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Deep midnight now involves the livid skies,
While infant breezes from the shore arise.
The waning moon, behind a wat’ry 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!
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 rocks reply.
Roused from repose aloft the sailors swarm,
And with their levers soon the windlass arm.
The order given, up-springing with a bound
They lodge the bars, and wheel their engine round:
At every turn the clanging pauls resound.
Uptorn reluctant 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.
Erom east to north the transient breezes play;
And in the Egyptian quarter soon decay.
A calm ensues; they dread th' adjacent shore;
The boats with rowers arm'd are sent before:
With cordage fasten'd to the lofty prow,
Aloof to sea the stately ship they tow.
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
Scatter'd before her van reluctant night. [sight,
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, Then stay-sails sidelong to the breeze ascend:

While all to court the wandering breeze are placed;
With yards now thwarting, now obliquely braced.
The dim horizon lowering vapours shroud,
And blot the sun yet struggling in the cloud:
Through the wide atmosphere condensed with
His glaring orb emits a sanguine blaze. [haze,
The pilots now their rules of art apply,
The mystic needle's devious aim to try.
The compass placed to catch the rising ray,
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 reconciled,
No more the attentive pilot's eye beguiled.

The natives, while the ship departs the land,
Ashore with admiration gazing stand.
Msjestically slow, before the breeze,
In silent pomp she marches on the seas,
Her milk-white bottom casts a softer gleam,
While trembling through the green translucent

stream.

The wales, that close above in contrast shone,
Clasp the long fabric with a jetty zone,
Britannia riding awful on the prow,

| Gazed o'er the vassal-wave that roll'd below:
Where'er she moved the vassal-waves were seen
To yield obsequious, and confess their queen.
Th' imperial trident graced her dexter-hand,
Of power to rule the surge, like Moses' wand,
Th' eternal empire of the main 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,
Tamed into union, yoked in friendship's chain,
Draw his proud chariot round the vanquish'd main.
From the broad margin to the centre grew
Shelves, rocks, and whirlpools, hideous to the

view!

Th' immortal shield from Neptune she received,
When first her head above the waters heaved.
Looze floated o'er her limbs an azure vest;
A figured 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 sculptured 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.

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Then tower'd the masts, the canvas swell'd on
And waving streamers floated in the sky. [high,
Thus the rich vessel moves in trim array,
Like some fair virgin on her bridal day;
Thus like a swan she cleaves the wat'ry plain,
The pride and wonder of the Ægean main!

FROM THE SAME.

Distress of the vessel-heaving of the guns overboard. 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. Fearless of heart, the chief his orders gave; Fronting the rude assaults of every wave. [deep, Like some strong watch-tower nodding o'er the Whose rocky base the foaming waters sweep, Untamed he stood; the stern aërial war, Had mark'd his honest face with many a scar.Meanwhile Arion, traversing the waist, The cordage of the leeward guns unbraced, And pointed crows beneath their metal placed. 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 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.

FROM THE SAME.

Council of officers-Albert's directions to prepare for the last extremities.

AGAIN the chief th' instructive draught extends, And o'er the figured 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! Art droops unequal, and experience fails. The different traverses since twilight made, He on the hydrographic circle laid; Then the broad angle of lee-way explored, As swept across the graduated chord. Her place discover'd by the rules of art, Unusual terrors shook the master's heart; When Falconera's rugged isle be found [bound; Within her drift, with shelves, and breakers For if on those destructive shallows tost, 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 appal
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 concave spread,
Nor storied pillars raised 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 ruled the fearful hour!
Beneath tremendous roll'd the flashing tide,
Where fate on every billow seem'd to ride-
Inclosed with ills, by peril unsubdued,
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 referr'd:

Ye faithful mates, who all my troubles share,
Approved companions of your master's care!
To you, alas! 'twere fruitless now to tell
Our sad distress, already known too well!
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 ngerous 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 dropsy'd ship may founder by the lee;
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 tried,
Had oft the master's happiest skill descried.

Yet now, the hour, the scene, the occasion known,
Perhaps with equal right preferr'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' opposed events,
From Albert his opinion thus dissents.

Too true the perils of the present hour, Where toils exceeding 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,
Chased 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 death we haste;
And one short hour perhaps may be our last.
In vain the gulf of Corinth, on our lee,
Now opens to her ports a passage free;
Since, if before the blast the vessel flies,
Full in her track unnumber'd dangers rise.
Here Falconera spreads her lurking snares;
There distant Greece her rugged shelfs prepares.
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 the 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. [more
These leaks shall then decrease: the sails once
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 waters dinks,
Sounding her depth they eyed the wetted scale,
And lo! the leaks o'er all their powers prevail.
Yet in their post, by terrors unsubdued,
They with redoubling force their task pursued.
And now the senior-pilot 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 twice nine summers yet matured his thought.
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 roused 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 a hundred leaks distill'd; As in a dropsy, wallowing with her freight, Half-drown'd she lies, a dead inactive weight; Thus drench'd by every wave, her riven deck Stripp'd and defenceless floats a naked wreck; Her wounded flanks no longer can sustain These fell invasions of the bursting main. At every pitch the 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 power th' increasing leak defy : 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 wat'ry tomb, That bids us shun the death impending here; Fly from the following blast, and shoreward steer. "Tis urged 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 storms 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 a while 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 ingulf'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 involved, He heard their last alternative resolved. High beat his bosom; with such fear subdued; Beneath the gloom of some enchanted wood, Oft in old time the wandering swain explored The midnight wizards' breathing rites abhorr'd; Trembling approach'd their incantations fell, And, chill'd with horror, heard the songs of hell. Arion saw, with secret anguish moved, The deep affliction of the friend he loved; 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!

