SHIPWRECK. A SENTIME …
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SHIPWRECK. A SENTIMENTAL AND DESCRIPTIVE POEM. IN THREE CANTOS.

BY WILLIAM FALCONER, AN ENGLISH SAILOR.

—quaeque ipse miserrima vidi,
Et quorum pars magna fui.—
Virg. Aen. lib. 2.
These direful scenes I saw on Candia's shore;
Distressful scenes, in which a part I bore.

PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED AND SOLD BY PRICHARD & HALL, IN MARKET STREET, NEAR FRONT STREET. M.DCC.LXXXVIII.

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SCENE OF THE THREE CANTOS.

The Scene of the FIRST Canto

Lies near the city of Candia; and the Time comprehends about four days and a half.

The Scene of the SECOND Canto

Lies in the sea, between cape Fr [...]schin in Candia, and the island of Falconera, which is nearly twelve leagues northward of cape Spado. The Time is from nine in the morning till one o'clock of the following morning.

The Scene of the THIRD Canto

Stretches from that part of the Archipelago which lies ten niles to the northward of Falconera, to cape Colonna, in Attica. The time is about seven hours, being from one till eight in the morning.

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THE SHIPWRECK.

CANTO I.

The Argument. Proposal of the subject. Invocation. Apology. Allegorical description of Memory; appeal to her assistance. The story begun. Retrospect of the former part of the voyage. The ship arrives at Candia. Ancient state of that island. Present state of the adjacent isles of Greece. The season of the year. Character of the master and his officers. Story of Palemon and Anna. Evening described. Mid­night. The ship weighs anchor and departs from the ha­ven. State of the weather. Morning. Situation of the neighbouring shores. Operation of taking the sun's azi­muzth. Description of the vessel as seen from the land.

