e truest lover that did ever live?
And this I know thou wilt, one day, believe,
For time, in rolling by, shall show to thee
No change in my heart's faith and loyalty.
And though for this thou mayst make no return,
Yet pleased am I with love for thee to burn,
And seek no recompense, pursue no end,
Save, that to thee, I meekly recommend
My soul and body, which I here consign
In sacrifice to Love's consuming shrine.
If then in safety I sail back the main
To thee, still artless, I'll return again;
And if I die, then there will die with me
A lover such as none again shall see.
So Ocean now doth carry far away
The truest lover seen for many a day;
His body 'tis that journeys o'er the wave,
But not his heart, for that is now thy slave,
And from thy side can never wrested be,
Nor of its own accord return to me.
Ah! could I with me o'er the treach'rous brine
Take aught of that pure, guileless heart of thine,
No doubt should I then feel of victory,
Whereof the glory would belong to thee.
But now, whatever fortune may befall,
I've cast the die; and having told thee all,
Abide thereby, and vow my constancy--
Emblem of which, herein, a diamond see,
By whose great firmness and whose pure glow
The strength and pureness of my love thou'lt know.
Let it, I pray, thy fair white finger press,
And thou wilt deal me more than happiness.
And, diamond, speak and say: 'To thee I come
From thy fond lover, who afar doth roam,
And strives by dint of glorious deeds to rise
To the high level of the good and wise,
Hoping some day that haven to attain,
Where thy sweet favours shall reward his pain."

The lady read the letter through, and was the more astonished at the
Captain's passion as she had never before suspected it. She looked at
the cutting of the diamond, which was a large and beautiful one, set in
a ring of black enamel, and she was in great doubt as to what she ought
to do with it. After pondering upon the matter throughout the night, she
was glad to find that since there was no messenger, she had no occasion
to send any answer to the Captain, who, she reflected, was being
sufficiently tried by those matters of the King, his master, which he
had in hand, without being angered by the unfavourable reply which she
was resolved to make to him, though s