, to
draw forth some of these carp out of the water, and, after all, this is
not the darkest pond in which we shall have fished.

At the commencement, Boyle introduces us to a young and handsome
stranger who comes to Syria in order to consult the oracle of Venus. The
priest Callimachus appears before him, and quite suddenly asks for his
history. The stranger is very willing to tell it. His name is Artabanes
and he is the son of the King of Parthia; he is in love with the
Princess Parthenissa and has proved his affection for her in the manner
of Sidney's heroes: he met on one occasion an Arab prince, who was
travelling with a collection of twenty-four pictures, representing the
mistresses of twenty-four famous champions overthrown by him. Artabanes
in his turn measured swords with the Arab and got possession of the
twenty-four paintings, and one in addition, which represented the
mistress of his adversary: whence it results that Parthenissa is the
most beautiful woman in the world, exactly what the hero intended to
prove.

Artabanes has a rival, Surena; he fancies that Surena is the happy man,
leaves Parthenissa and goes to live in solitude. Pirates carry him off,
and sell him at Rome for a slave. Then under the name of Spartacus, he
stirs up a revolt and accomplishes exploits attributed by ancient
writers to that rebel; however he does not die as in history, but
returns to Asia. There, Parthenissa, rather than surrender to a lover,
swallows a drug and dies; but hers is only an apparent death and she
returns to life. Artabanes, in the same way, stabs himself, but he is
cured; and then it is that he comes to consult the oracle.

Callimachus thanks him for his interesting but somewhat lengthy story,
and revenges himself by relating his own. Unfortunately he is
interrupted: they see a lady who looks exactly like Parthenissa herself
enter a neighbouring grove; she is accompanied by a young cavalier; they
embrace and disappear among the trees. Artabanes' anguish at this sight
cannot be described. But here Roger Boyle found that he was tired and
wrote no more. His romance, which already comprised five parts, was
published by him in this unfinished form.

For a long time the public was left in suspense. The Protector was dead,
his son had fallen, the Stuarts had again ascended the throne, and no
one knew the end of the loves of Prince Artabanes. The continuation of
the romance is due to the charming Henrietta of England, Du