WHILE jarring interests wake the world to arms,
And fright the peaceful vale with dire alarms;
While Ocean hears vindictive thunders roll
Along his trembling wave from pole to pole:
Sick of the scene, where War, with ruthless hand,
Spreads desolation o'er the bleeding land;
Sick of the tumult, where the trumpet's breath
Bids [...]uin smile, and drowns the groan of Death!
'Tis mine, retir'd beneath this cavern hoar,
That stands all-lonely on the sea-beat shore,
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Far other themes of deep distress to sing
Than ever trembled from the vocal string.
No pomp of battle sweels the exalted strain,
Nor gleaming arms ring dreadful on the plain:
But, o'er the scene while pale remembrance weeps,
Fate with fell triumph rides upon the deeps.
Here hostile elements tumultuous rise,
And lawless floods rebel against the skies,
Till Hope expires, and Peril and Dismay
Wave their black ensigns on the watery way.
Immortal Train, who guide the maze of song!
To whom all science, arts and arms belong;
Who bid the trumpet of eternal fame
Exalt the warrior's and the poet's name!
If e'er with trembling hope I fondly stray'd,
In life's fair morn, beneath your hallow'd shade,
To hear the sweetly-mournful lute complain,
And melt the heart with ecstacy of pain;
Or listen to th' inchanting voice of love,
While all Elysium warbled through the grove:
O [...] by the hollow biast, that moans around,
That sweeps the wild harp with a plaintive sound;
[...] the long surge that foams through yonder cave,
Whose vaults remurmur to the roaring wave;
With living colours give my verse to glow,
The sad memorial of a tale of woe!
A scene from dumb oblivion to restore,
To same unknown, and new to epic lore!
Alas! neglected by the sacred Nine,
Their suppliant feels no genial ray divine!
Ah! will they leave Pieria's happy shore,
To plow the tide where wintery tempests roar?
Or shall a youth approach their hallow'd fane,
Stranger to Phoebus, and the tuneful Train?
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Far from the Muses' academic grove,
'Twas his the vast and trackless deep to rove.
Alternate change of climates has he known,
And selt the fierce extremes of either zone:
Where polar skies congeal th' eternal snow,
Or equinoctial suns for ever glow.
Smote by the freezing or the scorching blast,
'A ship-boy on the high and giddy mast.' 1
From regions where Peruvian billows roar,
To the break coasts of savage Labrador.
From where Damascus, pride of Asian plains!
Stoops her proud neek beneath tyrannic chains,
To where the isthmus *, lav'd by adverse tides,
Atlantic and Pacific seas divides.
But while he measur'd o'er the painful race,
In fortune's wild illimitable chase,
Adversity, companion of his way!
Still o'er the victim hung with iron sway;
Bade new distresses every instant grow,
Marking each change of place with change of woe.
In regions where th' Almighty's chastening hand
With [...]d Pestilence afflicts the land:
Or where pale Famine blasts the hopeful year,
Parent of Want and Misery severe!
Or where, all dreadful in th' embattled line,
The hostile ships in flaming combat join:
Where the torn vessel wind and wave assail,
Till o'er her crew distress and death prevail.
Where'er he wander'd, thus vindictive Fate
Pursu'd his weary steps with lasting hate!
Fous'd by her mandate, storms of black array
Wirter'd the morn of life's advancing day;
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Relax'd the sinews of the living lyre,
And quench'd the kindling spark of vital fire.
Thus while forgotten or unknown he woos,
What hope to win the coy reluctant Muse?
Then let not censure, with malignant joy,
The harvest of his humble hope destroy!
His verse no laurel-wreath attempts to claim,
Nor sculptur'd brass to tell the Poet's name.
If terms uncouth and jarring phrases wound
The softer sense with inharmonious sound,
Yet here let listening sympathy prevail,
While conscious Truth unfolds her piteous tale!
And lo! the power that wakes th' eventful song,
Hastes hither from Lethean banks along:
She sweeps the gloom, and rushing on the sight,
Spreads o'er the kindli [...] scene propitious light!
In her right hand an [...]nple roll appears,
Fraught with long annals of preceding years:
With every wise and noble art of man,
Since first the circling hours their course began.
Her left a silver wand on high display'd,
Whose magic touch dispels oblivion's shade.
Pensive her look; on radiant wines that glow,
Like Juno's birds or Iris' flaming bow,
She sails; and swifter than the course of light,
Directs her rapid intellectual flight.
The fugitive ideas she restores,
And calls the wandering thought from Lethe's shores.
To things long past a second date she [...]ives,
And hoary Time from her fresh youth receives.
Congenial sister of immortal fame,
She shares her power, and Memory is her name.
O first-born daughter of primeval Time!
By whom, transmitted down in every clime,
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The deeds of ages long elaps'd are known,
And blazon'd glories spread from zone to zone;
Whose breath dissolves the gloom of mental night,
And o'er th' obscur'd idea pours the light!
Whose wing unerring glides through time and place,
And trackless scours the immensity of space!
Say! on what seas, for thou alone canst tell,
What dire mishap a fated ship befel,
Assail'd by tempests, girt with hostile shores?
Arise! approach! unlock thy treasur'd stores!
A ship from Egypt, o'er the deep impell'd
By guiding winds, her course for Venice held;
Of fam'd Britannia were the gallant crew,
And, from that isle, her name the vessel drew.
The wayward steps of Fortune, that delude
Full oft to ruin, eager they pursu'd:
And, dazzled by her visionary glare,
Advanc'd incautious of each fatal snare.
Though warn'd full oft the slippery track to shun,
Yet Hope, with flattering voice, betray'd them on.
Beguil'd to danger thus, they left behind
The scene of peace, and social joy resign'd.
Long absent they, from friends and native home,
The cheerless ocean were inur'd to roam:
Yet Heaven, in pity to severe distress,
Had crown'd each painful voyage with success:
Still, to atone for toils and hazards past,
Restor'd them to maternal plains at last.
Thrice had the sun, to rule the varying year,
Across th' equator roll'd his flaming sphere,
Since last the vessel spread her ample sail
From Albion's coast, obsequious to the gale.
She o'er the spacious flood, from shore to shore,
Unwearying wafted her commercial store.
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The richest ports of Afric she had view'd,
Thence to fair Italy her course pursu'd;
Had left behind Trinacria's burning isle,
And visited the margin of the Nile.
And now, that winter deepens round the pole,
The circling voyage hastens to its goal.
They, blind to Fate's inevitable law,
No dark event to blast their hope foresaw;
But, from gay Venice, soon expect to steer
For Britain's coast, and dread no perils near.
A thousand tender thoughts their souls employ,
That fondly dance to scenes of suture joy.
Thus time elaps'd, while o'er the pathless tide
Their ship through Grecian seas the pilots guide.
Occasion call'd to touch at Candia's shore,
Which, blest with favouring winds, they soon explore:
The haven enter, born before the gale,
Dispatch their commerce, and prepare to sail.
Eternal powers! what ruins from afar
Mark the fell track of desolating war!
Here Art and Commerce, with auspicious reign,
Once breath'd sweet influence on the happy plain;
While o'er the lawn, with dance and festive song,
Young Pleasure led the jocund Hours along.
In gay luxuriance Ceres too was seen
To crown the vallies with eternal green.
For wealth, for valour, courted and rever'd,
What Albion is, fair Candia then appear'd.
Ah! who the flight of ages can revoke?
The sreeborn spirit of her sons is broke;
They bow to Ottoman's imperious yoke!
No longer Fame the drooping heart inspires,
For rude Oppression [...] its genial sires.
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But still her fields, with golden harvests crown'd,
Supply the barren shores of Greece around.
What pale distress afflicts these wretched isles!
There hope ne'er dawns, and pleasure never smiles.
The vassal-wretch obsequious drag [...] his chain,
And hears his famish'd babes lament in vain.
These eyes have seen the dull reluctant soil
A seventh year scorn the weary labourer's toil.
No blooming Venus, on the desert shore,
Now views with triumph captive gods adore.
No lovely Helens now, with fatal charms,
Call forth th' avenging chiefs of Greece to arms.
No fair Penelopes inchant the eye,
For whom contending kings are proud to die.
Here sullen Beauty sheds a twilight ray,
While Sorrow bids her vernal bloom decay.
Those charms, so long renown'd in classic strains,
Are doom'd to shine on Albion's happier plains!
Now, in the southern hemisphere, the sun
Through the bright virgin and the scales had run;
And on th' ecliptic wheel'd his winding way,
Till the fierce scorpion felt his flaming ray.
The ship was moor'd beside the wave-worn strand;
Four days her anchors bit the golden sand:
For sickening vapours lull the air to sleep,
And not a breeze awakes the silent deep.
This, when th' autumnal equinox is o'er,
And Phoebus in the north declines no more,
The watchful mariner, whom Heaven informs,
Oft deems the prelude of approaching storms.
True to his trust when sacred duty calls,
No brooding storm the master's soul appalls:
Th' adv [...]ing season warns him to the main:
A captive, letter [...]d to the [...] of gain!
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His anxious heart, impatient of delay,
Expects the winds to sail from Candia's bay;
Determin'd from whatever point they rise,
To trust his fortune to the seas and skies.
Thou living ray of intellectual fire,
Whose voluntary gleams my verse inspire;
Ere yet the deepening incidents prevail,
Till rous'd attention feel our plaintive tale,
Record whom, chief among the gallant crew,
Th' unblest pursuit of fortune hither drew!
Can sons of Neptune, generous, brave and bold,
In pain and hazard toil for sordid gold?
They can; for gold, too oft, with magic art,
Subdues each nobler impulse of the heart:
This crowns the prosperous villain with applause,
To whom, in vain, sad Merit pleads her cause:
This strews with roses life's perplexing road,
And leads the way to Pleasure's blest abode,
With slaughter'd victims fills the weeping plain,
And smooths the furrows of the treacherous main.
O'er the gay vessel, and her daring band,
Experienc'd Albert held the chief command.
Though train'd in boisterous elements, his mind
Was yet by soft humanity refin'd.
Each joy of wedded love at home he knew;
Abroad confest the father of his crew!
Brave, liberal, just! the calm domestic scene
Had o'er his temper breath'd a gay serene.
Him science taught by mystic lore to trace
The planets wheeling in eternal race;
To mark the ship in floating balance held,
By earth attracted and by seas repell'd;
Or point her devious track, through climes unknown,
That leads to every shore in every zon [...]
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He saw the moon through heaven's blue concave glide,
And into motion charm th' expanding tide;
While earth impetuous round her axle rolls,
Exalts her watery zone, and sinks the poles.
Light and attraction, from their genial source,
He saw still wandering with diminish'd force;
While on the margin of declining day,
Night's shadowy cone reluctant melts away.
Inur'd to peril, with unconquer'd soul,
The chief beheld tempestuous oceans roll;
His genius, ever for th' event prepa [...]'d,
Rose with the storm, and all its dangers shar'd.
The second powers and office Rodmond bore:
A hardy son of England's farthest shore!
Where bleak Northumbria pours her savage train
In sable souadrons o'er the northern main;
That, with her pitchy entrails stor'd, resort,
A sooty tribe! to fair Augusta's port.
Where'er in ambush lurk the fatal sands,
They claim the danger; proud of skilful hands!
For while with darkling course their vessels sweep
The winding shore, or plow the faithless deep,
O'er bar and shelf the watery path they sound, 3
With dexterous arm; sagacious of the ground!
Fearless they combat every hostile wind,
Wheeling in mazy tracks, with course inclin'd.
Expert to moor, where terrors line the road,
Or win the anchor from its dark abode:
But drooping and relax'd in climes afar,
Tumultuous and undisciplin'd in war.
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Such Rodmond was; by learning unrefin'd,
That oft enlightens to corrupt the mind.
Boisterous of manners; train'd, in early youth,
To scenes, that shame the conscious cheek of truth;
To scenes, that Nature's struggling voice controul,
And freeze compassion rising in the soul!
Where the grim hell-hounds, prowling round the shore,
With foul intent the stranded bark explore;
Deaf to the voice of woe, her decks they board,
While tardy justice slumbers o'er her sword;
Th' indignant Muse, severely taught to feel,
Shrinks from a theme, she blushes to reveal!
Too oft example, arm'd with poisons fell,
Pollutes the shrine, where Mercy loves to dwell:
Thus Rodmond, train'd by this unhallow'd crew,
The sacred social passions never knew:
Unskill'd to argue; in dispute yet loud;
Bold without caution; without honour proud;
In art unschool'd; each veteran rule he priz'd,
And all improvement haughtily despis'd:
Yet though full oft to future perils blind,
With skill superior glow'd his daring mind,
Through snares of death the reeling bark to guide,
When midnight shades involve the raging tide.
To Rodmond next, in order of command,
Succeeds the youngest of our naval band.
But what avails it to record a name
That courts no rank among the sons of Fame?
While yet a stripling, oft with fond alarms,
His bosom danc'd to Nature's boundless charms,
On him fair science dawn'd, in happier hour,
Awakening into bloom young Fancy's flower;
But frowning fortune, with untimely blast,
The blossom wither'd, and the dawn o'ercast.
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Forlorn of heart, and by severe decree,
Condemn'd reluctant to the faithless sea,
With long farewel he left the laurel grove,
Where Science and the tuneful Sisters rove.
Hither he wander'd, anxious to explore,
Antiquities of nations now no more:
To penetrate each distant realm unknown,
And range excursive o'er the untravel'd zon [...].
In vain; for rude Adversity's command,
Still on the margin of each famous land,
With unrelenting ire, his steps oppos'd;
And every gate of hope against him clos'd!
Permit my verse, ye blest Piërian Train,
To call Arion this ill-fated swain!
For, like that bard unhappy, on his, head
Malignant stars their hostile influence shed.
Both in lamenting numbers, o'er the deep,
With conscious anguish taught the harp to weep:
And both the raging surge in safety bore,
Amid destruction, panting to the shore.
This last our tragic story from the wave
Of dark oblivion haply yet may save:
With genuine sympathy may vet complain,
While sad remembrance bleeds at every vein.
Such were the pilots; tutor'd to divine
Th' untravel'd course by geometric line:
Train'd to command, and range the various sail,
Whose various force conforms to every gale.
Charg'd with the commerce, hither also came
A gallant youth, Palemon was his name:
A father's stern resentment doom'd to prove,
He came, the victim of unhappy love!
His heart for Albert's beauteous daughter bled;
For her a secret flame his bosom fed.
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Nor let the wretched slaves of folly scorn
This genuine passion, Nature's eldest-born!
'Twas his with lasting anguish to complain,
While blooming Anna mourn'd the cause in vain.
Graceful of form, by Nature taught to please,
Of power to melt the female breast with ease,
To her Palemon told his tender tale,
Soft as the voice of summer's evening gale.
O' enjoy'd, he saw her lovely eyes relent;
The blushing maiden smil'd with sweet consent.
Oft, in the mazes of a neighbouring grove,
Unheard, they breath'd alternate vows of love:
By fond society their passion grew,
Like the young blossom fed with vernal dew.
In evil hour th' officious tongue of Fame
Betray'd the secret of their mutual flame.
With grief and anger struggling in his breast,
Palemon's father heard the tale confess'd.
Long had he liften'd with Suspicion's ear,
And learnt, sagacious, this event to fear.
Too well, fair youth! thy liberal heart he knew;
A heart to Nature's warm impressions true!
Full oft his wisdom strove, with fruitless toil,
With avarice to pollute that generous soil:
That soil, impregnated with nobler seed,
Refus'd the culture of so rank a weed.
Elate with wealth, in active commerce won,
And basking in the smile of Fortune's sun,
With scorn the parent eyed the lowly shade,
That veil'd the beauties of this charming maid.
Indignant he rebuk'd th' enamour'd boy,
The flattering promise of his future joy!
He sooth'd and menac'd, anxious to reclaim
This hopeless passion, or divert its aim:
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Oft led the youth, where circling joys delight
The ravish'd sense, or beauty charms the sight.
With all her powers inchanting music fail'd,
And Pleasure's syren-voice no more prevail'd.
The merchant, kindling then with proud disdain,
In look and voice assum'd an harsher strain.
In absence now his only hope remain'd;
And such the stern decree his will ordain'd.
Deep anguish, while Palemon heard his doom,
Drew o'er his lovely face a saddening gloom.
In vain with bitter sorrow he repin'd,
No tender pity touch'd that sordid mind;
To thee, brave Albert was the charge confin'd.
The stately ship, forsaking England's shore,
To regions far remote Palemon bore.
Incapable of change, th' unhappy youth
Still lov'd fair Anna with eternal truth:
From clime to clime an exile doom'd to roam,
His heart still panted for its secret home.
The moon had circled thrice her wayward zone,
To him since young Arion first was known;
Who, wand [...]ring here through many a scene renown'd,
In Alexandria's port the vessel found;
Where, anxious to review his native shore,
He on the rearing wave embark'd once more.
Oft, by pale Cynthia's melancholy light,
With him Palemon kept the watch of night;
In whose sad bosom many a sigh suppress'd,
Some painful secre [...] of the soul consest.
Perhaps Arion soon the cause divin'd,
Though shunning still to probe a wounded mind;
He felt the chastity of silent woe,
Though glad the balm of comfort to bestow.
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He, with Palemon, oft recounted o'er
The tales of hapless love in ancient lore,
Recall'd to me mory by th' adjacent shore.
The scene just present, and its story known,
The lover sigh'd for sorrows not his own.
Thus, though a recent date their friendship bore,
Soon the ripe metal own'd the quickening ore:
For in one tide their passions seem'd to roll,
By kindred age and sympathy of soul.
These [...] th' inferior naval train preside,
The coun [...] determine, or the commerce guide:
O'er all the rest, an undistinguish'd crew!
Her wing of deepest shade oblivion drew.
A sullen languor still the skies oppress'd,
And held t [...] unwilling ship in strong arrest.
High in his chariot glow'd the lamp of day;
O'er Ida flaming with meridian ray.
Relax'd from toil, the sailors range the shore,
Where famine, war and storm are felt no more:
The hour to social pleasure they resign,
And black remembrance drown in generous wine.
On deck, beneath the shading canvas spread,
Rodmond a rueful tale of wonders read,
Of dragons roaring on th' inchanted coast;
The hideous goblin, and the yelling ghost.
But with Arion, from the sultry heat
Of noon, Palemon sought a cool retreat.
And lo! the shore with mournful prospects crown'd; 4
The rampart torn with many a fatal wound;
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The ruin'd bulwark tottering o'er the strand,
Bewail the stroke of War's tremendous hand.
What scenes of woe this hapless isle o'erspread!
Where late thrice fifty thousand warriors bled.
Full thrice twelve summers were yon towers assail'd,
Till barbarous Ottoman at last prevail'd:
While thundering mines the lovely plains o'erturn'd,
While heroes fell, and domes and temples burn'd.
But now before them happier scenes arise!
Elysian vales salute their ravish'd eyes:
Olive and cedar form'd a grateful shade,
Where light with gay romantic error stray'd.
The myrtles here with fond caresses twine,
There, rich with nectar, melts the pregnant vine.
And lo! the stream, renown'd in classic song,
Sad Lethe! glides the silent vale along.
On mossy banks, beneath the citron-grove,
The youthful wanderers sound a wild alcove:
Soft, o'er the fairy region langour stole,
And with sweet melancholy charm'd the soul.
Here first Palemon, while his pensive mind
For consolation on his friend reclin'd,
In pity's bleeding bosom pour'd the stream
Of love's soft anguish, and of grief supreme.
Too true thy words!—by sweet remembrance taught,
My heart in secret bleeds with tender thought:
In vain it courts the solitary shade,
By every action, every look betray'd!
The pride of generous woe disdains appeal
To hearts, that unrelenting fros [...]s congeal:
Yet sure, if right Palemon can divine,
The sense of gentle pity dwells in thine.
Yes! all his cares thy sympathy shall know,
And prove the kind companion of his woe.
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Albert thou know'st, with skill and science grac'd,
In humble station though by fortune plac'd:
Yet, never seaman more serenely brave
Led Britain's conquering squadrons o'er the wave.
Where full in view Augusta's spires are seen,
With flowery lawns, and waving woods between,
A peaceful dwelling stands in modest pride,
Where Thames, slow-winding, rolls his ample tide.
There live the hope and pleasure of his life,
A pious daughter, and a faithful wife.
For his return, with fond officious care,
Still every grateful object these prepare;
Whatever can allure the smell or sight,
Or wake the drooping spirits to delight.
This blooming maid in virtue's path to guide,
Her anxious parents all their cares apply'd.
Her spotless soul, where soft compassion reign'd,
No vice untun'd, no sickening folly stain'd:
Not fairer grows the lily of the vale,
Whose bosom opens to the vernal gale;
Her eyes, unconscious of their fatal charms,
Thrill'd every heart with exquisite alarms;
Her face, in beauty's sweet attraction dress'd,
The smile of maiden-innocence express'd,
While health, that rises with the new-born day,
Breath'd o'er her cheek the softest blush of May.
Still in her look complacence smil'd serene;
She mov'd the charmer of the rural scene.
'Twas at that season when the fields resume
Their loveliest hues, array'd in vernal bloom,
Yon ship, rich-freighted from th' Italian shore,
To Thames' fair banks her costly tribute bore:
While thus my father saw his ample hoard,
From this return, with recent treasures stor'd;
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Me, with affairs of commerce charg'd, he sent
To Albert's humble mansion; soon I went,
Too soon, alas! unconscious of th' event.
There, struck with sweet surprize and silent awe,
The gentle mistress of my hopes I saw:
There, wounded first by Love's resistless arms,
My glowing bosom throbb'd with strange alarms.
My ever-charming Anna! who alone
Can all the frowns of cruel Fate atone;
O! while all-conscious Mem'ry holds her pow'r,
Can I forget that sweetly-painful hour,
When from those eyes, with lovely lightning fraught,
My sluttering spirits first th' infection caught?
When, as I gaz'd, my faultering tongue betray'd
The heart's quick tumults, or refus'd its aid:
While the dim light my ravish'd eyes forsook,
And every limb unstrung with terror shook.
With all her powers dissenting Reason strove
To tame at first the kindling flame of love;
She strove in vain; subdu'd by charms divine,
My soul a victim fell at Beauty's shrine.
Oft from the din of bustling life I stray'd,
In happier scenes, to see my lovely maid.
Full oft, where Thames his wandering current leads,
We rov'd at evening-hour through flowery meads.
There, while my heart's soft anguish I reveal'd,
To her with tender sighs my hope appeal'd.
While the sweet nymph my faithful tale believ'd,
Her snowy breast with secret tumult heav'd:
For, train'd in rural scenes from earliest youth,
Nature was her's, and Innocence and Truth.
She never knew the city damsel's art,
Whose frothy pertness charms the vacant heart.
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My suit prevail'd; for Love inform'd my tongue,
And on his votary's lips Persuasion hung.
Her eyes with conscious sympathy withdrew,
And o'er her cheek the rosy current flew.
Thrice happy hours! where, with no dark alloy,
Life's fairest sunshine gilds the vernal day!
For here the sigh that soft affection heaves,
From stings of sharper woe the soul relieves.
Elysian scenes, too happy long to last!
Too soon a storm the smiling dawn o'ercast!
Too soon some demon to my rather bore
The tidings, that his heart with anguish tore.
My pride to kindle, with dissuasive voice,
Awhile he labour'd to degrade my choice:
Then, in the whirling wave of pleasure, sought
From its lov'd object to divert my thought.
With equal hope he might attempt to bind,
In chains of adamant, the lawless wind:
For Love had aim'd the fatal thaft too sure:
Hope fed the wound, and Absence knew no cure.
With alienated look, each art he saw
Still baffled by superior Nature's law.
His anxious mind on various schemes revolv'd;
At last on cruel exile he resolv'd.
The rigorous doom was fix'd; alas! how vain
To him of tender anguish to complain!
His soul, that never Love's sweet influence felt,
By social Sympathy could never melt.
With stern command to Albert's charge he gave,
To waft Palemon o'er the distant wave.
The ship was laden and prepar'd to sail,
And only waited now the leading gale.
'Twas ours, in that sad period, first to prove
The heart-felt torments of despairing love.
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Th' impatient wish that never feels repose;
Desire that with perpetual current flows;
The fluctuating pangs of hope and fear;
Joy distant still, and sorrow ever near!
Thus while the pangs of thought severer grew
The western breezes inauspicious blew,
Hastening the moment of our last adieu,
The vessel parted on the falling tide;
Yet Time one sacred hour to Love supply'd.
The night was silent, and, advancing fast,
The moon o'er Thames her silver mantle cast.
Impatient Hope the midnight path explor'd,
And led me to the nymph my soul ador'd.
Soon her quick footsteps struck my listening ear;
She came confest! the lovely maid drew near!
But, ah! what force of language can impart
Th' impetuous joy that glow'd in either neart!
O ye! whose melting hearts are form'd to prove
The trembling ecstasies of genuine love!
When, with delicious agony, the thought
Is to the verge of high delirium wrought,
Your secret sympathy alone can tell
What raptures then the throbbing bosom swell;
O'er all the nerves what tender tumults roll,
While love with sweet inchantment melts the soul!
In transport lost, by trembling hope impress'd,
The blushing virgin sunk upon my breast;
While hers congenial beat with sond alarms;
Dissolving softness! paradise of charms!
Flash'd from our eyes, in warm transfusion flew
Our blanding spirits, that each other drew!
O bliss supreme! where Virtue's self can melt
With joys that guilty Pleasure never felt!
Form'd to resine the thought with chaste Desire,
And kindle sweet Affection's purest fire!
[Page 24]
"Ah! wherefore should my hopeless love, she eries,
While sorrow burst with interrupting sighs,
For ever destin'd to lament in vain,
Such flattering, fond ideas entertain?
My heart through scenes of fair illusion stray'd,
To joys decreed for some superior maid.
'Tis mine to feel the sharpest stings of grief,
Where never gentle Hope affords relief.
Go then, dear youth! thy father's rage atone,
And let this tortur'd bosom beat alone!
The hovering anger yet thou may'st appease;
Go then, dear youth! nor tempt the faithless seas!
Find out some happier daughter of the town,
With fortune's fairer joys thy love to crown;
While smiling o'er thee, with indulgent ray,
Prosperity shall hail each new-born day.
Too well thou know'st good Albert's niggard fate,
Ill-fitted to sustain thy father's hate;
Go then, I charge thee, by thy generous love,
That fatal to my father thus may prove!
On me alone let dark affliction fall!
Whose heart, for thee, will gladly suffer all.
Then haste thee hence, Palemon, ere too late,
Nor rashly hope to brave opposing fate!"
She ceas'd; while anguish in her angel-face
O'er all her beauties shower'd celestial grace.
Not Helen, in her bridal charms array'd,
Was half so lovely as this gentle maid.
O soul of all my wishes! I reply'd,
Can that soft fabric stem affliction's t [...]de?
Canst thou, fair emblem of exalted truth!
To sorrow doom the summer of thy youth;
And I, persidious! all that sweetness see
Consign'd to lasting misery for me?
[Page 25]
Sooner, this moment may th' eternal doom
Palemon in the silent earth entomb!
Attest thou moon, fair regent of the night!
Whose lustre sickens at this mournful sight;
By all the pangs divided lovers feel,
That sweet possession only knows to heal!
By all the horrors brooding o'er the deep!
Where Fate and Ruin sad dominion keep;
Though tyrant-duty o'er me threatening stands,
And claims obedience to her stern commands:
Should fortune cruel or auspicious prove,
Her smile or frown shall never change my love!
My heart, that now must every joy resign,
Incapable of change, is only thine!
O cease to weep! this storm will yet decay,
And these sad clouds of sorrow melt away.
While through the rugged path of life we go,
All mortals taste the bitter draught of woe.
The fam'd and great decreed to equal pain,
Full oft in splendid wretchedness complain.
For this prosperity, with brighter ray,
In smiling contrast gilds our vital day.
Thou too, sweet maid! ere twice ten months are o'er
Shalt hail Palemon to his native shore,
Where never interest shall divide us more.
Her struggling soul, o'erwhelm'd with tender grief,
Now found an interval of short relief:
So melts the surface of the frozen stream,
Eeneath the wintery sun's departing beam.
With warning haste the shades of night withdrew,
And gave the signal of a sad adieu.
As on my neck th' afflicted maiden hung,
A thousand racking doubts her spirit wrung
[Page 26]
She wept the terrors of the searful wave,
Too oft, alas! the wandering lover's grave!
With soft persuasion I dispell'd her fear,
And from her cheek beguil'd the falling tear.
While dying fondness languish'd in her eyes,
She pour'd her soul to Heaven in suppliant sighs.
"Look down with pity, oh! ye powers above,
Who hear the sad complaint of bleeding love!
Ye, who the secret laws of sate explore,
Alone can tell if he returns no more:
Or if the hour of future joy remain,
Long-wish'd atonement of long suffer'd pain!
Bid every guardian minister attend,
And from all ill the much-lov'd youth defend!"
With grief o'erwhelm'd we parted twice in vain,
And, urg'd by strong attraction, met again.
At last, by cruel fortune torn apart,
While tender passion stream'd in either heart,
Our eyes transfix'd with agonizing look,
One sad sarewel, one last embrace we took.
Forlorn of hope the lovely maid I left,
Pensive and pale; of every joy bereft.
She to her silent couch retir'd to weep,
While her sad swain embark'd upon the deep.
His tale thus clos'd, from sympathy of grief
Palemon's bosom felt a sweet relief.
The hapless bird, thus ravish'd from the skies,
Where all forlorn his lov'd companion flies,
In secret long bewails his cruel fate,
With fond remembrance of his winged mate:
Till grown familiar with a foreign train,
Compos'd at length, his sadly-warbling strain
In sweet oblivion charms the sense of pain.
[Page 27]
Ye tender maids, in whose pathetic souls
Compassion's sacred stream impetuous rolls;
Whose warm affections exquisitely feel
The secret wound you tremble to reveal!
Ah! may no wanderer of the faithless main,
Pour through your breast the soft delicious bane!
May never fatal tenderness approve
The fond effusions of their ardent love.
O! warn'd by friendship's counsel, learn to shun
The fatal path where thousands are undone!
Now as the youths, returning o'er the plain,
Approach'd the lonely margin of the main,
First, with attention rous'd, Arion ey'd
The graceful lover, form'd in Nature's pride.
His frame the happiest symmetry display'd,
And looks of waving gold his neck array'd:
In every look the Paphian graces shine,
Soft-breathing o'er his check their bloom divine.
With lighten'd heart he smil'd serenely gay,
Like young Adonis or the son of May.
Not Cytherea from a fairer swain
Receiv'd her apple on the Trojan plain!
The sun's bright orb, declining all serene,
Now glanc'd obliquely o'er the woodland scene.
Creation smiles around; on every spray
The warbling birds exalt their evening lay.
Elithe shipping o'er yon hill, the fieecy train
Join the deep chorus of the lowing plain:
The golden lime and orange there were seen,
On fragrant branches of perpetual green.
The crystal streams, that velvet meadows lave,
To the green ocean roll with chiding wave.
The glassy ocean hush'd forgets to roar,
But trembling murmurs on the sandy shore:
[Page 28]
And lo! his surface, lovely to behold,
Glows in the west, a sea of living gold!
While, all above, a thousand liveries gay
The skies with pomp ineffable array.
Arabian sweets perfume the happy plains;
Above, beneath, around, inchantment reigns!
While yet the shades, on Time's eternal scale,
With long vibration deepen o'er the vale;
While yet the songsters of the vocal grove,
With dying numbers tune the soul to love,
With joyful eyes th' attentive master sees
Th' auspicious omens of an eastern bre [...]eze.
Now radiant Vesper leads the starry train,
And Night slow draws her veil o'er land and main.
Round the charg'd bowl the sailors form a ring,
By turns recount the wondrous tale, or sing,
As love or battle, hardships of the main,
Or genial wine, awake their homely strain:
Then some the watch of night alternate keep,
The rest lie huried in oblivious sleep.
Deep midnight now involves the livid skies,
While infant breezes from the shore arise.
The waning moon, behind a watery shroud,
Pale-glimmer'd o'er the long protracted cloud.
A mighty ring around her silver throne,
With parting meteors cross'd, portentous shone.
This in the troubled sky full oft prevails,
Oft deem'd a signal of tempestuous gales.
While young Arion sleeps, before his sight
Tumultuous swim the visions of the night.
Now blooming Anna, with her happy swain,
Approach'd the sacred Hymeneal fane;
Anon tremendous lightnings flash between,
And funeral pomp, and weeping Loves are seen!
[Page 29]
Now with Palemon up a rocky steep,
Whose summit trembles o'er the roaring deep,
With painful step he climb'd; while far above
Sweet Anna charm'd them with the voice of love.
Then sudden from the slippery height they fell,
while dreadful yawn'd beneath the Jaws of hell.
Amid this fearful trance, a thundering sound
He hears, and thrice the hollow decks rebound.
Upstarting from his couch, on deck he sprung;
Thrice with shrill note the boatswain's whistle rung.
All hands unmoor! proclaims a boisterous cry;
All hands unmoor, the cavern'd rocks reply!
Rous'd from repose, alost the sailors swarm,
And with their levers soon the windlass arm. 5
The order given, upspringing with a bound,
They lodge the bars, and wheel their engine round;
At every turn the clanging pauls resound.
Uptorn relustant from its oozy cave,
The ponderous anchor rises o'er the wave.
Along their slippery masts the yards ascend,
And high in air the canvas wings extend;
Redoubling cords the lofty canvas guide,
And through inextricable mazes glide.
The lunar rays with long reflection gleam,
To light the vessel o'er the silver stream,
Along the glassy plain serene she glides,
While azure radiance trembles on her sides.
From east to north the transient breezes play,
And in th' Egyptian quarter soon decay.
[Page 30]
A calm ensues; they dread th' adjacent shore;
The b [...]ats with rowers arm'd are sent before;
With cordage fasten'd to the lofty prow,
Aloof to sea the stately ship they tow. 6
The nervous crew their sweeping oars extend,
And pealing shouts the shore of Candia rend.
Success attends their skill, the danger's o'er,
The port is doubled and beheld no more.
Now Morn, her lamp pale-glimmering on the sight,
Seatter'd before her van reluctant Night.
She comes not in refulgent pomp array'd,
But sternly frowning, wrapt in sullen shade.
Above incumbent vapours, Ida's height,
Tremendous rock! emerges on the sight.
North-east the guardian isle of Standia lies,
And westward Freschin's woody capes arise.
With winning postures now the wanton sails
Spread all their snares to charm th' inconstant gales.
The swelling stu'n-sails now their wings extend, 7
Then stay-sails sidelong to the breeze ascend;
While all to court the wandering breeze are plac'd,
With yards now thwarting, now obliquely brac'd.
The dim horizon lowering vapours shroud,
And blot the sun, yet struggling in the cloud:
Through the wide atmosphere, condens'd with haze,
His glaring orb emits a sanguine blaze.
[Page 31]
The pilots now their rules of art apply,
The mystic needle's devious aim to try.
The compass plac'd to catch the rising ray, 8
The quadrant's shadows studious they survey,
Along the arch the gradual index slides,
While Phoebus down the vertic circle glides.
Now, seen on Ocean's utmost verge to swim,
He sweeps it vibrant with his nether limb.
Their sage experience thus explores the height
And polar distance of the source of light:
Then through the chiliads triple maze, they trace
Th' analogy that proves the magnet's place.
The wayward steel, to truth thus reconcil'd,
No more the attentive pilot's eye beguil'd.
The natives, while the ship departs the land,
Ashore with admiration gazing stand.
Majestically slow, before the breeze,
In silent pomp she marches on the seas.
Her milk-white bottom cast a softer gleam,
While trembling through the green translucent stream.
The wales, that close above in contrast shone, 9
Clasp the long fabric with a jetty zone.
Britannia, riding awful on the prow,
Gaz'd o'er the vassal-wave that roll'd below:
Where'er she mov'd, the vassal-waves were seen
To yield obsequious and confess their queen.
[Page 32]
Th' imperial trident grac'd her dexter hand,
Of power to rule the surge, like Moses' wand,
Th' eternal empire of the m [...]in to keep,
And guide her squadrons o'er the trembling deep.
Her left propitious bore a mystic shield,
Around whose margin rolls the wat'ry field.
There her bold Genius, in his floating car,
O'er the wild billow hurls the storm of war.
And lo! the beasts, that oft with jealous rage,
In bloody combat met, from age to age,
Tam'd into Union, yok'd in Friendship's chain,
Draw his proud chariot round the vanquish'd main.
From the broad margin to the center grew
Shelves, rocks, and whirlpools, hideous to the view!
Th' immortal shield from Neptune she receiv'd,
When first her head above the waters heav'd.
Loose floated o'er her limbs an azure vest,
A figur'd scutcheon glitter'd on her breast;
There, from one parent-soil, for ever young,
The blooming Rose and hardy Thistle sprung.
Around her head an oaken wreath was seen,
Inwove with laurels of unfading green.
Such was the sculptur'd prow: from van to rear
Th' artillery frown'd, a black tremendous tier!
Embalm'd with orient gum, above the wave,
The swelling sides a yellow radiance gave.
On the broad stern, a pencil warm and bold,
That never servile rules of art controul'd,
An allegoric tale on high pourtray'd;
There a young hero; here a loyal maid.
Fair England's Genius in the youth express'd,
Her ancient foe, but now her friend confess'd,
The warlike nymph with fond regard survey'd:
No more his hostile frown her heart dismay'd.
[Page 33]
His look, that once shot terror from afar,
Like young Alcides, or the god of war,
Serene as summer's evening skies she saw;
Serene yet firm; though mild, impressing awe.
Her nervous arm, inur'd to toils severe,
Brandish'd th' unconquer'd Caledonian spear.
The dreadful saulchion of the hills she wore,
Sung to the harp in many a tale of yore,
That oft her rivers dy'd with hostile gore.
Blue was her rocky shield; her piercing eye
Flash'd, like the meteors of her native sky.
Her crest, high-plum'd, was rough with many a scar,
And o'er her helmet gieam'd the northern star.
The warrior youth appear'd of noble fame;
The hardy offspring of some Runic dame.
Loose o'er his shoulders hung the slacken'd bow,
Renown'd in song, the terror of the foe!
The sword, that oft the barbarous north defy'd,
The scourge of tyrants! glitter'd by his side.
Clad in refulgent arms, in battle won,
The George emblazon'd on his corselet shone.
Fast by his side was seen a golden lyre,
Pregnant with numbers of eternal fire;
Whose strings umock the witches' midnight spell,
Or waft rapt fancy through the gulfs of hell.
Struck with contagion, kindling fancy hears
The songs of heaven! the music of the spheres!
Borne on Newtonian wing through air she flies,
Where other suns to other systems rise!
These front the scene conspicuous—over head
Albion [...] proud oak his filial branches spread:
While on the sea-beat shore obsequious stood,
Beneath their feet, the father of the flood.
[Page 34]
Here, the bold native of her cliffs above,
Perch'd by the martial maid the bird of Jove;
There on the watch, sagacious of his prey,
With eyes of fire, an English mastiff lay.
Yonder fair Commerce stretch'd her winged sail;
Here frown'd the god that wakes the living gale.
High o'er the poop, the flattering winds unfurl'd
Th' imperial flag that rules the watery world.
Deep-blushing armours all the tops invest,
And warlike trophies either quarter drest.
Then tower'd the masts; the canvas swell'd on high,
And waving streamers floated in the sky.
Thus the rich vessel moves in trim array,
Like some fair virgin on her bridal day.
Thus, like a swan, she cleaves the watery plain;
The pride and wonder of the Aegean main!
END OF THE FIRST CANTO,
[Page]

