_The Count de St. Julian to the Marquis of Pescara_
_Naples_
Best of friends,
Every thing is now prepared for my voyage. The ship will weigh anchor in
two days at farthest. This will be the last letter you will receive from
me before I bid adieu to Italy.
I have not yet shaken off the melancholy with which the affecting leave
I took of the amiable Matilda impressed me. Never will the recollection
be effaced from my memory. It was then, my Rinaldo, that she laid aside
that delicate reserve, that lovely timidity, which she had hitherto
exhibited. It was then that she poured forth, without restraint, all the
ravishing tenderness of her nature. How affecting were those tears? How
heart-rending the sighs that heaved her throbbing bosom? When will those
tender exclamations cease to vibrate in my ear? When will those piercing
cries give over their task, the torturing this constant breast? You, my
friend, were witness to the scene, and though a mere spectator, I am
mistaken if it did not greatly affect you.
Hear me, my Rinaldo, and let my words sink deep into your bosom. Into
your hands I commit the most precious jewel that was ever intrusted to
the custody of a friend. You are the arbiter of my fate. More, much more
than my life is in your disposal. If you should betray me, you will
commit a crime, that laughs to scorn the frivolity of all former
baseness. You will inflict upon me a torture, in comparison of which all
the laborious punishments that tyrants have invented, are couches of
luxury, are beds of roses.
Forgive me, my friend, the paroxysm of a lover's rage. I should deserve
all the punishments it would be in your power to inflict, if I harboured
the remotest suspicion of your fidelity. No, I swear by all that is
sacred, it is my richest treasure, it is my choicest consolation.
Wherever I am, I will bear it about with me. In every reverse of fortune
I will regard it as the surest pledge of my felicity. Mountains shall
be hurled from their eternal bases, lofty cities shall be crumbled into
dust, but my Rinaldo shall never be false.
It is this consideration that can only support me. The trials I undergo
are too great for the most perfect fortitude. I quit a treasure that the
globe in its inexhausted variety never equalled. I retire to a distance,
where months may intervene ere the only intelligence that can give
pleasure to my heart, shall reach me. I shall count however with the
most unshaken security upon my future happiness. Walls of brass, and
bars of iron could not give me that assured peace.