Page 57 - Princess Belle-Etoile and Prince Cherie

tempestuous ocean; that the troubles of it
nearly always surpass the pleasures; that life is
short, that it is often quitted in the midst of
our career, that the grandeurs of the world are
as false brilliants, which by a strange fatality
we permit to dazzle us, and that the most
sterling happiness is to know how to limit our
desires, to love peace, and to seek wisdom."

The Corsair would not have ended his
remonstrances so soon, had he not been
interrupted by Prince Heureux. "My dear
father," said he, "we are too anxious to
discover something of our birth, to bury
ourselves in the depths of a desert; the moral
you teach is excellent, and I wish we were able

to profit by it, but some strange fatality calls
us elsewhere; allow us to fulfil the course of
our destiny—we will come again to see you,
and give you an account of our adventures."
At these words the Corsair and his wife shed
tears. The Princes were very much affected,
and Belle-Etoile particularly so, who was of an
admirable disposition, and who would never
have thought of quitting the desert if she had

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