were bound. These were great difficulties: but there are few which true love cannot surmount. He preferred perishing in the attempt to recover his mistress to living without her.
He heaped a thousand reproaches on the Queen for her implacable hatred. He added that she would have time to repent the cruel trick she had played him; that he was about to leave her, never to return; so that in plotting the loss of one she had lost both. The afflicted mother threw herself on her son's neck, bathed him with her tears, and conjured him by the grey hairs of his father, and the love that she bore him, not to abandon them; that if he deprived them of the consolation of seeing him he would be the cause of their death; that he was their only hope, and if he failed them, the neighbouring princes, who were their enemies, would seize upon the kingdom. The Prince listened to her coldly and respectfully: but he had always before his eyes her harsh treatment of Constancia, without whom all the kingdoms of the earth had no temptations for him: so that he persisted with astonishing firmness in his resolution, to depart the following morning.
The King strove in vain to detain him. He passed the night in giving directions to Mirtain; he confided to his care the faithful ram. He took a great number of jewels, and told Mirtain to keep the rest, and that he would be the only person to whom he would write, and that only on condition that he spoke of him to no one, as he was determined to make his mother suffer all the anxiety about him that was possible.
Day had not dawned before the impatient Constancio was on horseback, trusting to Fortune, and praying her to assist him to recover his mistress. He knew not what road to take, but as he understood she had been carried off in a ship, he thought the best way to find her was to go on board one also. He made all speed, therefore, to the most noted port, and without a single attendant, and unknown to every one, he set about informing himself which was the most distant country he could get a passage to, and what coasts, roads, and harbours the vessel could touch at or put into on its voyage. After which he embarked with the hope, that so strong and pure a passion as that which he cherished could not always be an unfortunate one. As soon as they saw land, he took the ship's boat and rowed along the coast, shouting, "Con-
