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FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY


THE ROMANCE OF DEVOTION


BY

LYNDON ORR



VOLUME I OF IV.





CONTENTS


  THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
  ABELARD AND HELOISE
  QUEEN ELIZABETH AND THE EARL OF LEICESTER
  MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND LORD BOTHWELL
  QUEEN CHRISTINA OF SWEDEN AND THE MARQUIS MONALDESCHI
  KING CHARLES II. AND NELL GWYN
  MAURICE OF SAXONY AND ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR
  THE STORY OF PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD STUART




THE STORY OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA


Of all love stories that are known to human history, the love story of
Antony and Cleopatra has been for nineteen centuries the most
remarkable. It has tasked the resources of the plastic and the graphic
arts. It has been made the theme of poets and of prose narrators. It
has appeared and reappeared in a thousand forms, and it appeals as much
to the imagination to-day as it did when Antony deserted his almost
victorious troops and hastened in a swift galley from Actium in pursuit
of Cleopatra.

The wonder of the story is explained by its extraordinary nature. Many
men in private life have lost fortune and fame for the love of woman.
Kings have incurred the odium of their people, and have cared nothing
for it in comparison with the joys of sense that come from the
lingering caresses and clinging kisses. Cold-blooded statesmen, such as
Parnell, have lost the leadership of their party and have gone down in
history