A costlier gift is in my thought." "I have nothing more to offer thee; No other gift can you ask of me." "But I only ask, and you can spare The simple gift of your body fair." "A fouler insult knight ne'er gave. Haste, vassals, and scourge this loathly knave." "The wedding ring with diamonds bright, We broke in twain on our bridal night. Where is the half you have kept so dear? The other half you can see it here." "How many tears you have made me shed! How slow the lingering years have fled! What pains and griefs lie in your debt! When bliss like this cannot forget." The ballad of Dom Duardos and Flerida has an antique flavor in its simplicity and indefiniteness, as in its element of imaginative poetry, which would lead to a belief in its ancient origin, dating beyond the acquirement of more accomplished art in the popular poets. A similar ballad is to be found in the Castilian. DOM DUARDOS AND FLERIDA. 'T was in the month of April, The day before May day, When roses red, and lilies white, Are blooming bright and gay. The night was calm and cloudless, With golden stars arrayed, The Infanta, fair Flerida, In her wide garden strayed. "God guard you, tender flowers, Great joy you've given me; I go to a strange land; Such is my fate's decree. "If my father seeks me, He who loves me well; Tell him that love has drawn me Within its fatal spell. "Tell him that fateful love Has seized me in its hold; I know not where I go, And none to me has told." Then Dom Duardos spoke: "Oh, weep not so, my dear, In the great realm of England Are fairer things than here. "There are more limpid streams, And gardens yet more fair. A thousand flowers blooming, And scenting all the air. "Three hundred maids shall serve, And all of noble strain, And palaces of silver, Where you shall nobly reign. "With emeralds of green, And finest Turkish gold, Upon the shining walls The story shall be told "How, to do you honor, I fought Primaleon. I did not fear his strength, When your bright glances shone." When fair Flerida heard, She wiped her tears away. And hand in hand they went To where his galleys lay. The fifty galleys brave Moved out upon the deep, And to their chiming oars Flerida fell asleep, In Dom Duardos' arms, Whose heart with joy did leap. Know all men that are born, How sure is fate's decree, From neither love nor death Can mortal man be free.