The Amours of Zeokinizul, King of the Kofirans

The Amours of Zeokinizul, King of the Kofirans is a novella by Claude-Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon. de Crébillon was a French 18th century author. Excerpt: "I beseech your Highness to hear me, replied Kelirieu, not in the least daunted at the King's Anger, I swear by your royal Head, that it was not my Intention to offend you. But a too precipitate Construction of my Advice has led you to resent it as base and criminal. But, Sire, can your Highness harbour a Suspicion that Kelirieu would offer to eclipse your Glory? No, Heaven is my Witness, that I would rather die a thousand Deaths. When I intimated to your Highness, that the Remedy of your Sorrows was too be found only in the Conversation of Women, I meant no other than what the Laws both human and divine admit of. And that as Solitude only serves to augment your Grief, the entertaining Wit and Sprightliness of the Fair Sex, in their Conversations, was the only Antidote against your growing Affliction, in which a whole Nation participates."