when Camiola Turinga, a rich Sicilian heiress, devoted the half of her
fortune to release him. But as such an action might expose her to evil
comments, she made it a condition, that Orlando should marry her. The
prince gladly accepted the terms, and sent her the contract of marriage,
signed by his hand; but no sooner was he at liberty, than he refused to
fulfil it, and even denied all knowledge of his benefactress.

Camiola appealed to the tribunal of state, produced the written
contract, and described the obligations she had heaped on this
ungrateful and ungenerous man; sentence was given against him, and he
was adjudged to Camiola, not only as her rightful husband, but as a
property which, according to the laws of war in that age, she had
purchased with her gold. The day of marriage was fixed; Orlando
presented himself with a splendid retinue; Camiola also appeared,
decorated as for her bridal; but instead of bestowing her hand on the
recreant, she reproached him in the presence of all with his breach of
faith, declared her utter contempt for his baseness; and then freely
bestowing on him the sum paid for his ransom, as a gift worthy of his
mean soul, she turned away, and dedicated herself and her heart to
heaven. In this resolution she remained inflexible, though the king and
all the court united in entreaties to soften her. She took the veil; and
Orlando, henceforth regarded as one who had stained his knighthood, and
violated his faith, passed the rest of his life as a dishonored man, and
died in obscurity.

Camiola, in "The Maid of Honor," is, like Portia, a wealthy heiress,
surrounded by suitors, and "queen o'er herself:" the character is
constructed upon the same principles, as great intellectual power,
magnanimity of temper, and feminine tenderness; but not only do pain and
disquiet, and the change induced by unkind and inauspicious influences,
enter into this sweet picture to mar and cloud its happy beauty,--but
the portrait itself may be pronounced out of drawing;--for Massinger
apparently had not sufficient delicacy of sentiment to work out his own
conception of the character with perfect consistency. In his adaptation
of the story he represents the mutual love of Orlando and Camiola as
existing previous to the captivity of the former, and on his part
declared with many vows of eternal faith, yet she requires a written
contract of marriage before she liberates him. It will perhaps be said
that she has pene