CANTO II.

The Argument. Reflection on leaving the land. The gale continues. A water-spout. Beauty of a dying dolphin. The ship's progress along the shore. Wind strengthens. The sails reduced. A shoal of porpoises. Last appearance of cape Spado. Sea rises. A squall. The sails further diminish­ed. Mainsail split. Ship bears away before the wind. Again hauls upon the wind. Another mainsail fitted to the yard. The gale still increases. Topsails furled. Top­gallant-yards sent down. Sea enlarges. Sun-set. Courses reefed. Four seamen lost off the lee main-yard-arm. Anxiety of the pilots from their dangerous situation. Re­solute behaviour of the sailors. The ship labours in great distress. The artillery thrown overboard. Dismal ap­pearance of the weather. Very high and dangerous sea. Severe fatigue of the crew. Consultation and resolution of the officers. Speech and advice of Albert to the crew. Necessary disposition to veer before the wind. Disap­pointment in the proposed effect. New dispositions equally unsuccessful. The mizen-mast cut away.

ADIEU, ye pleasures of the rural scene,
Where peace and calm contentment dwell serene!
[Page 36]
To me in vain, on earth's polific soil,
With summer crown'd th' Elysian vallies smile!
To [...] those happier scenes no joy impart,
But tantalize with hope my aching heart.
For these, alas! reluctant I forego,
To visit storms and elements of woe!
Yet tempests o'er my head congenial roll.
To su [...]t the mournful music of my soul!
In black progression, lo! they hover near;
Hall, social horrors, like my fate severe!
Old Ocean! hail, beneath whose azure zone
The secret deep lies unexplor'd, unknown.
Approach, ye brave companions of the sea,
And fearless view this awful scene with me!
Ye native guardians of your country's laws!
Ye bold assertors of her sacred cause!
The Muse invites you; judge if she depart,
Unequal, from the precepts of your art.
In practice train'd, and conscious of her power,
Her steps intrepid meet the trying hour.
O'er the smooth bosom of the faithless tides,
Propel'd by gentle gales, the vessel glides.
Rodmond exulting felt th' auspicious wind,
And by a mystic charm its aim confin'd.
The thoughts of home, that o'er his fancy roll,
With trembling joy dilate Palemon's soul:
Hope lifts his heart, before whose vivid ray
Distress recedes, and danger melts away.
Already Britain's parent-cliffs arise,
And in idea greet his longing eyes!
Each amorous sailor too, with heart elate.
Dwells on the beauties of his gentle mate.
Even they th' impressive dart of love can feel,
Whose stubborn souls are sheath'd in triple steel.
[Page 37]
Nor less o'er-joy'd, perhaps with equal truth,
Each faithful maid expects th' approaching youth.
In distant bosoms equal ardors glow,
And mutual passions mutual joy bestow.
Tall Ida's summit now more distant grew,
And Jove's high hill was rising on the view:
When, from the left approaching, they descry
A liquid column towering shoot on high.
The foaming base an angry whirlwind sweeps,
Where curling billows rouse the fearful deeps.
Still round and round the fluid vortex flies,
Scattering dun night and horror through the skies.
The swift volution and th' enormous train
Let sages vers'd in Nature's lore explain!
The horrid apparition still draws nigh,
And white with foam the whirling surges fly!
The guns were prim'd; the vessel northward veers
Till her black battery on the column bears.
The nitre fir'd; and while the dreadful sound,
Convulsive, shook the slumbering air around,
The watery volume, trembling to the sky,
Burst down a dreadful deluge from on high!
Th' affrighted surge, recoiling as it fell,
Rolling in hills disclos'd the abyss of hell.
But soon, this transient undulation o'er,
The sea subsides, the whirlwinds rage no more.
While southward now th' increasing b [...]zes veer,
Dark clouds incumbent on their wings appear.
In front they view the consecrated grove
Of cypress, sacred once to Cretan Jove.
The thirsty canvas, all around supplied,
Still drinks unquench'd the full aërial tide.
And now, approaching near the lofty stern,
A shoal of sportive dolphins they discern.
[Page 38]
From burnish'd scales they beam refulgent rays,
Till all the glowing ocean seems to blaze.
Soon to the sport of death the crew repair,
Dart the long lance, or spread the baited snare.
One, in redoubling mazes, wheels along,
And glides, unhappy! near the triple prong.
Rodmond, unerring, o'er his head suspends
The barbed steel, and every turn attends.
Unerring aim'd, the missile weapon flew,
And, plunging, struck the fated victim through.
Th' upturning points his ponderous bulk sustain;
On deck he struggles with convulsive pain.
But while his heart the fatal javelin thrills,
And flitting life escapes in sanguine rills,
What radiant changes strike th' astonish'd sight!
What glowing hues of mingled shade and light!
Not equal beauties gild the lucid west,
With parting beams all o'er profusely drest.
Not lovelier colours paint the vernal dawn,
When orient dews impearl th' enamel'd lawn,
Than from his sides in bright suffusion flow,
That now with gold imperial seems to glow:
Now in pellucid sapphires meet the view,
And emulate the soit celestial hue;
Now beam a flaming crimson on the eye,
And now assume the purple's decper dye:
But here description clouds each shining ray;
What terms of art [...] Nature's powers display?
Now, while on high the freshening gale she feels,
The ship beneath her lofty pressure reels.
Th' auxiliar sails that court a gentle breeze
From their high stations sink by slow degrees.
The watchful ruler of the helm no more,
With fix'd attention, eyes the adjacent shore.
[Page 39]
But by the oracles of truth below,
The wondrous magnet guides the wayward pro [...].
The wind, that still the impressive canvas swell'd,
Swift and more swift the yielding bark impell'd.
Impatient thus she glides along the coast,
Till far behind the hill of Jove is lost:
And while aloof from Retimo she steers,
Malach's foreland full in front appears.
Wide o'er yon Isthmus stands the cypress grove
That once inclos'd the hallowed fane of Jove.
Here too, me morial of his name! is found
A tomb, in marble ruins on the ground.
This gloomy tyrant, whose triumphant yoke
The trembling states around to slavery broke,
Through Greece, for murder, rape, and incest known,
The Muses rais'd to high Olympus' throne.
For oft, alas! their venal strains adorn
The prince, that blushing virtue holds in scorn.
Still Rome and Greece record his endless fame,
And hence yon mountain yet retains his name.
But see! in confluence borne before the blast,
Clouds roll'd on clouds the dusky noon o'ercast;
The blackening ocean curls; the wind arise;
And the dark scud in swift succession flies; 10
While the fwoln canvas bends the masts on high,
Low in the wave the leeward cannon lie. 11
[Page 40]
The sailors now to give the ship relief,
Reduce the topsails by a single reef. 12
Each lofty yard with slacken'd cordage reels,
Rattle the creaking blocks, and ringing wheels.
Down the tall masts the topsails sink amain,
And soon reduc'd, assume their post again.
More distant grew receding Candia's shore,
And southward of the west cape Spado bore.
Four hours the sun his high meridian throne
Had left, and o'er Atlantic regions shone:
Still blacker clouds, that all the skies invade,
Draw o'er his sullied orb a dismal shade.
A squall deep-lowering blots the southern sky,
Before whose boisterous breath the waters fly.
Its weight the topsails can no more sustain,
Reef topsails! reef, the boatswain calls again!
The haliards and topbowlines soon are gone, 13
To cluelines and reef-tackles next they run: 14
[Page 41]
The shivering sails descend; and now they square
The yards, while ready sailors mount in air.
The weather-earings and the lee they past; 15
The reefs enroll'd and every point made fast.
Their task above thus finish'd, they descend,
And vigilant th' approaching squall attend.
It comes resistless, and with foaming sweep,
Upturns the whitening surface of the deep.
In such a tempest borne, to deeds of death,
The wayward Sisters scour the blasted heath.
With ruin pregnant now the clouds impend,
And storm and cataract tumultuous blend.
Deep on her side the reeling vessel lies;
Brail up the mizen quick! the master cries, 16
Man the cluegarnets! let the main-sheet fly! 17
[Page 42]
The boisterous squall still presses from on high,
And swift, and fatal as the lightening's course,
Through the torn mainsail bursts with thundering force.
While the rent canvas flutter'd in the wind,
Still on her flank the stooping bark inclin'd.
Rear up the helm a-weather! Rodmond cries; 18
Swift at the word, the helm a-weather flies.
The prow with secret instinct veers apace;
And now the foresail right athwart they brace:
With equal sheets restrain'd, the bellying sail
Spreads a broad concave to the sweeping gale.
While o'er the foam the ship impetuous flies,
Th' attentive timoneer the helm applies. 19
As in pursuit along the aërial way,
With ardent eye, the falcon marks his prey,
Fach motion watches of the doubtful chace,
Obliquely wheeling through the liquid space;
So, govern'd by the steersman's glowing hands,
The regent-helm her motion still commands.
But now the transient squall to leeward past;
Again she rallies to the sudden blast.
The helm to starboard turns; with wings inclin'd 20
The sidelong canvas clasps the faithless wind.
[Page 43]
The mizen draws; she springs aloof once more,
While the fore-staysail balances before. 21
The foresail brac'd obliquely to the wind,
They near the prow th' extended tack confin'd:
Then on the leeward sheet the seamen bend,
And haul the bowline to the bowsprit end.
To topsails next they haste; the buntlines gone,
The cluelines through their wheel'd machinery run;
On either side below the sheets are mann'd;
Again the fluttering sails their skirts expand.
Once more the topsails, though with humbler plume,
Mounting aloft, their ancient post resume.
Again the bowlines and the yards were brac'd, 22
And all the entangl'd cords in order plac'd.
The sail, by whirlwinds thus so lately rent,
In tatter'd ruins fluttering is unbent.
With brails refix'd, another soon prepar'd, 23
Ascending spreads along beneath the yard.
To each yard-arm the head-rope they extend, 24
And soon their earings and the roebins bend. 25
[Page 44]
That task perform'd, they first the braces slack, 26
Then to its station drag th' unwilling tack;
And, while the lee cluegarnet's lower'd away,
Taught aft the sheet, they tally and belay. 27
Now to the north, from Afric's burning shore,
A troop of porpoises their course explore:
In curling wreathes they gambol on the tide,
Now bound aloft, now down the billow glide.
Their tracks awhile the hoary waves retain,
That burn in sparkling trails along the main.
These fleetest coursers of the finny race,
When threat [...]ning clouds th' ethereal vault deface,
Their route to leeward still sagacious form,
To shun the fury of th' approaching storm.
Fair Candia now no more, beneath her lee,
Prosects the vessel from th' insulting sea:
Round her broad arms, impatient of contr [...]al,
Rous'd from their secret deeps the billows roll;
Sunk were the bulwarks of the friendly shore,
And all the scene an hostile aspect wore.
The flattering wind, that late with promis'd zid,
From Candia's bay th' unwilling ship betray'd,
No longer fawns beneath the fair disguise,
But like a ruffian on his quarry flies.
Toss'd on the tide she feels the tempest blow,
And dreads the vengeance of so fell a foe.
As the proud horse, with costly trappings gay,
Exulting prances to the bloody fray,
[Page 45]
Spurning the ground, he glories in his might,
But reels tumultuous in the shock of fight.
Even so, caparison'd in gaudy pride,
The bounding vessel dances on the tide.
Fierce and more fierce the southern demon blew,
And more incens'd the roaring waters grew.
The ship no longer can her topsails spread;
And every hope of fairer skies is sied.
Bowlines and haliards are relax'd again;
Cluelines haul'd down, and sheets let fly amain;
Clued-up each topsail, and by braces squar'd;
The seamen climb aloft on either yard.
They furl'd the sail, and pointed to the wind
The yard, by rolling tackles then confin'd. 28
While o'er the ship the gallant boatswain flies,
Like a hoarse mastiff through the storm he cries:
Prompt to direct th' unskilful still appears;
Th' expert he praises, and the fearful che [...]s.
Now some to strike topgallant-yards attend; 29
Some travellers up the weather backstays send; 30
At each mast-head the top-ropes others bend. 31
[Page 46]
The youngest sailors from the yards above
Their parrels, lifts, and oraces soon remove; 32
Then, topt an-end, and to the travellers ty'd,
Charg'd with their sails, they down the backstavs slide.
The yards secure along the booms reclin'd; 33
While some the flying cords aloft confin'd.
Their sails reduc'd, and all the rigging clear,
Awhile the crew relax from toils severe.
Awhile their spirits, with fatigue oppress'd,
In vain expect th' alternate hour of rest:
But with redoubling force the tempests blow,
And watery hills in fell succession flow.
A dismal shade o'ercasts the frowning skies;
New troubles grow; new difficulties rise.
No season this from duty to descend!
All hands on deck, th' eventful hour attend.
His race perform'd, the sacred lamp of day
Now dipt in western clouds his parting ray.
His sickening fires, half lost in ambient haze,
Refract along the dusk a crimson blaze;
[Page 47]
Till deep immerg'd the languid orb declines,
And now to cheerless night the sky resigns;
Sad evening's hour, how different from the past!
No flaming pomp, no blushing glories cast,
No ray of friendly light is seen around,
The moon and stars in hopeless shade are drown'd.
The ship no longer can her courses bear: 34
To reef the courses is the master's care:
The sailors, summon'd aft, a daring band!
Attend th' enfolding brails at his command.
But here the doubtful officers dispute,
Till skill and judgment prejudice confute.
Rodmond, whose genius never soar'd beyond
The narrow rules of art his youth had con'd,
Still to the hostile fury of the wind
Releas'd the sheet, and kept the tack confin'd.
To long-tried practice obstinately warm,
He doubts conviction, and relies on form.
But the sage master this advice declines;
With whom Arion in opinion joins.
The watchful seaman, whose sagacious eye
On sure experience may with truth rely,
Who, from the reigning cause, foretels th' effect,
This barbarous practice ever will reject.
For, fluttering loose in air, the rigid sail
Soon flits to ruins in the furious gale.
And he who strives the tempest to disarm,
Will never first embrail the lee yard-arm.
[Page 48]
The master said;—obedient to command,
To raise the tack, the ready sailors stand. 35
Gradual it loosens, while th' involving clue,
Swell'd by the wind, aloft unruffling flew.
The sheet and weather-brace they now stand by; 36
The lee cluegarnet and the buntlines ply.
Thus all prepar'd, Let go the sheet! he cries;
Impetuous round the ringing wheels it flies;
Shivering at first, till by the blast impell'd,
High o'er the lee yard-arm the canvas swell'd:
By spilling-lines embrac'd, with brails consin'd, 37
It lies at length unshaken by the wind.
The foresail then secur'd with equal care,
Again to reef the mainsail they repair.
While some high-mounted over-haul the tye,
Below the down-haul-tackle others ply. 38
[Page 49]
Jears, lifts, and brails, a seaman each attends, 39
Along the mast the willing yard descends.
When lower'd sufficient they securely brace,
And fix the rolling tackle in its place.
The reef-lines and their earings now prepar'd, 40
Mounting on pliant shrouds, they man the yard. 41
Far on th' extremes two able hands appear,
Arion there; the hardy boatswain here;
That in the van to front the tempest hung;
This round the lee yard-arm, ill omen'd! clung.
Each earing, to its station, first they bend,
The reef-band then along the yard extend; 42
The circling earings, round th' extremes entwin'd,
By outer and by inner turns they bind. 43
From hand to hand, the reef-lines next receiv'd,
Through eyelet holes and roebin-legs were recv'd.
[Page 50]
The reef in double folds involv'd they lay;
Strain the firm cord, and either end belay.
Hadst thou Arion! held the leeward post,
While on the yard by mountain-billows tost.
Perhaps oblivion o'er our tragic tale
Had then for ever drawn her dusky veil.
But ruling Heaven prolong'd thy vital date,
Severer ills to suffer and relate!
For, while their orders those aloft attend,
To furl the mainsail, or on deck descend,
A sea, up-surging with tremendous roll, 44
To instant ruin seems to doom the whole.
O friends, secure your hold! Arion cries,
It comes all dreadful, steeping from the skies!
Uplifted on its horrid edge, she feels
The shock, and on her side half-bury'd reels:
The sail, half-bury'd in the whelming wave,
A fearful warning to the seamen gave:
While from its margin, terrible to tell!
Three sailors with their gallant boatswain fell.
Torn with resistless fury from their hold,
In vain their struggling arms the yard enfold:
In vain to grapple flying cords they try:
The cords, alas! a solid gripe deny!
Prone on the midnight surge, with panting breath,
They cry for aid, and long contend with death.
High o'er their heads the rolling billows sweep,
And down they sink in everlasting sleep.
Bereft of power to help, their comrades see
The wretched victims die beneath the lee;
With fruitless sorrow their lost state bemoan;
Perhaps a fatal prelude to their own!
[Page 51]
In dark suspence on deck the pilots stand,
Nor can determine on the next command.
Though still they knew the vessel's armed side
Impenetrable to the clasping tide;
Though still the waters, by no secret wound,
A passage to her deep recesses found;
Sunounding evils yet they ponder o'er:
A storm, a dangerous sea, and leeward shore!
Should they, though reef'd, again the sails extend,
Again in fluttering fragments they may rend;
Or should they stand, beneath the dreadful strain,
The down-press'd ship may never rise again.
Too late to weather now Morea's land, 45
Yet verging fast to Athen's rocky strand.
Thus they lament the consequence severe,
Where perils unallay'd by hope appear.
Long in their minds revolving each event,
At last to furl the courses they consent.
That done, to reef the mizen next agree,
And try beneath it, sidelong in the sea. 46
Now down the mast the sloping yard declin'd
Till by the jears and topping-lift confin'd. 47
[Page 52]
The head, with doubling canvas fenc'd around,
In balance, near the lofty peak, they bound.
The reef enwrapt, th' inserted knittles ty'd,
To hoist the shorten'd sail again they hy'd.
The order given, the yard aloft they sway'd;
The order given, the yard aloft they sway'd;
The helm its post forsook, and, lash'd a-lee,
Inclin'd the wayward prow to front the sea. 48
When sacred Orpheus, on the Stygian coast,
With notes divine implor'd his consort lost;
Though round him perils grew in full array,
And Fates and Furies stood to bar his way;
Not more adventurous was the attempt to move
The powers of hell, with strains of heavenly love,
Than mine, to bid th' unwilling muse explore
The wilderness of rude mechanic lore.
Such toil th' unwearied Daedalus endur'd,
When in the Cretan labyrinth immur'd;
Till art her salutary help bestow'd,
To guide him through that intricate abode.
Thus, long entangled in a thorny way,
That never heard the sweet Piërian lay,
The Muse, that tun'd to barbarous sounds her string,
Now spreads like Daedalus a bolder wing;
The verse begins in softer strains to flow,
Replete with sad variety of woe.
As yet, amid this elemental war,
That scatters desolation from afar,
Nor toil, nor hazard, nor distress appear
To sink the seamen with unmanly fear.
Though their firm hearts no pageant honour boast,
They scorn the wretch that trembles in his post.
[Page 53]
Who from the face of danger strives to turn,
Indignant from the social hour they spurn.
Though now full oft they felt the raging tide,
In proud rebellion climb the vessel's side,
No future ills unknown their souls appall;
They know no danger, or they scorn it all!
But even the generous spirits of the brave,
Subdu'd by toil, a friendly respite crave:
A short repose alone their thoughts implore,
Their harass'd powers by slumber to restore.
Far other cares the master's mind employ;
Approaching perils all his hopes destroy.
In vain he spreads the graduated chart,
And bounds the distance by the rules of art;
In vain athwart the mimic seas expands
The compasses to circumjacent lands.
Ungrateful task! for no asylum trac'd,
A passage open'd from the watery waste.
Fate seem'd to guard, with adamantine mound,
The path to every friendly port around.
While Albert thus with secret doubts dismay'd,
The geometric distances survey'd;
On deck the watchful Rodmond cries aloud,
Secure your lives, grasp every man a shroud!
Rous'd from his trance he mounts with eyes aghast;
When o'er the ship, in undulation vast,
A giant surge down-rushes from on high,
And fore and aft dissever'd ruins lie.
As when, Britannia's empire to maintain,
Great Hawke descends in thunder on the main;
Around the brazen voice of battle roars,
And fatal lightnings blast the hostile shores;
Beneath the storm their shatter'd navies groan,
The trembling deeps recoil from zone to zone.
[Page 54]
Thus the torn vessel felt th' enormous stroke,
The boats beneath the thundering deluge broke;
Forth starte [...] from their planks the bursting rings,
Th' extended cordage all asunder springs.
