The sparkling constellation which combines The lock, is your dear self, whose worth outshines Most of your sex; so solid and so clear You like a perfect diamond appear; Casting, from your example, fuller light Than those dim sparks which glaze the brow of night, And gladding all your friends, as doth the ray Of that East-star which wakes the cheerful day. But the black map of death and discontent Behind that adamantine firmament, 30 That luckless figure, which, like Calvary, Stands strew'd and copied out in skulls, is I: Whose life your absence clouds, and makes my time Move blindfold in the dark ecliptic line. Then wonder not, if my removed Sun So low within the western tropic run; My eyes no day in this horizon see, Since where You are not, all is night to me. Lastly, the anchor which enfast'ned lies Upon a pair of deaths, sadly applies 40 That Monument of Rest, which harbour must Our ship-wrackt fortunes in a road of dust. So then, how late soe'er my joyless life Be tired out in this affection's strife: Though my tempestuous fancy, like the sky, Travail with storms, and through my wat'ry eye, Sorrow's high-going waves spring many a leak; Though sighs blow loud, till my heart's cordage break; Though Faith, and all my wishes prove untrue, Yet Death shall fix and anchor Me with You. 50 'Tis some poor comfort, that this mortal scope Will period, though never crown, my Hope. [_An Acknowledgement._] This is evidently of the same class as the last poem, if not as evidently addressed to the same person. The recipient of the _Letter_ might be of either sex, for 'mistress' in l. 66 (_v. sup._) is not quite decisive in the context. This 'precious Friend' is definitely feminine. Nineteenth--I do not know about twentieth--century man would have been a little uncomfortable about receiving from a lady a gold chain with a grouped diamond pendant, welcome as the enclosed 'lock' might be. But, as Scott and others have long ago remarked, there was none of this false pride in the seventeenth, and you might even take money from the beloved. The combination of death's heads, equally of the time, is more of all time.] _The Acquittance._ Not knowing who should my acquittance take, I know as little what discharge to make. The favour is so great, that it outgoes All forms of thankfulness I can propose. Those grateful levies which my pen would raise, Are stricken dumb, or buried in amaze. Therefore, as once in Athens there was shown An Altar built unto the God Unknown, My ignorant devotions must by guess This blind return of gratitude address, 10 Till you vouchsafe to show me where and how I may to this revealed Goddess bow.