I tremble to think of the dangers that face you, for, even if you do fall in love now, my daughter, ah! you should just see what thick books wise men have filled on this subject--see, your very passion, then, can also make you miserable. The happiest, the most blissful emotion can ruin us; moreover, love is, as it were, a magic cup; instead of nectar we often drink poison; then our pillow is wet with tears; all hope, all consolation are gone. (_The sound of a trumpet is heard_.) Why, it isn't dinner-time yet, is it? Probably another new prince who wants to fall in love with you. Take care, my daughter; you are my only child, and you do not realize how near my heart your happiness lies. (_He kisses her and leaves the hall. Applause is heard in the pit_.) FISCHER. That's a scene for you, in which you can find sound common sense. SCHLOSS. I am also moved. MÜLLER. He's an excellent sovereign. FISCHER. Now he didn't exactly have to appear with a crown. SCHLOSS. It entirely spoils the sympathy one feels for him as an affectionate father. THE PRINCESS (_alone_). I do not understand at all; why, not one of the princes has yet touched my heart with love. I always keep in mind my father's warnings; he is a great sovereign and nevertheless a good father too, and is always thinking of my happiness; if only he did not have such a hasty temper! But fortune and misfortune are always coupled thus. My joy I find in the arts and sciences, for books constitute all my happiness. _The_ PRINCESS, LEANDER, _the court scholar_. LEANDER. Well, your Royal Highness! (_They sit down_.) PRINCESS. Here. Master Leander, is my essay. I have entitled it _Thoughts at Night_. LEANDER (_reads_). Excellent! Inspired! Ah! I feel as though I hear the hour of midnight striking. When did you write it? PRINCESS. Yesterday noon, after dinner. LEANDER. Beautifully conceived! Truly, beautifully conceived! But with your most gracious permission! _The moon shines sadly down in the world._ If you will not take it amiss, it should read: _into the world_. PRINCESS. Very well, I will note that for the future; it's too stupid that poetry should be made so hard for us; one can't write five or six lines without making a mistake. LEANDER. That's the obstinacy of language, so to speak. PRINCESS. Are not the emotions tenderly and delicately phrased! LEANDER. Indescribably! It is scarcely comprehensible how a feminine mind could write such a thing. PRINCESS. Now I might try my hand at moonlight descriptions. Don't you think so? LEANDER. Naturally you keep going farther all the time; you keep rising higher. PRINCESS. I have also begun a piece: _The Unhappy Misanthrope; or, Lost Peace and Restored Innocence!_ LEANDER. Even the title itself is fascinating. PRINCESS. And then I feel an incomprehensible desire within me to write some horrible ghost story. As I said before, if it were not for those grammatical errors! LEANDER.