The pilot's fair machinery strews the deck,
And cards and needles swim in floating wreck.
The balanc'd mizen, rending to the head,
In streaming ruins from the margin fled.
The sides convulsive shook on groaning beams,
And, rent with labour, yawn'd the pitchy seams.
They sound the well, and, terrible to hear! 49
Five feet immers'd along the line appear.
At either pump they ply the clanking brake, 50
And turn by turn th' ungrateful office take.
Rodmond, Arion, and Palemon here,
At this sad task, all diligent appear.
As some fair castle, shook by rude alarms,
Opposes long th' approach of hostile arms:
Grim war around her plants his black array,
And death and sorrow mark his horrid way;
Till, in some destin'd hour, against her wall,
In tenfold rage the fatal thunders fall;
The ramparts crack; the solid bulwarks rend;
And hostile troops the shatter'd breach ascend.
Her valliant inmates still the foe retard,
Resolv'd till death their sacred charge to guard.
So the brave mariners their pumps attend,
And help incessant, by rotation lend;
[Page 55]
But all in vain; for now the founding-cord,
Updr [...]wn, an undiminish'd depth explor'd.
Nor this severe distress is found alone;
The ribs opprest by ponderous cannon groan.
Deep-rolling from the watery volume's height,
The tortur'd sides seem bursting with their weight.
So reels Pelorus, with convulsive throes,
When in his veins the burning earthquake glows;
[...]oarse through his entrails roars th' infernal flame,
And central thunders rend his groaning frame
Accumulated mischiefs thus arise,
And Fate vindictive all their skill defies.
One only remedy the season gave;
To plunge the nerves of battle in the wave:
From their high platforms thus th' artillery thrown,
Eas'd of their load, the timbers less shall groan:
But a [...]d [...]us is the task their lot requires;
A task that hovering Fate alone inspires!
For, while intent the yawning decks to ease,
That ever and anon are drench'd with seas,
Some fatal billow, with recoiling sweep,
May whirl the helpless wretches in the deep.
No season this for counsel or delay!
Too soon th' eventful moments haste away!
Here perseverance, with each help of art,
Must join the boldest efforts of the heart.
These only now their misery can relieve;
These only now a dawn of safety give!
While o'er the quivering deck, from van to rear,
Broad surges roll in terrible career,
Rodmond, Arion, and a chosen crew,
This office in the face of death pursue.
The wheel'd artillery o'er the deck to guide,
Rodmond descending claim'd the weather side.
[Page 56]
Fearless of heart the chief his orders gave,
Fronting the rude assaults of every wave.
Like some strong watch-tower nodding o'er the deep,
Whose rocky base the foaming waters sweep,
Untam'd he stood; the stern aërial war
Had mark'd his honest face with many a scar.
Meanwhile Arion, traversing the waist, 51
The cordage of the leeward guns unbrac'd,
And pointed crows beneath the metal plac'd.
Watching the roll, their forelocks they withdrew,
And from their beds the reeling cannon threw.
Then, from the windward battlements unbound,
Rodmond's associates wheel'd th' artillery round;
Pointed with iron fangs, their bars beguile
The ponderous arms across the steep defile;
Then, hurl'd from sounding hinges o'er the side,
Thundering they plunge into the flashing tide.
The ship, thus eas'd, some little respite finds,
In this rude conflict of the seas and winds.
Such ease Alcides felt, when, clogg'd with gore,
Th' envenom'd mantle from his fide he tore;
When, stung with burning pain, he strove too late,
To stop the swift career of cruel fate.
Yet then his heart one ray of hope procur'd,
Sad harbinger of sevenfold pangs endur'd!
Such, and so short, the pause of woe she found!
Cimmerian darkness shades the deep around,
Save when the lightnings, gleaming on the sight,
Flash through the gloom a pale disastrous light.
Above all other, fraught with scenes of woe,
With grim destruction threatens all below.
[Page 57]
Bene [...]th the storm-lash'd surges furious rise,
And wave uproll'd on wave assails the skies:
With ever-floating bulwarks they surround
The hip, half swallow'd in the black profound!
With ceaseless hazard and fatigue oppress'd,
Disnay and anguish every heart possess'd;
For, while with boundless inundation o'er
Thesea-beat ship th' involving waters roar,
Dispac'd beneath by her capacious womb,
They rage, their ancient station to resume;
By s [...]cret ambushes, their force to prove,
Through many a winding channel first they rove,
Till gathering fury, like the fever'd blood,
Through her dark veins they roll a rapid flood.
While unrelenting thus the leaks they found,
The pumps with ever-clanking strokes resound.
Around each leaping valve, by toil subdu'd,
The [...]ough bull-hide must ever be renew'd.
Their sinking hearts unusual horrors chill,
And down their weary limbs thick dews distill.
No [...]ny of light their dying hope redeems!
Pregnant with some new woe each moment teems!
Again the chief th' instructive draught extends,
And o'er the figur'd plane attentive bends;
To him the motion of each orb was known,
That wheels around the sun's refulgent throne:
But here, alas! his science nought avails;
Are droops unequal, and experience fails.
The different traverses, since twilight made,
He on the hydrographic circle laid,
Then the broad angle of lee-way explor'd, 52
As swept across the graduated chord,
[Page 58]
Her place discover'd by the rules of art,
Unusual terrors shook the master's heart;
When Falconera's rugged isle he found,
Within her drift, with shelves and breakers bound;
For, if on those destructive shallows toss'd,
The helpless bark with all her crew are lost:
As fatal still appears, that danger o'er,
The steep St. George, and rocky Gardalor.
With him the pilots, of their hopeless state,
In mournful consultation now debate.
Not more perplexing doubts her chiefs appall,
When some proud city verges to her fall;
While Ruin glares around, and pale Affright
Convenes her councils in the dead of night,
No blazon'd trophies o'er their conclave spread,
Nor storied pillars rais'd aloft the head:
But here the Queen of Shade around them threw
Her dragon-wing, disastrous to the view!
Dire was the scene, with whirlwind, hail and shower;
Black Melancholy rul'd the fearful hour!
Beneath tremendous roll'd the flashing tide,
Where Fate on every billow seem'd to ride.
Inclos'd with ills, by peril unsubdu'd,
Great in distress the master-seaman stood:
Skill'd to command; deliberate to advise;
Expert in action; and in council wise;
Thus to his partners, by the crew unheard,
The dictates of his soul the chief refer'd.
"Ye faithful mates, who all my troubles [...],
Approv'd companions of your master's c [...]re
To you alas! 'twere fruitless now to [...]ll
Our sad disti [...], already known too well
[Page 59]
This morn with favouring gales the port we left,
Though now of every flattering hope bereft:
No skill, nor long experience, could forecast
Th' unseen approach of this destructive blast.
These seas, where storms at various seasons blow,
No reigning winds nor certain omens know.
The hour, th' occasion, all your skill demands;
A leaky ship, embay'd by dangerous lands.
Our bark no transient jeopardy surrounds;
Groaning she lies, beneath unnumber'd wounds.
'Tis ours the doubtful remedy to find;
To shun the fury of the seas and wind.
For, in this hollow swell, with labour sore,
Her flank can bear the bursting floods no more:
Yet this or other ills she must endure;
A dire disease, and desperate is the cure!
Thus two expedients offer'd to your choice,
Alone require your counsel and your voice.
These only in our power are left to try;
To perish here, or from the storm to fly.
The doubtful balance in my judgment cast,
For various reasons I prefer the last.
'Tis true, the vessel and her costly freight,
To me consign'd, my orders only wait;
Yet, since the charge of every life is mine,
To equal votes our counsels I resign;
Forbid it Heaven, that in this dreadful hour,
I claim the dangerous reins of purblind power!
But should we now resolve to bear away,
Our hopeless state can suffer no delay.
Nor can we, thus bereft of every sail,
Attempt to steer obliquely on the gale.
For then, if broaching sideward to the sea,
Our dropsey'd ship may founder by the [...]ee:
[Page 60]
No more obedient to the pilot's power,
Th' o'erwhelming wave may soon her frame devour."
He said; the listening mates with fix'd regard,
And silent reverence his opinion heard.
Important was the question in debate,
And o'er their counsels hung impending fate.
Rodmond, in many a scene of peril try'd,
Had oft the master's happier skill descry'd,
Yet now, the hour, the scene, th' occasion known,
Perhaps with equal right prefer'd his own.
Of long experience in the naval art,
Blunt was his speech, and naked was his heart;
Alike to him each climate and each blast;
The first in danger, in retreat the last:
Sagacious balancing th' oppos'd events,
From Albert his opinion thus dissents.
"Too true the perils of the present hour,
Where toils succeeding toils our strength o'erpower!
Yet whither can we turn, what road pursue,
With death before still opening on the view?
Our bark 'tis true no shelter here can find,
Sore-shatter'd by the ruffian-seas and wind.
Yet with what hope of refuge can we flee,
Chas'd by this tempest and outrageous sea?
For while its violence the tempest keeps,
Bereft of every sail we roam the deeps:
At random driven, to present deaths we haste,
And one short hour perhaps may be our last.
In vain the gulph of Corinth on our l [...]e,
Now opens to her ports a passage free;
Since, if before the blast the vessel [...],
Full in her track unnumbered danger, use▪
Here Falconera spreads her lurking snares;
There distant Gr [...] her rugged [...].
[Page 61]
Should once her bottom strike that rocky shore,
The splitting bark that instant were no more;
Nor she alone, but with her all the crew,
Beyond relief were doom'd to perish too.
Thus if to scud too rashly we consent,
Too late in fatal hour we may repent.
"Then of our purpose this appears the scope;
To weigh the danger with a doubtful hope.
Though sorely buffeted by every sea,
Our hull unbroken long may try a-lee.
The crew, though harass'd long with toils severe.
Still at their pumps perceive no hazards near.
Shall we, incautious, then the danger tell,
At once their courage and their hope to quell?
Prudence forbids! This southern tempest soon
May change its quarter with the changing moon.
Its rage, though terrible, may soon subside,
Nor into mountains lash th' unruly tide.
These leaks shall then decrease; the sails once more
Direct our course to some relieving shore."
Thus while he spoke, around from man to man,
At either pump a hollow murmur ran.
For while the vessel, through unnumber'd chinks,
Above, below, th' invading water drinks;
Sounding her depth, they ey'd the wetted scale,
And lo! the leaks o'er all their powers prevail.
Yet in their post, by terrors unsubdu'd,
They with redoubling force their task pursu'd.
And now the senior pilots seem'd to wait
Arion's voice, to close the dark debate.
Though many a bitter storm, with peril fraught,
In Neptune's school the wandering stripling taught,
Not to [...] [...]ine summers yet matur'd his thought.
[Page 62]
So oft he bled by Fortune's cruel dart,
It fell at last innoxious on his heart.
His mind, still shunning care with secret hate,
In patient indolence resign'd to Fate.
But now the horrors that around him roll,
Thus rous'd to action his rekindling soul.
"With fix'd attention pondering in my mind
The dark distresses on each side combin'd,
While here we linger in the pass of fate,
I see no moment left for sad debate.
For, some decision if we wish to form,
Ere yet our vessel sink beneath the storm;
Her shatter'd state, and yon desponding crew,
At once suggest what measures to pursue.
The labouring hull already seems half fill'd
With waters, through an hundred leaks distil'd;
As in a dropsy, wallowing with her freight,
Half drown'd she lies a dead inactive weight.
Thus, drench'd by ev'ry wave, her riven deck,
Strip'd and defenceless, floats a naked wreck;
Her wounded flanks no longer can sustain
These fell invasions of the bursting main.
At every pitch th' o'erwhelming billows bend
Beneath their load the quivering bowsprit-end.
A fearful warning! since the masts on high,
On that support, with trembling hope rely.
At either pump our seamen pant for breath,
In dark dismay anticipating death.
Still all our powers th' increasing leaks desy;
We sink at sea, no shore, no haven nigh.
One dawn of hope yet breaks athwart the gloom,
To light and save us from the watery tomb.
That bids us shun the death impending here,
Fly from the following blast, and shoreward steer.
[Page 63]
"'Tis urg'd indeed, the fury of the gale
Precludes the help of every guiding sail;
And, driven before it on the watery waste,
To rocky shores and scenes of death we haste.
But haply Falconera we may shun;
And far to Grecian coasts is yet the run:
Less harass'd then, our scudding ship may bear
Th' assaulting surge repell'd upon her rear.
Even then the wearied storm as soon shall die,
Or less torment the groaning pines on high.
Should we at last be driven by dire decree,
Too near the fatal margin of the sea;
The hull dismasted there awhile may ride,
With lengthen'd cables, on the raging tide.
Perhaps kind Heaven, with interposing power,
May curb the tempest ere that dreadful hour.
But here ingulph'd and foundering while we stay,
Fate hovers o'er and marks us for her prey."
He said;— Palemon saw with grief of heart,
The storm prevailing o'er the pilot's art:
In silent terror and distress involv'd,
He heard their last alternative resolv'd.
High beat his bosom; with such fear subdu'd,
Beneath the gloom of some inchanted wood,
Oft, in old time, the wandering swain explor'd
The midnight wizards, breathing rites abhor'd:
Trembling approach'd their incantations fell,
And, chill'd with horror, heard the songs of hell.
Arion saw, with secret anguish mov'd,
The deep affliction of the friend he lov'd;
And, all awake to friendship's genial heat,
His bosom felt consenting tumults beat.
Alas! no season this for tender love:
Far hence the music of the myrtle grove!
[Page 64]
With comfort's soothing voice, from hope deriv'd,
Palemon's drooping spirit he reviv'd,
For consolation, oft with healing art,
Retunes the jarring numbers of the heart.
Now had the pilots all th' events revolv'd,
And on their final refuge thus resolv'd.
When, like the faithful shepherd, who beholds
Some prowling wolf approach his fleecy folds;
To the brave crew, whom racking doubts perplex,
The dreadful purpose Albert thus directs.
"Unhappy partners in a wayward fate!
Whose gallant spirits now are known too late;
Ye! who unmoy'd behold this angry storm
With terrors all the rolling deep deform;
Who, patient in adversity, still bear
The firmest front when greatest ills are near!
The truth though grievous I must now reveal,
That long in vain I purpos'd to conceal.
Ingulph'd, all helps of art we vainly try,
To weather leeward shores, alas! too nigh.
Our crazy bark no longer can abide
The seas that thunder o'er her batter'd side:
And, while the leaks a fatal warning give,
That in this raging sea she cannot live;
One only refuge from despair we find,
At once to wear and scud before the wind.
Perhaps even then to ruin we may steer, 53
For broken shores beneath our lee appear;
But that's remote, and instant death is here:
Yet there by Heaven's assistance, we may gain
Some creek or inlet of the Grecian main;
[Page 65]
Or shelter'd by some rock, at anchor ride,
Till with abating rage, the blast subside.
"But if, determin'd by the will of Heaven,
Our helpless bark at last ashore is driven.
These counsels follow'd, from the watery grave
Our floating sailors in the surf may save.
"And first let all our axes be secur'd,
To cut the masts and rigging from aboard.
Then to the quarters bind each plank and oar,
To float between the vessel and the shore.
The longest cordage too must be convey'd
On deck, and to the weather-rails belay'd.
So they, who haply reach alive the land,
Th' extended lines may fasten on the strand.
Whene'er, loud thundering on the leeward shore,
While yet aloof we hear the breakers roar,
Thus for the terrible event prepar'd,
Brace fore and aft to starboard every yard.
So shall our masts swim lighter on the wave,
And from the broken rocks our seamen save.
Then westward turn the stem, that every mast
May shoreward fall, when from the vessel cast.
When o'er her side once more the billows bound,
Ascend the rigging till she strikes the ground:
And when you hear aloft th' alarming shock
That strikes her bottom on some pointed rock,
The boldest of our sailors must descend,
The dangerous business of the deck to tend:
Then each, secur'd by some convenient cord,
Should cut the shrouds and rigging from the board.
Let the broad axes next assail each mast;
And booms and oars and rafts to leeward cast.
Thus, while the cordage stretch'd ashore may guide
Our brave companions through the swelling tide,
[Page 66]
This floating lumber shall sustain them o'er
The rocky shelves, in safety to the shore.
But, as your firmest succour, till the last,
O cling securely on each faithful mast!
Though great the danger, and the task severe,
Yet bow not to the tyranny of fear!
If once that slavish yoke your spirits quell,
Adieu to hope! to life itself farewel!
"I know, among you some full oft have view'd,
With murdering weapons arm'd, a lawless brood,
On England's vile inhuman shore who stand,
The soul reproach and scandal of our land!
To rob the wanderers wreck'd upon the strand.
These, while their savage office they pursue,
Oft wound to death the helpless plunder'd crew,
Who, scap'd from every horror of the main,
Implor'd their mercy but implor'd in vain.
But dread not this!—a crime to Greece unknown!
Such blood-hounds all her circling shores disown;
Her sons, by barbarous tyranny oppress'd,
Can share affliction with the wretch distress'd:
Their hearts, by cruel fate inur'd to grief,
Oft to the friendless stranger yield relief."
With conscious horror struck, the naval band
Detested for awhile their native land.
They curs'd the sleeping vengeance of the laws,
That thus forgot her guardian-sailors' cause.
Mean while the master's voice again they heard,
Whom, as with filial duty, all rever'd.
"No more remains—but now a trusty band
Must ever at the pump industrious stand:
And while with us the rest attend to wear,
Two skilful seamen to the helm repair!
[Page 67]
O source of life! our refuge and our stay!
Whose voice the warring elements obey;
On thy supreme assistance we rely:
Thy mercy supplicate, if doom'd to die!
Perhaps this storm is sent, with healing breath.
From neighbouring shores to scourge disease and death!
'Tis ours on thine unerring laws to trust:
With thee, great Lord! "whatever is, is just."
He said: and with consenting reverence fraught,
The sailors join'd his prayer in silent thought.
His intellectual eye, serenely bright!
Saw distant objects with prophetic light.
Thus in a land, that lasting wars oppress,
That groans beneath misfortune and distress;
Whose wealth to conquering armies fails a prey;
Her bulwarks sinking, as her troops decay:
Some bold sagacious statesman, from the helm,
Sees desolation gathering o'er his realm:
He darts around his penetrating eyes,
Where dangers grow, and hostile unions rise;
With deep attention marks th' invading foe,
Eludes their wiles, and frustrates every blow;
Tries his last art the tottering state to save,
Or in its ruins find a glorious grave.
Still in the yawning trough the vessel reels,
Ingulph'd beneath two fluctuating hills:
On either side they rise; tremendous scene!
A long dark melancholy vale between.
The balanc'd ship, now forward, now behind, 54
Still felt th' impression of the waves and wind,
And to the right and left by turns inclin'd.
[Page 68]
But Albert from behind the balance drew,
And on the prow its doubled efforts threw.
The order now was given to bear away;
The order given, the timoneers obey.
High o'er the bowsprit stretch'd the tortur'd sail,
As on the rack, distends beneath the gale.
[Page 69]
But scarce the yielding prow its impulse knew
When in a thousand flitting shreds it flew!
Yet Albert new resources still prepares,
And bridling grief, redoubles all his cares.
Away there! lower the mizen-yard on deck,
He calls, and brace the foremost yards aback!
[Page 70]
His great example every bosom fires,
New life rekindles, and new hope inspires.
While to the helm unfaithful still she lies,
One desperate remedy at last he tries.
Haste! with your weapons cut the shrouds and stay;
And hew at once the mizen-mast away!
He said; th' attentive sailors on each side,
At his command the trembling cords divide.
Fast by the fated pine bold Rodmond stands;
Th' impatient ax hung gleaming in his hands;
[Page 71]
Brandish'd on high it fell with dreadful sound;
The tall mast groaning, felt the deadly wound.
Deep-gash'd with sores, the tottering structure rings,
And crashing, thundering o'er the quarter swings.
Thus when some limb, convuls'd with pangs of death,
Imbibes the gangrene's pestilential breath,
Th' experienc'd artist from the blood betrays
The latent venom, or its course delays:
But if th' infection triumphs o'er his art,
Tainting the vital stream that warms the heart,
Resolv'd at last, he quits the unequal strife,
Severs the member, and preserves the life.
END OF THE SECOND CANTO.
[Page]