2U

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 farewell!

With comfort's soothing voice, from hope deceived, This floating lumber shall sustain them o'er
Palemon's drooping spirit he revived,
For consolation oft, with healing art,
Retunes the jarring numbers of the heart.
Now had the pilots all the events revolved,
And on their final refuge thus resolved;
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 unmoved behold this angry storm Its 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 purposed to conceal. Ingulf'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; 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; Or, shelter'd by some rock, at anchor ride, Till with abating rage the blast subside.

But if, determined by the will of Heaven, Our helpless bark at last ashore is driven, These counsels follow'd, from the wat'ry grave Our floating sailors in the surf may save.

And first let all our axes be secured, 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 prepared, 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 the 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, secured 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,

I know among you some full oft have view'd, With murd'ring weapons arm'd, a lawless brood, On England's vile inhuman shore who stand, The foul 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, 'scaped from every horror of the main, Implored their mercy, but implored 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 a while their native land: They cursed the sleeping vengeance of the laws, That thus forgot her guardian sailors' cause. Meanwhile the master's voice again they heard, Whom, as with filial duty all revered.

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!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.”

FROM THE SAME.

The vessel going to pieces-death of Albert. 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 famed, And wisest of the sons of men proclaim'd, Beheld this scene of frenzy 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 prepared,
For now th' audacious seas insult the yard;
High o'er the ship they throw 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 skies,
Then headlong plunging thunders on the ground,
Earth groans! air trembles! and the deeps re-
sound!

Her giant bulk the dread concussion feels,
And quivering with the wound, in torment reels.
So reels, convulsed 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.

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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; Till all benumb'd and feeble 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 th' involving tide;

Till one, who seems in agony to strive,
The whirling breakers heave on shore alive;
The rest a speedier end of anguish knew,
And press'd the stony beach, a lifeless crew!

Next, O unhappy chief! th' eternal doom 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 pierced with anguish hoary Priam gazed, When Troy's imperial domes in ruin blazed; While he, severest sorrow doom'd to feel, Expired beneath the victor's murdering steel. Thus with his helpless partners till the last, Sad refuge! Albert hugs the floating mast; His soul could yet sustain the mortal blow, But droops, alas! beneath superior woe: For now soft nature's sympathetic chain Tugs at his yearning heart with powerful strain; His faithful wife for ever doom'd to mourn For him, alas! who never shall return; To black adversity's approach exposed, With want and hardships unforeseen inclosed: His lovely daughter left without a friend, Her innocence to succour and defend; By youth and indigence set forth a prey To lawless guilt, that flatters to betrayWhile 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 master's legs enfold.— Sad Albert feels the dissolution near, And strives in vain his fetter'd limbs to clear; For death bids every clinging 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 th' unfinish'd sound! He gasps! he dies! and tumbles to the ground!

MARK AKENSIDE.

[Born, 1721. Died, 1770.]

Ir may be easy to point out in Akenside a superfluous pomp of expression; yet the character which Pope bestowed on him, "that he was not an every day writer," is certainly apparent in the decided tone of his moral sentiments, and in his spirited maintenance of great principles. His verse has a sweep of harmony that seems to accord with an emphatic mind. He encountered in his principal poem the more than ordinary difficulties of a didactic subject.

"To paint the finest features of the mind, And to most subtle and mysterious things Give colour, strength, and motion."-Book i. The object of his work was to trace the various [* While he was yet unknown.]

Viz., his comparison of the Votary of Imagination to a Knight Errant in some enchanted paradise, Pleasures of Imagination, book iii. 1, 507; in his sketch of the village matron, book i. 1, 255; and in a passage of book iii. at line 379, beginning "But were not nature thus endowed at

pleasures which we receive from nature and art to their respective principles in the human imagination, and to show the connection of those principles with the moral dignity of man, and the final purposes of his creation. His leading speculative ideas are derived from Plato, Addison, Shaftesbury, and Hutchinson. To Addison he has been accused of being indebted for more than he acknowledged; but surely in plagiarisms from the Spectator it might be taken for granted, that no man could have counted on concealment; and there are only three passages (I think) in his poem where his obligations to that source are worthy of notice.† Independent of these, it is large." His ideas of the final cause of our delight in the vast and illimitable, is the same with one expressed in the Spectator, No. 413. But Addison and he borrowed it in common from the sublime theology of Plato. The leading hint of his well-known passage, "Say, why was man so eminently raised," &c., is avowedly taken from Longinus.

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