and receiving no summons or manifestation of a celestial nature, he began to doubt the qualities of the liquid, and applying certain tests, he soon ascertained that he was still in the lower world and unharmed.  Nevertheless, this circumstance did not tend in any way to depress his mind, for, doubtless owing to some hidden virtue of the fluid, he felt an enjoyable emotion that he still lived; all his attributes appeared to be purified, and he experienced an inspired certainty of feeling that an illustrious and highly-remunerative future lay before one who still had an ordinary existence after being both officially killed and self-poisoned.

In this intelligent disposition thoughts of Mian recurred to him with unreproved persistence, and in order to convey to her an account of the various matters which had engaged him since his arrival at the city, and a well-considered declaration of the unchanged state of his own feelings towards her, he composed and despatched with impetuous haste the following delicate verses: 

Constancy

  About the walls and gates of Canton
  Are many pleasing and entertaining maidens;
  Indeed, in the eyes of their friends and of the passers-by
  Some of them are exceptionally adorable. 
  The person who is inscribing these lines, however,
  Sees before him, as it were, an assemblage of deformed and
    un-prepossessing hags,
  Venerable in age and inconsiderable in appearance;
  For the dignified and majestic image of Mian is ever before him,
  Making all others very inferior.

  Within the houses and streets of Canton
  Hang many bright lanterns. 
  The ordinary person who has occasion to walk by night
  Professes to find them highly lustrous. 
  But there is one who thinks contrary facts,
  And when he goes forth he carries two long curved poles
  To prevent him from stumbling among the dark and hidden places;
  For he has gazed into the brilliant and pellucid orbs of Mian,
  And all other lights are dull and practically opaque.

  In various parts of the literary quarter of Canton
  Reside such as spend their time in inward contemplation. 
  In spite of their generally uninviting exteriors
  Their reflexions are often of a very profound order. 
  Yet the unpopular and persistently-abused Ling
  Would unhesitatingly prefer his own thoughts to theirs,
  For what makes this person’s thoughts far more pleasing
  Is that they are invariably connected with the virtuous and
    ornamental Mian.