CANTO III.

The Argument. The design and influence of poetry: applied to the subject. Wreck of the mizen-mast cleared away. Ship veers be­fore the wind; her violent agitation. Different stations of the officers. Appearance of the island of Falconera. Excursion to the adjacent nations of Greece, renowned in antiquity. Athens. Socrates. Plato. Aristides. Solon. Corinth. Sparta. Leonidas. Invasion of Xerxes. Ly­curgus. Epaminondas. Modern appearance. Arcadia; its former happiness and fertility; present distress, the effect of slavery. Ithaca. Ulysses and Penelope. Argos and Mycenae. Agamemnon. Macronisi. Lemnos. Vul­can and Venus. Delos. Apollo and Diana. Troy. Sestos. Leander and Hero. Delphos. Temple of Apollo. Parnassus. The Muses. The subject resumed. Sparkling of the sea. Prodigious tempest, accompanied with rain, hail, and meteors. Darkness, lightning, and thunder. Approach of day. Discovery of land. The ship in great danger passes the island of St. George; turns her broad­side to the shore; her bowsprit, fore-mast and maintop­mast carried away; she strikes a rock; splits asunder. Fate of the crew.

WHEN in a barbarous age, with blood defil'd,
The human savage roam'd the gloomy wild;
[Page 73]
When sullen Ignorance her flag display'd,
And Rapine and Revenge her voice obey'd;
Sent from the shores of light the Muses came,
The dark and solitary race to tame.
'Twas theirs the lawless passions to controul,
And melt in tender sympathy the soul:
The heart from vice and error to reclaim,
And breathe in human breasts celestial flame.
The kindling spirit caught th' empyreal ray,
And glow'd congenial with the swelling lay.
Rous'd from the chaos of primeval night,
At once fair Truth and Reason sprung to light.
When great Maeonides *, in rapid song,
The thundering tide of battle rolls along,
Each ravish'd bosom feels the high alarms,
And all the burning pulses beat to arms,
From earth upborne on Pegasean wings,
Far through the boundless realms of thought he springs;
While distant poets, trembling as they view
His sunward flight, the dazzling track pursue.
But when his strings, with mournful magic tell
What dire distress Laertes † son befel,
The strains, meandering through the maze of woe,
Bid sacred sympathy the heart o'erflow.
Thus, in old time, the Muses' heavenly breath
With vital force dissolv'd the chains of death:
Each bard in epic lays began to sing,
Taught by the master of the vocal string.
'Tis mine, alas! through dangerous scenes to stray,
Far from the light of his unerring ray!
While all unus'd the wayward path to tread,
Darkling I wander with prophetic dread.
[Page 74]
To me in vain the bold Maeonian lyre
Awakes the numbers, fraught with living fire!
Full oft, indeed, that mournful harp of yore
Wept the sad wanderer lost upon the shore;
But o'er that scene th' impatient numbers ran,
Subservient only to a nobler plan.
'Tis mine, the unravel'd prospect to display,
And chain th' events in regular array.
Though hard the task, to sing in varied strains,
While all unchang'd the tragic theme remains!
Thrice happy! might the secret powers of art
Unlock the latent windings of the heart!
Might the sad numbers draw Compassion's tear
For kindred-miseries oft beheld too near:
For kindred-wretches, oft in ruin cast
On Albion's strand, beneath the wintery blast:
For all the pangs, the complicated woe,
Her bravest sons, her faithful sailors know!
So Pity, gushing o'er each British breast,
Might sympathize with Britain's sons distress'd:
For this, my theme through mazes I pursue,
Which nor Maeonides nor Maro knew.
Awhile the mast in ruins drag'd behind,
Balanc'd th' impression of the helm and wind:
The wounded serpent, agoniz'd with pain,
Thus trails his mangled volume on the plain,
But now, the wreck dissever'd from the rear,
The long-reluctant prow began to veer;
And while around before the wind it falls,
Square all the yards! th' attentive master calls— 57
You timoneers her motion still attend!
For on your steerage all our lives depend.
[Page 75]
So, steady! meet her, watch the blast behind, 58
And steer her right before the seas and wind!
Starboard, again! the watchful pilot cries;
Starboard, th' obedient timoneer replies.
Then to the left the ruling helm returns;
The wheel revolves; the ringing axle burns! 59
The ship no longer, foundering by the lee,
Bears on her side th' invasions of the sea:
All-lonely o'er the desert waste she flies,
Scourg'd on by surges, storm and bursting skies.
As when the masters of the lance assail,
In Hyperborean seas, the slumbering whale;
Soon as the javelins pierce his scaly hide,
With anguish stung, he cleaves the downward tide;
In vain he flies! no friendly respite found,
His life-blood gushes through th' inflaming wound.
The wounded bark, thus smarting with her pain,
Scuds from pursuing waves along the main;
While, dash'd apart by her dividing prow,
Like burning adamant the waters glow;
Her joints forget their firm elastic tone,
Her long keel trembles, and her timbers groan.
Upheav'd behind her, in tremendous height,
The billows frown with fearful radiance bright!
Now shivering, o'er the topmost wave she rides,
While, deep beneath, th' enormous gulph divides.
Now, launching headlong down the horrid vaie,
She hears no more the roaring [...] gale,
Till up the dreadful height again she flies,
Trembling beneath the current of the skies.
[Page 76]
As that rebellious angel who, from heaven,
To regions of eternal pain was driven;
When dreadless he forsook the Stygian shore,
The distant realms of Eden to explore,
Here, on sulphureous clouds sublime upheav'd,
With daring wing th' internal air he cleav'd;
There, in some hideous gulph descending prone,
Far in the rayless void of night was thrown:
Even so she scales the briny mountain's height,
Then down the black abyss precipitates her flight.
The masts, around whose tops the whirlwinds sing,
With long vibration round her axle swing.
To guide the wayward course amid the gloom,
The watchful pilots different posts assume.
Albert and Rodmond station'd on the rear,
With warning voice direct each timoneer.
High on the prow the guard Arion keeps,
To shun the cruizers wandering o'er the deeps:
Where'er he moves, Palemon still attends,
As if on him his only hope depends;
While Rodmond, fearful of some neighbouring shore,
Cries, ever and anon, Look out afore!
Four hours thus scudding on the tide she flew,
When Falconera's rocky height they view:
High o'er its summit, through the gloom of night,
The glimmering watch-tower cast a mournful light.
In dire amazement rivetted they stand,
And hear the breakers [...] rugged strand:
But soon beyond this shore the vessel flies,
Swift as the rapid eagle cleaves the skies.
So from the sangs of her insatiate foe,
O'er the broad champain scuds the trembling roe.
That danger past, reslects a seable joy;
But soon returning sears their hope destroy.
[Page 77]
Thus in th' Atlantic, oft the sailor eyes,
While melting in the reign of softer skies,
Some Alp of ice, from polar regions blown,
Hail the glad influence of a warmer zone;
Its frozen cliffs attemper'd gales supply,
In cooling stream th' aërial billows fly;
Awhile deliver'd from the scorching heat,
In gentler tides the feverish p [...]ses beat.
So, when their trembling vessel pass'd this isle,
Such visionary joys the c [...]ew beguile:
Th' illusive meteors of a lifeless fire!
Too soon they kindle, and too soon expire!
Say, Memory! thou, from whose unerring tongue
Instructive flows the animated song!
What regions now the flying ship surround?
Regions of old through all the world renown'd;
That, once the poet's theme, the muses' boast;
Now lie in ruins; in oblivion lost!
Did they, whose sad distress these lays deplore,
Unskill'd in Grecian or in Roman lore,
Unconscious pass each famous circling shore?
They did; for blasted in the barren shade,
Here, all too soon, the buds of science fade:
Sad Ocean's genius, in untimely hour,
Withers the bloom of every springing flower.
Here Fancy droops, while sullen cloud and storm
The generous climate of the soul deform.
Then if, among the wande [...] [...] train,
One stripling, exil'd from th' [...] plain,
Had o'er, entranc'd in Fancy's soothing dream,
Approach'd to taste the sweet Castalian stream.
(Since those salubrious streams, with power divine,
To purer sense th' attemper'd soul refine)
[Page 78]
His heart, with liberal commerce here unbless'd,
Alien to joy! sincerer grief possess'd.
Yet on the youthful mind, th' impression cast,
Of ancient glory, shall for ever last.
There, all unquench'd by cruel Fortune's ire,
It glows with inextinguishable fire.
Immortal Athens first, in ruin spread,
Contiguous lies at port Liono's head.
Great source of science! whose immortal name
Stands foremost in the glorious roll of fame;
Here godlike Socrates and Plato shone,
And, firm to truth, eternal honour won.
The first in Virtue's cause his life resign'd,
By Hcav'n pronounc'd the wisest of mankind:
The last foretold the spark of vital fire,
The soul's fine essence, never could expire.
Here Solon dwelt, the philosophic sage,
That fled Pisistratus' vindictive rage.
Just Aristides here maintain'd the cause,
Whose sacred precepts shine through Solon's laws.
Of all her towering structures, now alone
Some scatter'd columns stand, with weeds o'ergrown.
The wandering stranger, near the port descries
A milk-white lion of stupendous fize;
Unknown the sculptor; marble is the frame;
And hence th' adjacent haven drew its name.
Next, in the gulph of Engia, Corinth lies,
Whose gorgeous fabrics see [...]to strike the skies.
Whom, though by tyrant-victors oft subdu'd,
Greece, Egypt, Rome, with awful wonder view'd.
Her name, for Pallas' heavenly art renown'd, 60
Spread, like the foliage which her pillars crown'd.
[Page 79]
But now, in fatal desolation laid,
Oblivion o'er it draws a dismal shade.
Then further westward, on Morea's land,
Fair Misitra! thy modem turrets stand.
Ah! who, unmov'd with secret woe can tell
That here great Lacedaemon's glory fell?
Here once she flourish'd, at whose trumpet's sound,
War burst his chains, and nations shook around.
Here brave Leonidas from shore to shore,
Through all Achaia bade her thunders roar:
He, when imperial Xerxes, from afar,
Advanc'd with Persia's sumless troops to war,
Till Macedonia shrunk beneath his spear,
And Greece dismay'd beheld the chief draw near:
He, at Thermopylae's immortal plain,
His force repel'd with Sparta's glorious train.
Tall Oeta saw the tyrant's conquer'd bands,
In gasping millions bleed on hostile lands.
Thus vanquish'd Afia trembling heard thy name,
And Thebes and Athens sicken's at thy fame!
Thy state, supported by Lycurgus' laws,
Drew, like thine arms, superlative applause.
Even great Epaminondas strove in vain
To curb that spirit with a Theban chain.
But ah! how low her free-born spirit now!
Her abject sons to haughty tyrants bow:
A salse degenerate superstitious race,
Infest thy region, and thy name disgrace!
Not distant far, Arcadia's blest domains
Peloponnesus' circling shore contains.
Thrice happy soil! where still serenely gay,
Indulgent Flora breath'd perpetual May.
Where buxoin Ceres taught th' obsequious field,
Rich without art, spontaneous gifts to yield.
[Page 80]
Then with some rural nymph supremely blest,
While tranfport glow'd in each enamour'd breast;
Each faithful shepherd told his tender pain,
And sung of sylvan sports in artless strain.
Now, sad reverse! Oppression's iron hand
Enslaves her natives, and despoils the land.
In lawless rapine bred, a sanguine train
With midnight-ravage scour th' uncultur'd plain.
Westward of these, beyond the Isthmus lies
The long, lost isle of Ithacus the wise;
Where sair Penelope her absent lord,
Full twice ten years, with faithful love deplor'd.
Though many a princely heart her beauty won,
She, guarded only by a stripling son,
Fach bold attempt of suitor-kings repel'd,
And undefil'd the nuptial contract held.
With various arts to win her love they toil'd,
But all their wiles [...]y virtuous fraud she foil'd.
True to her vows, and resolutely chaste,
The beauteous princess triumph'd at the last.
Argos, in Greece forgotten and unknown,
Still seems her cruel fortune to bemoan.
Argos, whose monarch led the Grecian hosts,
Far o'er the Aegean main to Dardan coasts.
Unhappy prince! who on a hostile shore,
Toil, peril, anguish, ten long winters bore.
And when, to native realms restor'd at last,
To reap the harvest of thy labours past;
A perjur'd friend, alas! and faithless wife,
There sacrine'd to impious lust thy life!
Fast by Arcadia stretch these desert-plains,
And o'er the [...]and a gloomy tyrant reigns.
Next the fair [...] of Helena is seen,
Where adverse winds detain'd the Spartan queen;
[Page 81]
For whom in arms combin'd the Grecian host,
With vengeance fir'd, invaded Phrygia's coast;
For whom so long they labour'd to destroy
The sacred turrets of imperial Troy.
Here, driven by Juno's rage, the hapless dame,
Forlorn of heart, from ruin'd Ilion came.
The port an image bears of Parian stone,
Of ancient fabric, but of date unknown.
Due east from this appears th' immortal shore
That sacred Phoebus and Diana bore.
Delos, through all the Aegean seas renown'd!
(Whose coast the rocky Cyclades surround)
By Phoebus honour'd and by Greece rever'd;
Her hallow'd groves even distant Persia fear'd:
But now, a silent unfrequented land!
No human footstep marks the trackless sand.
Thence to the north, by Asia's western bound,
Fair Lemnos stands, with rising marble crown'd.
Where, in her rage, avenging Juno hurl'd
Ill-fated Vulcan from the ethereal world.
There his eternal anvils first he rear'd,
Then, forg'd by Cyelopean are, appear'd
Thunders, that shook the skies with dire alarms,
And, form'd by skill divine, Vulcanian arms.
There, with this crippled wretch, the foul disgrace,
And living scandal of the empyreal race,
The beauteous Queen of Love in wedlock dwelt:
In fires profane can heavenly bosoms melt?
Eastward of this appears the Dardan shore,
That once th' imperial towers of Ili [...] bore.
Illustrious Troy! renown'd in overy clime,
Through the long annals of unfolding time!
How oft, thy royal bulwarks to defend,
Thou saw'st thy tutelar gods in vain descend!
[Page 82]
Though chiefs unnumber'd in her cause was slain,
Though nations perish'd on her bloody plain,
That refuge of perfidious Helen's shame
Was doom'd at length to sink in Grecian flame;
And now, by Time's deep ploughshare harrow'd o'er,
The seat of sacred Troy is found no more!
No trace of all her glories now remains,
But corn and vines enrich her cultur'd plains.
Silver Scamander laves the verdant shore,
Scamander oft o'erflow'd with hostile gore!
Not far remov'd from Ilion's famous land,
In counterview appears the Thracian strand,
Where beauteous Hero, from the turret's height,
Display'd her cresset each revolving night;
Whose gleam directed lov'd Leander o'er
The rolling Hellespont, to Asia's shore;
Till, in a fated hour, on Thracia's coast,
She saw her lover's lifeless body toss'd.
Then felt her bosom agony severe;
Her eyes sad-gazing pour'd the incessant tear:
O'erwhelm'd with anguish, frantic with despair,
She beat her beauteous breast and tore her hair;
On dear Leander's name in vain she cry'd,
Then headlong plung'd into the parting tide.
The parting tide receiv'd the lovely weight,
And proudly flow'd, exulting in its freight!
Far west of Thrace, beyond the Aegean main,
Remote from ocean, lies the Delphic plain.
The sacred oracle of Phoebus there,
High o'er the mount arose divinely fair!
Achaian marble form'd the gorgeous pile;
August the fabric! elegant its style!
On brazen hinges turn'd the silver doors,
And checquer'd marble pav'd the polish'd floors.
[Page 83]
The roofs, where storied tablatures appear'd,
On columns of Corinthian mould were rear'd;
Of shining porphyry the shafts were fram'd,
And round the hollow dome bright jewels flam'd.
Apollo's suppliant priests, a blameless train!
Fram'd their oblations on the holy fane:
To front the sun's declining ray 'twas plac'd;
With golden harps and living laurels grac'd.
The sciences and arts, around the shrine,
Conspicuous shone, engrav'd by hands divine!
Here Aesculapius' snake display'd his crest,
And burning glories sparkled on his breast;
While, from his eyes' insufferable light,
Disease and Death recoil'd, in headlong flight.
Of this great temple, through all time renown'd,
Sunk in oblivion, no remains are found.
Contiguous here, with hallow'd woods o'erspread,
Parnassus lifts to heaven its honour'd head;
Where, from the deluge sav'd, by Heaven's command
Deucalion leading Pyrrha, hand in hand,
Repeopled all the desolated land.
Around the scene unfading laurels grow,
And aromatic flowers for ever blow.
The winged choirs, on every tree above,
Carol sweet numbers through the vocal grove;
While, o'er th' eternal spring that smiles beneath,
Young Zephyrs, borne on rosy pinions, breathe.
Fair Daughters of the sun! the sacred Nine,
Here wake to ecstacy their songs divine;
Or crown'd with myrtle, in some sweet alcove,
Attune the tender strings to bleeding love.
All sadly sweet the balmy currents roll,
Soothing to softest peace the tortur'd soul;
[Page 84]
While hill and vale with choral voice around,
The music of immortal harps resound,
Fair Pleasure leads in dance the happy Hours,
Still scattering where she moves Elysian flowers!
Even now the strains, with sweet contagion fraught,
Shed a delicious languor o'er the thought.
Adieu, ye vales, that smiling peace bestow,
Where Eden's blossoms ever-vernal blow!
Adieu, ye streams, that o'er enchanted ground,
In lucid maze th' Aonian hill resound!
Ye fairy scenes, where Fancy loves to dwell,
And young Delight, for ever, oh, farewell!
The soul with tender luxury you fill,
And o'er the sense Lethean dews distil!
Awake, O Memory, from the inglorious dream!
With brazen lungs resume the kindling theme!
Collect thy powers! arouse thy vital fire!
Ye spirits of the storm my verse inspire!
Hoarse as the whirlwinds that enrage the main,
In torrent pour along the swelling strain!
Now, borne impetuous o'er the boiling deeps,
Her course to Attic shores the vessel keeps:
The pilots as the waves behind her swell,
Still with the wheeling stern their force repel.
For, this assault should either quarter feel,
Again to flank the tempest she might reel. 61
The steersmen every bidden turn apply;
To right and left the spokes alternate fly.
Thus when some conquer'd host retreats in fear,
The bravest leaders guard the broken rear:
Indignant they retire, and long oppose
Superior armies that around them close;
[Page 85]
Still shield the flanks; the routed squadrons join;
And guide the flight in one embodied line.
So they direct the flying bark before
Th' impelling floods, that lash her to the shore.
As some benighted traveller, through the shade,
Explores the devious path with heart dismay'd,
While prowling savages behind him roar,
And yawning pits and quagmires lurk before;
High o'er the poop th' audacious seas aspire,
Uproll'd in hills of fluctuating fire.
As some fell conqueror frantic with success,
Sheds o'er the nations ruin and distress;
So, while the watery wilderness he roams,
Incens'd to sevenfold rage the tempest foams,
And o'er the trembling pines, above, below,
Shrill through the cordage howls with notes of woe.
Now thunders, wafted from the burning zone,
Growl from afar, a deaf and hollow groan!
The ship's high battlements, to either side
For ever rocking, drink the briny tide:
Her joints unhing'd, in palsied languors play,
As ice dissolves beneath the noon-tide ray.
The skies asunder torn, a deluge pour;
Th' impetuous hail descends in whirling shower.
High on the masts, with pale and livid rays,
Amid the gloom portentous meteors blaze.
The ethereal dome, in mournful pomp array'd,
Now lurks behind impenetrable shade;
Now, slashing round intolerable light,
Redoubles all the terrors of the night.
Such terror Sinai's quaking hill o'erspread,
When Heaven's loud trumpet sounded o'er his head.
It seem'd, the wrathful angel of the wind
Had all the horrors of the skies combin'd;
[Page 86]
And here, to one ill-fated ship oppos'd,
At once the dreadful magazine disclos'd.
And lo! tremendous o'er the deep he springs,
Th' inflaming sulphur flashing from his wings!
Hark! his strong voice the dismal silence breaks;
Mad Chaos from the chains of death awakes!
Loud and more loud the rolling peals enlarge!
And blue on deck their blazing sides discharge:
There, all-aghast, the shivering wretches stood,
While chill suspence and fear congeal'd their blood.
Now in a deluge bursts the living flame,
And dread concussion rends the ethereal frame;
Sick earth convulsive groans from shore to shore,
And Nature shuddering feels the horrid roar.
Still the sad prospect rises on my sight,
Reveal'd in all its mournful shade and light.
