"By thee my life becomes ennobled, Which without thee was solitary and empty; Thy love is the nutriment of my heart, If it had it not, it would die. "And though thou mightest by all be forsaken, I will never abandon thee; For ever will I preserve for thee Constancy and true German faith." The next verses relate to the Countess of Landsfeld, in her character as a Liberal martyr. "From thee, beloved one, time and distance separate me, But however distant thou might'st be, I should ever call thee my own, Thou eternally bright star of my life. "The wild steed, if you try to daunt him. Prances, the bolder only, on and on: The ties of love will tie us so much closer, If the world attempt to tear thee from me. "And every persecution thou endurest Becomes a new link in the chain Which, because thou art struggling for truth, Thou hast, for the rest of my life, cast around me. "Whether near or far off, thou art mine, And the love which with its lustre glorifies Is ever renewed and will last for ever. For evermore our faith will prove itself true." [Illustration: LOUIS I. KING OF BAVARIA.] The following lines are a sonnet in the original, addressed to:-- "LOLITA AND LOUIS "Men strive with restless zeal to separate us; Constantly and gloomily they plan thy destruction; In vain, however, are always their endeavours, Because they know themselves alone, not us. Our love will bloom but the brighter for it all-- What gives us bliss cannot be divorced from us-- Those endless flames which burn with sparkling light, And pervade our existence with enrapturing fire. Two rocks are we, against which constantly are breaking The adversaries' craft, the enemies' open rage; But, scorpion-like, themselves, they pierce with deadly sting-- The sanctuary is guarded by trust and faith; Thy enemies' cruelty will be revenged on themselves-- Love will compensate for all that we have suffered. "In the following sonnet," comments the translator, "the royal poet does not clearly intimate whether he has renounced the political or the personal rivals of the fair Lolita:-- "'If, for my sake, thou hast renounced all ties, I, too, for thee have broken with them all; Life of my life, I am thine--I am thy thrall-- I hold no compact with thine enemies. Their blandishments are powerless on me, No arts will serve to seduce me from thee; The power of love raises me above them. With thee my earthly pilgrimage will end. As is the union between the body and the soul, So, until death, with thine my being is blended. In thee I have found what I ne'er yet found in any-- The sight of thee gave new life to my being. All feeling for any other has died away, For my eyes read in thine--love!'" The final example of the King's lyrical genius might be inscribed to "Lolita in Dejection." It is dated the evening of 6th July 1847.