the welfare of his beloved without expectation of reward. In the
hands of another writer, with some modification, he could have
provided a happy ending in the "Mills and Boon" tradition.

This translation is not a schoolroom exercise, for although I
have not altered the story, I have altered the exact way in which
it is told in the original, with the aim of making it more
acceptable to the modern reader. All translation must involve
paraphrase, for what sounds well in one language may sound
ridiculous if translated literally into another, and it is for
the translator to decide how far this process may be carried.
Whether I have succeeded in my task, only the reader can say.




The Princess de Montpensier

By Madame de Lafayette




Translated by Oliver.C.Colt.




It was while the civil war of religion was tearing France apart
that the only daughter of the Marquis of Mezieres, a very