Swift through my pulses glides the kindling fire,
As lightning glances on th' electric wire:
But ah! the force of numbers strives in vain,
The glowing scene unequal to sustain.
But lo! at last, from tenfold darkness born,
Forth issues o'er the wave the weeping morn.
Hail, sacred vision! who, on orient wing,
The cheering dawn of light propitious bring!
All Nature smiling, hail'd the vivid ray,
That gave her beauties to returning day:
All but our ship that, groaning on the tide,
No kind relief, no gleam of hope descry'd.
For now, in front, her trembling inmates see
The hills of Greece, emerging on the lee.
So the lost lover views that fatal morn,
On which, for ever from his bosom torn,
The nymph ador'd resigns her blooming charms,
To bless with love some happier rival's arms.
[Page 87]
So to Eliza dawn'd that cruel day,
That tore Aeneas from her arms away;
That saw him parting, never to return,
Herself in funeral flames decreed to burn.
O yet in clouds, thou genial source of light,
Conceal thy radiant glories from our sight!
Go, with thy smile adorn the happy plain,
And gild the scenes where health and pleasure reign!
But let not here, in scorn, thy wanton beam
Insult the dreadful grandeur of my theme!
While shoreward now the bounding vessel flies,
Full in her van St. George's cliffs arise:
High o'er the rest a pointed crag is seen,
That hung projecting o'er a mossy green.
Nearer and nearer now the danger grows,
And all their skill relentless Fates oppose.
For while more eastward they direct the prow,
Enormous waves the quivering deck o'erflow
While, as she wheels, unable to subdue
Her sallies, still they dread her broaching-to.
Alarming thought! for now no more a-lee 62
Her riven side could bear th' invading sea;
And if the following surge she scuds before,
Headlong she runs upon the dreadful shore:
A shore where shelves and hidden rocks abound,
Where death in secret ambush lurks around.
Far less dismay'd, Anchises' wand'ring son *
Was seen the straits of Sicily to shun;
[Page 88]
When Palinurus, from the helm, descry'd
The rocks of Scylla on his eastern side;
While in the west, with hideous yawn disclos'd,
His onward path Charybdis' gulph oppos'd.
The double danger as by turns he view'd,
His wheeling bark her arduous track pursu'd.
Thus, while to right and left destruction lies,
Between th' extremes the daring vessel flies.
With boundless involution, bursting o'er
The marble cliffs, loud-dashing surges roar.
Hoarse through each winding creek the tempest raves,
And hollow rocks repeat the groan of waves.
Destruction round th' insatiate coast prepares,
To crush the trembling ship, unnumber'd snares.
But haply now she 'scapes the fatal strand,
Though scarce ten fathoms distant from the land.
Swift, as the weapon issuing from the how,
She cleaves the burning waters with her prow;
And forward leaping, with tumultuous haste,
As on the tempest's wing, the isle she past.
With longing eyes and agony of mind,
The sailors view this refuge left behind;
Happy to bribe, with India's richest ore,
A safe accession to that barren shore!
When in the dark Peruvian mine confin'd,
Lost to the cheerful commerce of mankind,
The groaning captive wastes his life away,
For ever exil'd from the realms of day;
Not equal pangs his bosom agonize,
When far above the sacred light he eyes,
While, all-forlorn, the victim pines in vain,
For scenes he never shall possess again.
But now Athenian mountains they descry,
And o'er the surge Colonna frowns on high;
[Page 89]
Beside the cape's projecting verge are plac'd
A range of columns, long by time defac'd;
First planted by devotion to sustain,
In elder times, Tritoni [...]'s sacred fane.
Foams the wild beach below with mad'ning [...]age,
Where waves and rocks a dreadful combat wage.
The sickly heaven, formenting with its freight,
Still vomits o'er the main the feverish weight;
And now, while wing'd with ruin from on high,
Through the rent cloud the ragged lightnings fly,
A flash, quick-glancing on the nerves of light,
Struck the pale helmsman with eternal night;
Rodmond, who heard a piteous groan behind,
Touch'd with compassion gaz'd upon the blind:
And, while around his sad companions crowd,
He guides th' unhappy victim to the shroud.
Hie thee aloft, my gallant friend! he cries;
Thy only succour on the mast relies!
The helm, bereft of half its vital force,
Now scarce subdu'd the wild unbridled course;
Quick to th' abandon'd wheel Arion came,
The ship's tempestuous fallies to reclaim.
Amaz'd he saw her, o'er the sounding foam,
Upborne, to right and left distracted roam.
So gaz'd young Phaeton, with pale dismay,
When, mounted in the flaming car of day,
With rash and impious hand, the stripling try'd
Th' immortal coursers of the sun to guide.
The vessel, while the dread event draws nigh,
Seems more impatient o'er the waves to fly.
Fate spurs her on:— thus, issuing from afar,
Advances to the sun some blazing star;
And, as it feels th' attraction's kindling force,
Springs onward with accelerated course.
[Page 90]
With mournful look the seamen ey'd the strand,
Where death's inexorable jaws expand:
Swift from their minds elaps'd all dangers past,
As, dumb with terror, they beheld the last;
Now on the trembling shrouds, before, behind,
In mute suspence they mount into the wind.
The genius of the deep, on rapid wing,
The black eventful moment seem'd to bring.
The fatal Sisters, on the surge before,
Yok'd their infernal horses to the prore.
The steersmen now receiv'd their last command,
To wheel the vessel sidelong to the strand.
Twelve sailors, on the foremast who depend,
High on the platform or the top ascend;
Fatal retreat! for while the plunging prow
Immerges headlong in the wave below,
Down-prest by wat'ry weight the bowsprit bends,
And from above the stem deep-crashing rends.
Beneath her beak the floating ruins lie;
The foremast totters, unsustain'd on high:
And now the ship, fore-lifted by the sea,
Hurls the tall fabric backward o'er her lee.
While, in the general wreck, the faithful stay
Drags the main topmast from its post away.
[...]ung from the mast, the seamen strive in vain
Through hostile floods their vessel to regain.
The waves they buffet, till, bereft of strength,
O'erpower'd they yield to cruel fate at length.
The hostile waters close around their head,
They sink for ever, number'd with the dead!
Those who remain their fearful doom await,
Nor longer mourn their lost companions' fate.
The heart that [...]leeds with sorrows all its own,
Forgets the pangs of friendship to bemoan
[Page 91]
Albert and Rodmond and Palemon here,
With young Arion, on the mast appear;
Even they, amid th' unspeakable distress,
In every look distracting thoughts confess.
In every vein the refluent blood congeals,
And every bosom fatal terror feels.
Enclos'd with all the demons of the main,
They view'd the adjacent shore, but view'd in vain.
Such torments in the drear abodes of hell,
Where sad despair laments with rueful yell,
Such torments agonize the damned breast,
While fancy views the mansions of the bleft.
For heaven's sweet help their suppliant cries implore;
But heaven relentless deigns to help no more!
And now, lash'd on by destiny severe,
With horror fraught, the dreadful scene drew near!
The ship hangs hovering on the verge of death,
Hell yawns, rocks rise, and breakers roar beneath!
In vain alas! the sacred shades of yore
Would arm the mind with philosophic lore;
In vain they'd teach us, at the latest breath,
To smile serene amid the pangs of death.
Even Zeno's self, and Epictetus old,
This fell abyss had shudder'd to behold,
Had Socrates, for godlike virtue fam'd,
And wisest of the sons of men proclaim'd,
Beheld this scene of phrenzy and distress,
His soul had trembled to its last recess!
O yet confirm my heart, ye powers above,
This last tremendous shock of fate to prove.
The tottering frame of reason yet sustain!
Nor let this total ruin whirl my brain!
In vain the cords and axes were prepar'd,
For now th' audacious seas insult the yard;
[Page 92]
High o'er the ship they thro' a horrid shade,
And o'er her burst, in terrible cascade.
Uplifted on the surge to heaven she flies,
Her shatter'd top half-buried in the s [...]ies,
Then headlong plunging thunders on the ground,
Earth groans! air trembles! and the deeps resound!
Her giant-bulk the dread concussion feels,
And quivering with the wound, in torment reels:
So reels, convuls'd with agonizing throes,
The bleeding bull beneath the murd'rer's blows.
Again she plunges! hark! a second shock
Tears her strong bottom on the marble rock!
Down on the vale of death, with dismal cries,
The fated victims shuddering, roll their eyes
In wild despair; while yet another stroke,
With deep convulsion, rends the solid oak,
Till like the mine, in whose infernal cell,
The lurking demons of destruction dwell,
At length asunder torn, her frame divides,
And crashing spreads in ruin o'er the tides.
O were it mine, with tuneful Maro's art,
To wake to sympathy the feeling heart!
Like him, the smooth and mournful verse to drefs
In all the pomp of exquisite distress!
Then, too severely taught by cruel Fate,
To share in all the perils I relate,
Then might I, with unrival'd strains deplore,
Th' impervious horrors of a leeward shore.
As o'er the surge the stooping main-mast hung,
Still on the rigging thirty seamen clung;
Some, struggling, on a broken crag were cast,
And there by oozy tangles grappled fast:
Awhile they bore th' o'erwhelming billows rage,
Unequal combat with their fate to wage;
[Page 93]
Till all benumb'd and seeble they forego
Their slippery hold, and sink to shades below.
Some, from the main yard-arm impetuous thrown,
On marble ridges die without a groan.
Three with Palemon on their skill depend,
And from the wreck on oars and rafts descend.
Now on the mountain-wave on high they ride,
Then downward plunge beneath the involving tide;
Till one, who seems in agony to strive,
The whirling breakers heave on snore alive;
The rest a speedier end of anguish knew,
And press'd the stony beach a lifeless crew!
Next, O unhappy chief, th' eternal do [...]
Of Heaven decreed thee to the briny tomb [...]!
What scenes of misery torment thy view!
What painful struggles of thy dying crew!
Thy perish'd hopes all buried in the flood,
O'erspread with corses red with human blood!
So pierc'd with anguish hoary Priam gaz'd,
When Troy's imperial domes in ruin blaz'd;
While he, severeft sorrow doom'd to feel,
Expir'd beneath the victor's murdering steel.
Thus with his helplefs partners till the last,
Sad refuge! Albert hugs the floating mast;
His soul could yet sustain this mortal blow,
But droops, alas! beneath superior woe:
For now soft Nature's sympathctic chain
Tugs at his yearning heart with powerful strain.
His faithful wife, for ever doom'd to mourn
For him, alas! who never shall [...]eturn;
To black adversity's approach expos'd,
With want and hardships unforeseen enclos'd.
His lovely daughter left without a friend,
Her innocence to su [...]cour and desend:
[Page 94]
By youth and indigence set forth a prey
To lawless guilt that flatters to betray.
While these reflections rack his feeling mind,
Rodmond, who hung beside, his grasp resign'd,
And, as the tumbling waters o'er him roll'd,
His out-stretch'd arms the masters legs infold;
Sad Albert feels the dissolution near,
And strives in vain his fetter'd limbs to clear,
For death bids every clinching joint adhere.
All-faint, to Heaven he throws his dying eyes,
And, "O protect my wife and child!" he cries:
The gushing streams roll back the unfinish'd sound!
He gasps! he dies! and tumbles to the ground!
Five, only left of all the perish'd throng,
Yet ride the pine that shoreward drives along;
With these Arion still his hold secures,
And all the assaults of hostile waves endures.
O'er the dire prospect as for life he strives,
He looks if poor Palemon yet survives.
Ah, wherefore, trusting to unequal art,
Didst thou, incautious! from the wreck depart?
Alas! these rocks all human skill defy,
Who strikes them once, beyond relief must die:
And now sore-wounded, thou perhaps art toss'd
On these, or in some oozy cavern lost.
Thus thought Arion, anxious gazing round,
In vain, his eyes no more Palemon found.
The demons of destruction hover nigh,
And thick their mortal shafts commission'd fly:
And now a breaking surge, with forceful sway,
Two next Arion furious tears away.
Hurl'd on the erags, behold, they gasp! they bleed!
And groaning, cling upon th' elusive weed!
[Page 95]
Another billow bursts in boundless roar!
Arion sinks! and Memory views no more!
Ha! total night and horror here preside!
My stunn'd ear tingles to the whizzing tide!
It is the funeral knell! and gliding near,
Methinks the phantoms of the dead appear!
But lo! emerging from the watery grave,
Again they float incumbent on the wave;
Again the dismal prospect opens round,
The wreck, the shores, the dying and the drown'd!
And see! enfeebled by repeated shocks,
Those two who scramble on th' adjacent rocks,
Their faithless hold no longer can retain,
They sink o'erwhelm'd, and never rise again!
Two with Arion yet the mast upbore,
That now above the ridges reach'd the shore;
Still trembling to descend, they downward gaze
With horror pale, and torpid with amaze:
The floods recoil! the ground appears below!
And life's faint embers now rekindling glow:
Awhile they wait th' exhausted waves retreat,
Then climb slow up the beech with hands and feet.
O Heaven! deliver'd by whose sovereign hand,
Still on the brink of hell they shuddering stand,
Receive the languid incense they bestow,
That damp with death appears not yet to glow.
To thee each soul the warm oblation pays
With trembling ardour, of unequal praise;
In every heart dismay with wonder strives,
And Hope the sicken'd spark of life revives;
Her maige powers their exil'd health restore,
Till horror and despair are felt no more.
A troop of Grecians who inhabit nigh,
And of these perils of the de [...]p desery,
[Page 96]
Rous'd by the blustering tempest of the night,
Anxious had claim'd Colonna's neighbouring height;
When gazing downward on th' adjacent flood;
Full to their view the scene of rain stood;
The surf with mangled bodies strew'd around!
And those yet breathing on the sea-wash'd ground!
Though lost to science and the nobler arts,
Yet nature's lore inform'd their feeling hearts;
Strait down the vale with hastening steps they hied,
Th' unhappy sufferers to assist and guide.
Mean while those three escap'd beneath explore
The first adventurous youth who reach'd the shore;
Panting, with eyes averted from the day,
Prone, helpless, on the tangly beach he lay.
It is Palemon!—oh! what tumults roll
With hope and terror in Arion's soul!
If yet unhurt he lives again to view
His friend and this fele remnant of our crew!
With us to travel through this foreign zone,
And share the future good or ill unknown.
Arion thus; but ah! sad doom of fate!
That bleeding Memory sorrows to relate;
While yet afloat on some resisting rock,
His ribs were dash'd and fractur'd with the shock:
Heart-piercing sight! those cheeks so late array'd
In beauty's bloom, are pale with mortal shade!
Distilling blood his lovely breast o'erspread.
And clog'd the golden treffes of his head:
Nor yet the lungs by this pernicious stroke
Were wounded, or the vocal organs broke.
Down from his fleck with blazing gems array'd,
Thy image, lovely Anna! hung pourtray'd;
Th' unconscious figure smiling all serene,
Suspended in a golden chain was seen.
[Page 97]
Hadst thou, soft maiden! in this hour of woe,
Beheld him writhing from the deadly blow,
What force of art, what language could express
Thine agony? thine exquisite distress?
But thou, alas! art doom'd to weep in vain
For him thine eyes shall never see again!
With dumb amazement pale, Arion gaz'd,
And cautiously the wounded youth uprais'd;
Palemon then, with cruel pangs oppress'd,
In faultering accents thus his friend address'd:
"O rescu'd from destruction late so nigh,
"Beneath whose fatal influence doom'd I lie;
"Are we then exil'd to this last retreat
"Of life, unhappy! thus decreed to meet?
"Ah! how unlike what yester-morn enjoy'd,
"Inchanting hopes, for ever now destroy'd!
"For wounded far beyond all healing power,
"Palemon dies, and this his final hour:
"By those fell breakers, where in vain I strove,
"At once cut off from fortune, life and love!
"Far other scenes must soon present my sight,
"That lie deep-buried yet in tenfold night.
"Ah! wretched father of a wretched son,
"Whom thy paternal prudence has undone!
"How will remembrance of this blinded care
"Bend down thy head with anguish and despair!
"Such dire effects from avarice arise,
"That, deaf to nature's voice, and vainly wise,
"With force severe endeavours to controul
"The noolest passions that inspire the soul.
"But, O Thou Sacred Power! whose law connects
"Th' eternal chain of causes and effects,
"Let not thy chastening ministers of rage
"Afflict with sharp remorse his feeble age!
[Page 98]
"And you, Arion! who with these the last
"Of all our crew survive the Shipwreak past.
"Ah! ceast to mourn! these friendly tears restrain!
"Nor give my dying moments kermer pain!
"Since heaven may foon thy wandering steps restore,
"When parted hence, to England's distant shore;
"Shouldst thou, th' unwilling messenger of fate,
"To him the tragic story first relate,
"Oh! friendship's generous ardor then suppress!
"Nor hint the fatal cause of my distress,
"Nor let each horrid incident sustain
"The lengthen'd tale to aggravate his pain.
"Ah! then remember well my last request,
"For her who reigns for ever in my breast;
"Yet let him prove a father and a friend;
"The helpless maid to succour and defend.
"Say, I this suit implor'd with parting breath,
"So heaven befriend him at his hour of death!
"But oh! to lovely Anna shouldst thou tell
"What dire untimely end thy friend besel,
"Draw o'er the difmal scene soft pity's veil,
"And lightly touch the lamentable tale:
"Say that my love inviolably true,
"No change no diminution ever knew;
"Lo! her bright image, pendent on my neck,
"Is all Palemon rescu'd from the wreck
"Take it and say, when panting in the wave,
"I struggled life and this alone to save!
"My soul, that fluttering, hastens to be free,
"Would yet a train of thoughts impart to thee,
"But strives in vain—the chilling ice of death
"Congeals my blood, and choaks the stream of breath:
"Resign'd she quits her comfortless abode,
"To course that long, unknown, eternal road.
[Page 99]
"O sacred source of ever-living light!
" [...]wor [...] the weary wanderer in her flight!
"Dire [...] [...] onward to that peaceful shore,
"Where [...] pain and death are felt no more!
"When thou some tale of helpless love shalt hear,
"That steals from pity's eye the melting tear.
"Of two chaste hearts, by mutual, passion join'd,
"To absence, sorrow and despair consign'd.
"Oh! then, to swell the tides of social woe,
"That heal [...] hosom they o'erflow.
"While [...], this sad Shipwreak tell.
"And what [...] thy wretched friend befel!
"Then, while in streams of soft compassion drown'd,
"The swains [...] and maidens weep around;
"While lispi [...] children, touch'd with infant [...],
"With wonder ga [...]e and drop th' [...] tear:
"O! then this moral bid their souls retain,
" All thoughts of happiness [...] earth are vain *."
The last faint accents trembled on his tongue,
That now inactive to the palated clung;
His bosom heaves a mortal groan—he dies!
And shades eternal sink upon his eyes!
As thus defac'd in death Palemon lay,
Arion gaz'd upon the lifeless clay,
Transfix'd he stood with awful terror fill'd,
While down his cheek the filent drops distil'd.
"O ill star'd votary of unspotted truth!
"Untimely perish'd in the bloom of youth,
"Should e'er thy friend arrive on Albion's land,
"He will obey, though painful thy demand:
[Page 100]
"His tongue the dreadful story shall display,
"And all the horrors of this dismal day!
"Disastrous day! what ruin hast thou bred!
"What anguish to the living and the dead!
"How hast thou left the widow all-forlorn,
"And ever doom'd the orphan child to mourn!
"Through life's sad journey hopeless to complain!
"Can sacred justice these events ordain?
"But O my soul! avoid that wonderous maze
"Where reason, lost in endless error [...]
"As through this thorny vale of life [...]
"Great Cause of all effects, Thy will be do [...]!"
Now had the Grecians on the beech arriv'd,
To aid the helpless few who yet surviv'd:
While passing they behold the waves o'erspre [...]
With shatter'd rafts and corses of the dead.
Three still alive, benumb'd and faint they find,
In mournful silence on a rock reclin'd.
The generous natives, mov'd with social pain,
The seeble strangers in their arms sustain;
With pitying sighs their hapless lot deplore,
And lead them trembling from the fatal shore.
END OF THE THRIRD CANTO.
[Page 101]

