Know, then, it is not piety, but love, that has led me from far diſtant lands into this cell. Liſten to my adventures, and attend to the hiſtory of that pool, which gleams before our eyes like a lake of ſilver in the moonſhine.—In my youth I was a bold and manful knight: I was born in Switzerland, of the family of the Margraves of Kyburg. I followed paſtimes in my youth, and amuſed myſelf in making love. I once ſlew a prieſt, who craftily ſeduced a fair maiden, and made her prove falſe to me: upon this I journeyed to Rome for abſolution from the holy father; who enjoined me, by way of penance, to make three cruſades to the Holy Land againſt the Saracens, under condition, that if I did not return my effects ſhould fall to Holy Mother church. I took my paſſage on board a Venetian galley, and ſet ſail in good ſpirits; but in the Ionian ſea the faithleſs ſouth-weſt wind began to howl, the ſea ſwelled, and our veſſel was daſhed to pieces againſt a concealed rock near‘the
