eunuchs aside and pressing him to let her know what he heard was become of the Prince shows him a Diamond of great value which she wore upon her Finger which she promised should be the reward of his Service This man won partly by the hope of the Reward and partly softened with the fight of the Princesses miseries resolved to betray his trust for this one time as he did believe he should give some ease to Negara's afflicted Soul if he drew her out of the uncertainty she then was in He confessed to her That Tachmas was condemned to lose his Head upon a Scaffold and that perhaps that was the very moment of his Execution We have naturally a great Aversion and Horror for any thing that torments us and we bear all our grievances with so much impatience that we always fancy them in the last extremity and that no new Event is capable of adding to them but we are not long in this Errour for Experience often convinces us of the contrary Negara believed she should suffer less by knowing Tachmas's doom but she soon was convinced that her doubts were preferable to so dismal a knowledg When she represented to her self those terrifying Idea's