OCCASIONAL ELEGY

THE scene of death is clos'd, the mournful strains
Dissolve in dying languor on the ear:
Yet Pity weeps, yet Sympathy complains,
And dumb Suspence awaits o'er whelm'd with fear.
But the sad Muses, with prophetic eye,
At once the [...]ture and the past explore,
Their harps [...] livion's insluence can defy,
And waft the spirit to [...] shore.
Then, O Palemon! if thy shade can hear
The voice of Friendship still lament thy do [...]m;
Yet to the sad oblations bend thine ear,
That rise in vocal incense o'er thy tomb.
In vain, alas! the gentle maid shall weep,
While secret anguish nips her vital bloom;
O'er her soft frame shall stern diseases [...]reep,
And give the lovely victim to the tomb.
Relentless phrensy shall the Father sting,
Untaught in Virtue's school distress to bear;
Severe remorse his tortur'd soul shall wring,
'Tis his to groan and perish in despair.
[Page 102]
Ye lost companions of distress, adieu!
Your toils and pains and dangers are no more:
The tempest now shall howl unheard by you,
While ocean smites in vain the trembling shore.
On you the blast, surcharg'd with rain and snow,
In winter's dismal nights no more shall beat:
Unfelt by you the vertic sun may glow,
And scorch the panting earth with baneful heat.
No more the joyful maid, the sprightly strain
Shall wake the dance to give you welcome home;
Nor hopeless love impart undying pain,
When far from scenes of social joy you roam.
No more on you wide watery waste you stray,
While hunger and disease your life consume,
While parching thirst, that [...] without allay,
Forbids the blasted rose of [...] to bloom.
No more you feel Contagion's mortal breath,
That taints the realms with misery severe:
No more behold pale Famine, scattering death,
With cruel ravage desolate the year.
The thundering drum, the trumpet's swelling strain,
Unheard shall form the long embattled line:
Unheard, the deep foundations of the main
Shall tremble when the hostile squadrons join.
Since grief, fatigue, and hazards still molest
The wandering vassals of the faithless deep,
O happier now escap'd to endless rest,
Than we who still survive to wake and weep!
[Page 103]
What though no funeral pomp, no borrow'd tear,
Your hour of death to gazing crowds shall tell,
Nor weeping friends attend your sable bier,
Who sadly listen to the passing bell.
The tutor'd sigh, the vain parade of woe,
No real anguish to the soul impart;
And oft, alas! the tear that friends bestow,
Belies the latent feelings of the heart.
What though no sculptur'd pile your name displays,
Like those who perish in their country's cause;
What though no Epic Muse in living lays,
Records your dreadful daring with applause.
Full oft the flattering marble bids renown,
With blazon'd trophies deck the spotted name;
And oft, too oft, the venal Muses crown
The slaves of vice with never-dying fame.
Yet shall Remembrance from Oblivion's veil
Relieve your scene, and sigh with grief sincere,
And soft Compassion at your tragic tale,
In silent tribute pay her kindred tear.
END OF THE SHIPWRECK.
[Page]

THE SHIPWRECK.
Occasioned by the Loss of the HALSEWELL EAST-INDIAMAN.

THE sorrow light, and common is the sigh,
When heroes perish, or when Monarchs die;
Tears flow obedient to the court's command,
And servile fashion sables all the land;
The heart, a stranger to the outward show,
Forgets not with its wonted joy to glow.
Far otherwise is public sorrow seen:
When woes domestic sadden all the scene,
Then spreading grief assumes no gloomy vest,
Its house of mourning is each feeling breast!
With sighs the desolating tale we hear,
And every cheek is moisten'd with a tear:
Tears of high price! that spite of manhood start,
And sighs that vibrate all along the heart,
Thy fate, O gallant Pierce! where'er 'tis known,
Each child of sympathy shall make its own;
Fame's choicest meed the dismal tale attend,
And sprigs of laurel with the cypress blend!
An equal fate not time itself can show,
Of mighty ruin and extended woe!
Destructive deep, whose captivating calm
Allures the bark with more than syren charm;
[Page 105]
With plenty stor'd, she cheerful spreads the sail,
And vainly trusts to the deceitful gale:
Then sudden howls thy fury from afar,
And midnight tempests all thy caverns tear!
The climbing billows mock the seamen's toil,
And burst relentless on the sinking spoil!
Dismal the trophies that thy conquest wears,
The sighs of friendship, and the orphan's tears!
The weeds of widows, and to glut thy rage,
The hoary honours pluck'd from childless age!
But these are common to thy awful state,
Alas! new horrors on the Trident wait!
What piercing shrieks ride on the midnight blast,
And groans that deeply murmur to the coast?
Lo! anxious Seraphs hover o'er the deep,
The Tritons tremble and the Naiads weep!
The hardy veteran to his fate resign'd,
In vain collects the firmness of his mind;
His blood flows back at the remembrance wild,
Of widow'd consort, and of orphan'd child:
Yet still with less composure can he bear
The fruitless cries of beauty in despair:
Doom'd in the keenest anguish to expire,
The daughters helpless grasp their helpless sire.
But thou Supreme! whose undivided sway,
Not man alone, but earth and sea obey;
Whose faithful Providence in unseen form,
Still "points the whirlwind, and directs the storm!"
If deeply agoniz'd with mental pain,
Forgive the mourner that shall dare complain:
Soothe the wild workings of affliction's breast,
And teach our wishes that thy will is best.
THE STORM, A POEM.DE …
[Page]

THE STORM, A POEM.

DESCRIPTIVE OF THE LATE TEMPEST, Which raged with such destructive Fury throughout the southern Parts of North-America, in July, 1788.

BY A CITIZEN OF PHILADELPHIA.

Who taught the rapid winds to fly so fast,
Or shakes the centre with his eastern blast?
Who from the skies can a whole deluge pour?
Who strikes through Nature with the solemn roar
Of dreadful thunder, points it where to fall,
And in fierce lightning wraps the flying ball?
YOUNG.

PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED AND SOLD BY PRICHARD & HALL, 1 [...] MARKET STREET, NEAR FRONT STREET. M.DCC.LXXXVIII

[Page]

I DO CERTIFY that Messrs Prichard & Hall, Printers, have entered agreeably to Act of Assembly, a Pamphlet, entitled, ‘The Storm, a Poem. Descrip­tive of the late Tempest, &c. By a Citizen of Phi­ladelphia.’ Printed by them at Philadelphia.—

Witness my hand this 22d day of September, 1788.
J. B. SMITH, Pro. Ph. Co.
[Page]

PREFACE.

