Volume VI Part 4 (1/2)
Dr Algardi had attended on the prince during his last illness I was supping with Veraci, the poet-laureate, on the eve of the prince's death, and in the course of supper Algardi came in
”How is the prince?” said I
”The poor prince--he cannot possibly live more than twenty-four hours”
”Does he know it?”
”No, he still hopes He grievedivethe truth Then he asked er of death”
”And you told him the truth?”
”Certainly not I told him his sickness was undoubtedly a mortal one, but that with the help of nature and art wonders ht be worked”
”Then you deceived him, and told a lie?”
”I did not deceive hiory of the possible I did not want to leave him in despair, for despair would most certainly kill him”
”Yes, yes; but you will confess that you told him a lie and broke your word of honour”
”I told no lie, for I know that he may possibly be cured”
”Then you lied just now?”
”Not at all, for lie will die to- is a little Jesuitical”
”No, it is not My duty was to prolong my patient's life and to spare him a sentence which would most certainly have shortened it, possibly by several hours; besides, it is not an absolute impossibility that he should recover, therefore I did not lie when I told hiave it as my opinion (the result of my experience) that he would die to-er a er ht, and yet for all that you deceived the pooryou the question was not to be told a commonplace which he kneell as you, but to learn your true opinion as to his life or death But again I agree with you that as his physician you were quite right not to shorten his few re hiht I left Schwetzingen, leaving so him I would call for them some day; but I never came, and after a lapse of thirty-one years Veraci keeps theest poets I have ever met He affected eccentricity to reat Metastasio in everything, writing unwieldy verses which he said gave ot this extravagant notion from Jumelli
I traveled to Mayence and thence I sailed to Cologne, where I looked forward to the pleasure of omaster's ho disliked General Kettler, and had treated o
But that was not the only reason which impelled me to visit that odious town When I was at Dresden I had read in a nune Gazette that ”Master Casanova has returned to Warsaw only to be sent about his business again The king has heard some stories of this famous adventurer, which compel hie of this kind, and I resolved to pay Jacquet, the editor, a visit, and now my time had coo at table with his fair Mimi They welcomed me warmly, and for two hours I told the the last seven years Mio out, and I was asked to dine with theht she looked prettier than ever, and ination promised me some delicious ht, and called on my A to his dear coan with an ardent caress which she gently repelled, but her face froze my passion in its course
”Time is an excellent doctor,” said she, ”and it has curedof remorse”
”What! The confessional”
”Should only serve as a place wherein to confess our sins of the past, and to irace to sin no more”