’Tis not her sense, for sure in that

There’s nothing more than common;

And all her wit is only chat,

Like any other woman.

SONG.

The high-born Berengaria, daughter of Sanchez, King of Navarre, and the Queen-Consort¹ of the heroic Richard, was accounted one of the most beautiful women of the period. Her form was slight, though exquisitely² moulded. She was graced with a complexion³ not common in her country, a profusion⁴ of fair hair, and features so extremely juvenile⁵ as to make her look several years younger than she really was, though in reality she was not above one-and-twenty. Perhaps it was under the consciousness of this extremely juvenile appearance that she affected⁶, or at least practised, a little childish petulance⁷ and wilfulness⁸ of manner, not unbefitting, she might suppose, a youthful bride, whose rank and age gave her a right to have her fantasies indulged and attended to. She was by nature perfectly⁹ good-humoured, and if her due share of admiration¹⁰ and homage¹¹ (in her opinion a very large one) was duly resigned to her, no one could possess better temper or a more friendly disposition¹²; but then, like all despots, the more power that was voluntarily yielded to her, the more she desired to extend her sway. Sometimes, even when all her ambition was gratified, she chose to be a little out of health, and a little out of spirits; and physicians had to

分享到：