WHEN subjects of the highest importance are submited to the Public, an apology is ne­cessary.

I have endeavoured, in verses at least equal to my own judgment, to express my ideas of a late event, which, whilst it awakened poetical feeling, must have excited national ideas.

I will not attempt to analyze a subject, which from its nature must preclude extreme regular composition, but appeal to the sensibility of my readers.

[Page]

THE STORM, A POEM.

INTENT to praise th' ambitious chief or king,
Of wasteful war let loftier Poets sing,
And fix, the meed though reason disavow,
The wreath of triumph on the hero's brow;
Or, haply form'd for less exalted strains,
Paint the mild glories of the verdant plains,
Where liberty the peasant's toil rewards,
And, what she nobly gave, as nobly guards—
A different theme demands my humbler muse,
Who piteous sighs, and trembles, as she views
Earth, ocean, skies in conflict wild engage,
And the dire wrecks of elemental rage!
O Thou, whose wisdom, still employ'd for man,
Seems for a moment erring from its plan;
Yet oft from poverty elicites wealth,
From anguish gladness, and from sickness health,
And bids those bosoms, which with triumph glow,
Submission learn from salutary woe!
Assist the verse, which scorning mean applause,
Exerts new vigour in the noblest cause;
[Page 112]
And boldly warns the valiant and the free,
Flush'd with proud conquest, to depend on thee.
Now a fifth time light's delegated source
To glowing Cancer had perform'd his course,
Since the new world, by hardships bolder grown,
Had fix'd bright freedom on her radiant throne,
And taught (Heav'n secret works for noblest ends)
The truest lessons to her foes, and friends.
Yet, like the hero, who, with conquest crown'd,
Pines with an inward, deleterious wound,
Success a crowd of latent ills supplied;
Neglected labour, overweening pride,
Religion's voice contemn'd for Pleasure's strain,
And the long list of woes in Luxury's train.
In vain the Press, with Freedom's dictates bold,
Her true ally, th' approaching ills foretold.
Ideal treasures swelling in his mind,
To real misery Avarice was blind.
In vain the Preacher turn'd the sacred leaf,
Or spoke heav'n-prompted— Luxury was deaf.
As giddy boys th' illusive rainbow chace,
Heedless of toil, and fearless of disgrace,
Thus to false industry the merchant bow'd,
And worship'd speculation's goody cloud.
The farmer too, fir'd with the ra [...]e of gain,
Deserts the [...]eady labours of the plain;
And, all-unpractis'd in the giddy ma [...]e,
In trade's aerial regions holdly strays;
But soon in poverty his rashness mourns,
And, meteer-like, to native earth returns.
O'er his neglected art the artist pines,
Or to mad revelry his hours resigns;
Smiles at those ills, at which he once turn'd p [...],
And hopes, not dreads, that fatal spunge, a jail.
[Page 113]
Destructive luxury! thou child of ease;
Thee let the gilded courts of tyrants please.
Far from our rougher plains retire to vales,
Where silken dalliance, fann'd by spicy gales,
Devotes to mean delights the flying hours,
Nor dreads the chains, conceal'd by fragrant flowers.
Let Commerce too, if with accurs'd design,
She basely offers incense at thy shrine,
And hopes to check the ardour of the free,
From our indignant coasts retire with thee!
Sooth'd with the true delight of honest fame,
Methinks I hear our veterans exclaim—
"Our streaming wounds, our flattering hopes forgot,
"Be poverty and freedom still our lot!"
Thus spoke the free and wise!—But ah! how vain
Their efforts 'gainst the flatt'ring tide of gain!
Which, whilst in peaceful stream it seems to flow,
Leads to the dark abyss of cruel woe.
Thus on some lake the hapless vessel sails,
Wafted o'er peaceful floods by flatt'ring gales;
Security, lull'd by deceitful Pride,
Scarce condescends her treach'rous course to guide,
Whilst yawning Indolence indulges ease,
And heavy Ignorance no danger sees;
Till the loud cataract assails their ears;
Then all, confus'd, at once confess their fears;
But ah! too late—down the swift flood they go,
Lost in the foaming gulph, which roars below.
Nor be to trade alone those ills assign'd,
Which wrapt in dreary gloom the public mind;
Since to vile Faction half at least is due;
Faction, which rules the many or the few!
Who still to Freedom pays insidious court;
Borrows her smiles, and imitates her port;
[Page 114]
Now mildly flatters, and now storms aloud;
Dazzles the rich, and overawes the crowd;
Till all by turns obey her powerful arts,
And press the shining mischief to their hearts.
On Aetna's fertile sides thus vineyards glow,
And in mild triumph harvests wave below.
The song and dance delight the thoughtless swains,
Whilst Luxury proclaims "a monarch reigns."
When hark! the lab'ring hill tremendous roars;
And its rock'd basis rocks resounding shores.
Columns of smoke and fire alternate rise;
Now flame through ether, and now blot the skies.
Anon the burning torrents rush amain
From cliff to cliff, and blaze along the plain;
Involving in resistless, firy tide
The works of industry, and arts of pride.
Yet who Sicilia's hardy sons shall blame;
Though theirs the misery, yet not theirs the shame.
The heirs of honest poverty and toil,
Again they joy to turn the tepid soil;
Fondly confiding in religious vows,
Again with vines they shade the mountain's brows;
Again their flocks in happy leisure tend;
From heav'n they suffer, and to heav'n they bend.
Ye, who [...]ult in Freedom's glorious rights,
Whom Industry to solid wealth invites;
That Freedom, once esteem'd the brightest crown;
That Industry, whose fruits are all your own!
Say, shall vile sophistry your feet entice
To tread the paths of luxury and vice?
Shall Trade's false glitter lure the free and bold?
Shall Genoa's fate be yours with Geroa's gold?
Alas! the public wealth when nobles carve,
The few may riot, but the people starve!
[Page 115]
Or, with the chieftain, whose patrician pride,
Wed in vain pomp the Adriatic tide,
Say, shall ye, in processions captives led,
Be meanly pleas'd with slavery, shows, and bread?
Mechinks I see your cheeks with fury glow;
Yet calmly read nor deem the Muse your foe—
The solemn verse to worth and honour true;
Genoa and Venice once were free like you;
Like you in open war their foes they dar'd,
And hop'd from liberty their great reward.
Like you to freedom led by reason's light,
The commonwealth they deem'd their common right;
Like you, content in industry and toil,
In arts they labour'd, or they turn'd their soil;
Like you their chiefs with grateful eyes they view'd;
Like you—th' indignant Muse must here conclude—
Oppression's torrent may ye nobly stem,
Nor to insulting tyrants bow—like them!
But why the dark, insidious plan describe,
Which sunk the people to a servile tribe?
At first their foes by subtle arts deceiv'd;
The nobles flatter'd, and the crowd believ'd;
Till, basely propp'd by those, in blood who trade,
The nobles threaten'd, and the crowd obey'd.
Free [...] neglected, or ill-understood,
Their minds to slavery were soon subdued.
In monarchies exulting peasants sing;
They rarely see, and sometimes love their king.
But on Venetian lakes—in Genoa's streets,
The trembling wretch each hour a tyrant meets.
Religion there, the handmaid of the state,
Pays her glad homage to the rich and great;
The mask and antic garment dares assume,
And scorns at once Morality and Rome.
[Page 116]
In this corrupted, proud, tyrannic state,
Who studies to be useful, wise, or great?
To gen'ral good there monastries conduce;
Priests are not rigid; nuns not too recluse.
To them their sufferings lovers oft relate,
Nor rail at abbess, confessor, or grate.
Here youth's chief merit in indulgence lies,
And none, but nobles, can be learn'd or wise.
Th' informer here digests his cruel plan,
Secure of guilt in ev'ry worthy man;
Nor wastes the learned judge his time, or breath,
Where innocence and talents merit death.
In secret he the accusation reads;
In secret too the hapless victim bleeds,
Whilst Policy, with dark, insidious tale,
O'er the vile system throws her specious veil.
Here see, and execrate, ye brave and free,
The deep, dark, cruel Aristocracy!
For you see history her page unfold,
Rich in the triumphs of the wise and bold!
Yet in that faithful monitress we find,
Heroes were often weak, and sages blind.
But since from Reason's doctrines oft we cease
In the calm hour of soul-enchanting peace,
To Virtue learn by Terror to conform,
And dread th' Almighty in the raging STORM.
The thick, deep-low'ring clouds; the hollow breeze,
Which, sullen, murmurs o'er the awe-struck seas;
Affrighted birds, by instinct taught to fly
From the fierce tempest gath'ring in the sky;
The gallant cock, inur'd to man's abode,
Who 'mongst his fellows stern defiance crow'd;
The bristled herd; the patient woolly breed;
The o [...] deep-lowing, and the gen'ro [...] steed,
[Page 117]
In Nature's accents utt'ring their distress,
Th' approaching terrors of the storm confess.
With louder horror bending forests roar;
With fiercer fury ocean shakes the shore,
Forgets with impious rage the great command,
Swells his proud waves, and dares insult the land.
In a dun robe of congregated clouds
The source of light and warmth his lustre shrouds,
Whilst whirling meteors imitate his ray,
And lightnings flash a momentary day.
O'er the drear scene, for his approach prepar'd,
Loud, and still louder, Thunder's voice is heard.
Protracted war with earth he means to wage,
Nor pours at once his full collected rage.
Anon his wrath, impatient of controul,
Bursts o'er the world, convulsing either pole.
The birds of prey, who rains and winds defy,
Scar'd by his voice, in giddy circles fly;
No more through air their daring flight they bend,
But with dull, flagging wings to earth descend.
Ev'n the fierce, native tyrants of the wood,
Howling, forget their innate thirst of blood,
And, thunder-tam'd, in trembling squadrons press,
By fear gregarious, to the cave's recess.
Thither the serpent, guileless now, retreats,
Whose noisy rage his malice oft defeats;
In gentleness vies with the timid dove,
And trembles at the rattling storm above.
Thus when some land destructive parties tear,
And all would speak, and none will reason hear;
When Rage, disgusted at the war of words,
Bids the deluded crowd unsheath their swords;
Should then some foreign power invade the state,
No more their bosoms burn with factious hate.
[Page 118]
But for a season all their feuds forbear,
Confess their danger, and unite from fear.
But see! a wider scene of rage impends;
Before the driving winds the hiccory bends.
His shatter'd branches whirl'd along the plain,
Scarce can the sturdy oak its force sustain.
And now methinks he stoops—ah! no—in state
Serene he stands, in native strength elate.
Anon th' indignant blast, with force renew'd,
Assails the mighty monarch of the wood.
Conquer'd, with hideous crash he falls amain;
And the huge ruin loads the lab'ring plain.
While thus the mighty fall, the humbler race,
Who shade the streamlet, or the garden grace,
No hope of safety on resistance build;
But bless'd in weakness, to the tempest yield.
Stretch'd on the earth they 'scape the gen'ral doom,
Again to flourish, and again to bloom.
The city storm'd, thus oft the conqu'ring throng
Devote to instant death the bold and strong;
But spare the helpless dame, the blooming maid,
The smiling infant, and the hoary head.
Those humbler triumphs now the storm disdains,
And boldly rushes on the cultur'd plains;
With nobler objects eager to engage,
And on the works of Man exert his rage.
Thou heir of toil! thou tenant of that shed,
Which, trembling to its base, rocks o'er thy head!
Around thy neck her arms thy consort flings;
Fast to thy knees thy helpless offspring clings.
For aid they call; and shall they call in vain?—
Rouse all thy courage; ev'ry sinew strain.
With double care be ev'ry window barr'd;
Each aperture with strength and courage guard.
[Page 119]
Protect thy wife, protect thy infant charge;
And let the furious monster rage at large.
But has he enter'd?—On the adverse side
Swiftly throw ev'ry door and [...]indow wide;
Lest in thy feeble, narrow cottage pent,
Mad with restraint, and struggling for a vent,
His mighty force thy weak partitions tear,
Or whirl thy lifted roof through fields of air.
But hark! the tempest raves with double rage,
And with thy billows, Ocean! dares engage.
To meet his wrath thy foaming billows rise,
And in wild tumult dash against the skies.
Ill fares the mariner, condemn'd to dare
Th' united fury of the double war.
His wife, his babes, whom busy Fancy shews
Lost in a sad variety of woes,
By poverty and bitter scorn oppress'd—
With keenest anguish rack his manly breast.
Now snap the feeble cords; the quiv'ring mast,
Awhile obedient to the tyrant blast,
Breaks short—the gaping planks admit the tide—
Swept from the deck the pilot mourns his guide;
Sees through night's haggard gloom no friendly star,
And dreads the latent rock, or treacherous bar.
But shall the brave despond?—With active hand,
And soothing voice, the master cheers the band;
Where toil and danger call, alert he flies;
Now grasps the helm, and now the pump he plies;
Till all with sympathetic ardour glow,
Preserv'd by courage, conduct and Freneau.
But vainly provident, expert and brave,
Ocean! how many find in thee a grave?
Piteous the tale!—The fond, expecting maid
Though silent, seems her lover to upbraid.
[Page 120]
The wife (ah wise no more!) with joy prepares
To greet the toil-worn partner of her cares.
The child, with asking eyes, and half-form'd speech,
Demands his absent sire along the beach.
Lov'd maid!—fond wife!—sweet babe!—alas! no more
Thy lover!—husband!—sire!—shall view the shore.
Ye rich!—Does haughty wealth with-hold his ear?
Ye prudent then! the just petition hear.
The gallant man, who toil'd and died for you,
Still in his offspring and his widow view.
Humanity shall thus your efforts bless,
And Charity to Trade insure success.
His wrath subsides; the Tempest howls no more,
Sad trophies of his triumphs crowd the shore.
Astonish'd Edenton still stands aghast,
And hears, or seems to hear, the raging blast.
Virginia's sons their gratitude express,
And piously their great Deliverer bless;
Whilst Baltimore from sad conviction sees,
Not industry alone gives wealth or ease.
To him they bend; him humbly they adore,
Who bids the lightning blaze, the tempest roar
O'er men, who though Religion, Justice warn,
The still, calm voice of sacred Conscience scorn.
Thus when our health receives a ruder shock,
And at our bosoms death is heard to knock,
The horrid series of a life ill-spent
We view with terror; and with zeal repent.
And see! where, though the tempest raves no more,
The tossing waves still lash the bellowing shore;
Clad in coerulean robe; his awful head
Crown'd with the product of his oozy bod,
And his wan cheeks suffus'd with pl [...]y's tears;
Stern Chesapeak his frame majestic rears.
[Page 121]
The once-exulting plains, now sunk in woe,
Through which his tributary rivers flow,
Whilst indignation swell'd his lab'ring breast,
Sighing he view'd, and thus his rage express'd.
"Ye ravag'd plains! ye mountains wild and bare!
Scenes of my fame, and objects of my care!
Ill-fated lands! distress'd and guilty too!
What various misery am I doom'd to view!
Was it for this my bosom joy'd to feel
The rushing force of gallant Raleigh's keel?
For this to soothe the hero's bosom strove
With the soft blandishments of grateful love?
And bade him in proud London's dreary tower,
Assail'd at once by bigotry, and power,
Here raise the noblest trophies of renown,
Far from the zealot's rage, the monarch's frown?
To save a world from proud, imperious Spain,
(Once Europe's dread, and mistress of the main)
By rage oppress'd, by avarice defpoil'd,
The patriot counsel'd, and the hero toil'd.
But ah! sad victim of tyrannic pride,
The sage, the hero, and the patriot died!
For you, the tender objects of his care,
His latest sigh he breath'd, his latest prayer;
And fondly hop'd, beyond th' Atlantic main
Commerce, and Arts, and Liberty might reign.
And has he vainly hop'd?—U [...] taught to yield
In the dire conflict of the well-fought field,
Scorning to Tyranny to bow the knee,
Ye toil'd, ye fought, ye [...]quer'd, and were free.
But shall the noble strife be incomplete?
Fair Virtue's hopes shall Luxury defeat?
Have heroes bled, shall patriots plan in vain,
And your short page of history fury stain?
[Page 122]
With vain ideas of false grandeur curs'd,
The plan of Wisdom wildly ye revers'd,
And, to curs'd luxury unwisely prone,
Rewarded ev'ry artist but your own.
For foreign arts your bosoms madly glow;
For foreign wants ye real joys forego;
And, whilst ye thus disgrace the noblest cause,
Reason exclaims "beware of foreign laws."
Though wealth in Europe's costly fashions flaunt,
Shall Industry for glitt'ring trifles pant?
Though maddening pleasures charm the haughty train,
The vile Circean bowl shall Labour drain?
If city Mira mimics foreign aris,
And in imported pride and finery glares,
Already charming in her shepherd's eye,
Shall rural Phyllis with the rainbow vie?
Too weak the load of luxury to bear,
For foreign foes new triumphs ye prepare;
And, whilst the land but half her blessings reaps,
Each virtue sickens, and Religion weeps.
Let toil, let arts henceforth demand your care,
And shun alike mad triumph, and despair.
Though a wild scene of horror spread around,
How light your woes in reason's scale are found,
With those compar'd, which shake Sicilia's isle;
Or the fell offspring of disastrous Nile?
In Egypt's fens by heat and vapour nurs'd,
Death-breathing pestilence, by Nature curs'd,
Resolves o'er distant lands to spread his sway,
And in dire triumph meditates his prey,
Byzantium, thee!—Pale Sickness, trembling Fear,
And agonizing Pain, and wild Despair,
Mark his dire route—within thy horrid gates,
Squalor, with Apathy, his entrance waits.
[Page 123]
Hastening with ghastly smile through groaning streets,
With love fraternal Despotism he greets;
Awes by superior rage the servile train,
Asserts the throne, and takes his turn to reigh.
Ye free! how vain those evils to repeat,
Which rack the foreign poor, or awe the great,
Since truer joys are yours, and fewer woes,
On Liberty and Toil your hopes repose;
Till distant lands shall emulate your fame,
And in triumphant accents Truth exclaim,
Behold the men, of Freedom's joys possess'd,
By Labour wealthy, and by Virtue bless'd."
He spoke, and, plunging seeks his wave-scoop'd dome;
O'er his huge frame the closing billows foam.
THE END

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