EL. Though the suspicions of that illustrious lover have no
foundation--for you tell me so--they at least prove that he is greatly
smitten: some would rejoice at what you complain of. Jealousy may be
odious when it proceeds from a love which displeases us; but when we
return that love, such feelings should delight us. It is the best way in
which a lover can express his passion; the more jealous he is the more
we ought to love him. Therefore since in your soul a magnanimous
Prince....

ELV. Ah! do not bring forward such a strange maxim. Jealousy is always
odious and monstrous; nothing can soften its injurious attacks; the
dearer the object of our love is to us, the more deeply we feel its
offensive attempts. To see a passionate Prince, losing every moment that
respect with which love inspires its real votaries; to see him, when his
whole mind is a prey to jealousy, finding fault either with what I like
or dislike, and explaining every look of mine in favour of a rival!

[Footnote: Molière has expressed the same thoughts differently in _The
Bores_, Act ii. scene 4.]

No, no! such suspicions are too insulting, and I tell you my thoughts
without disguise. I love Don Garcia; he alone can fascinate a generous
heart; his courage in Leon has nobly proved his passion for me; he dared
on my account the greatest dangers, freed me from the toils of cowardly
tyrants, and protected me against the horrors of an unworthy alliance by
placing me within these strong walls. Nor will I deny but that I should
have regretted that I owed my deliverance to any other; for an enamoured
heart feels an extreme pleasure, Eliza, in being under some obligations
to the object beloved; its faint flame becomes stronger and brighter