passion would put him on, who aims or wishes at least for the entire possession of _Sylvia_, though it was never absolutely hoped by the most unfortunate BRILLIARD. At the beginning of this letter _Octavio_ hoped it contained the confession of his fault in claiming _Sylvia_; he hoped he would have owned it done in order to his service to his lord, or his love to _Sylvia_, or any thing but what it really was; but when he read on--and found that he yet confirmed his claim, he yielded to all the grief that could sink a heart over-burdened with violent love; he fell down on the couch where he was sat, and only calling _Sylvia_ with a dying groan, he held out his hand, in which the letter remained, and looked on her with eyes that languished with death, love, and despair; while she, who already feared from whom it came, received it with disdain, shame, and confusion: and _Octavio_ recovering a little--cried in a faint voice--’See charming, cruel fair--see how much my soul adores you, when even this--cannot extinguish one spark of the flame you have kindled in my soul.’ At this she blushed, and bowed with a graceful modesty that was like to have given the lie to all the accusations against her: she reads the letter, while he greedily fixes his eyes upon her face as she reads, observing with curious search every motion there, all killing and adorable. He saw her blushes sometimes rise, then sink again to their proper fountain, her heart; there swell and rise, and beat against her breast that had no other covering than a thin shirt, for all her bosom was open, and betrayed the nimble motion of her heart. Her eyes sometimes would sparkle with disdain, and glow upon the fatal tell-tale lines, and sometimes languish with excess of grief: but having concluded the letter, she laid it on the table, and began again to traverse the room, her head declined, and her arms a-cross her bosom, _Octavio_ made too true an interpretation of this silence and calm in _Sylvia_, and no longer doubted his fate. He fixes his eyes eternally upon her, while she considers what she shall say to that afflicted lover; she considers _Philander_ lost, or if he ever returns, it is not to love; to that he was for ever gone; for too well she knew no arts, obligations, or industry, could retrieve a flying _Cupid_: she found, if even that could return, his whole fortune was so exhausted he could not support her; and that she was of a nature so haughty and impatient of injuries, that she could never forgive him those affronts he had done her honour first, and now her love; she resolves no law or force shall submit her to _Brilliard_; she finds this fallacy she had put on _Octavio_, has ruined her credit in his esteem, at least she justly fears it; so that believing herself abandoned by all in a strange country, she fell to weeping her fate, and the tears wet the floor as she walked: at which sight so melting _Octavio_ starts from the couch, and catching her in his trembling