Page:Works of Voltaire Volume 03.djvu/251

Rh garids. There he saw liberty, security and equality, with toleration in religion; but the ladies were so indifferent that none made him any advances, an experience he had not met with before. It is true, however, that had he been inclined to address them they would not have been offended; though, at the same time, not one would have been the least in love; but he was far from any thoughts of making conquests.

Formosanta had nearly caught him in this insipid nation. He had set out but a moment before her arrival.

Amazan had heard so much among the Batavians in praise of a certain island called Albion that he was led by curiosity to embark with his unicorns on board a ship, which, with a favorable easterly wind, carried him in a few hours to that celebrated country, more famous than Tyre or Atlantis.

The beautiful Formosanta, who had followed him, as it were on the scent, to the banks of the Volga, the Vistula, the Elbe, and the Weser, and had never been above a day or two behind him, arrived soon after at the mouth of the Rhine, where it empties its waters into the German ocean.

Here she learned that her beloved Amazan had just set sail for Albion. She thought she saw the vessel on board of which he was, and could not help crying out for joy, at which the Batavian ladies were greatly surprised, not imagining that a young man could possibly occasion so violent a transport.


 * Vol. 3—15