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Rosabella, the idol of all Venice, lay on the bed of sickness; a

sorrohose cause was carefully concealed from every one,

undermined her health, and destroyed the bloom of her beauty She

loved the noble Flodoardo; and who could have known Flodoardo and

not have loved him? His majestic stature, his expressive

countenance, his enthusiastic glance, his whole being declared

aloud--Flodoardo is Nature's favourite, and Rosabella had been

always a great admirer of Nature

But if Rosabella was ill, Flodoardo was scarcely better He

confined himself to his own apart journeys to different cities of the Republic,

in hopes of distracting his thoughts by change of place from that

object which, wherever he went, still pursued him He had now been

absent for three whole weeks No one knehat quarter he was

wandering; and it was during this absence that the so-long expected

Prince of Monaldeschi arrived at Venice to claim Rosabella as his

bride

His appearance, to which aexpectation, now afforded but little satisfaction to

the Doge Rosabella was too ill to receive her suitor's visits, and

he did not allow her much time to recover her health; for six days