Anon, with flapping wings and stormy threat,

Foul seagulls came, and screamed along the coast; Then utter dark closed in, before, behind,

And over all loud growled the wolfish wind.

'Twas midnight, and the waves were rolling in;
But in the little town were none who slept,
Save dotage deaf or childhood free from sin.
Pale in their beds, the rest scared vigil kept,
Crossing themselves, and listening to the din;
And, as it swelled, the women wailed and wept,
And wrung their hands, thinking of those at sea,
Then hushed their babes, waked by the threnody.
ALFRED AUSTIN.

[From The Human Tragedy, Act ii.]

FAR off, the silent sea gloomed cold and gray,

Sky-sundered by one long low line of white.
A. AUSTIN.

[From The Human Tragedy, Act iii.]

THE tide comes rolling in, in ridgy sheets,

Surge after surge, with hollow-bosomed roar, Plunges and breaks, then hurriedly retreats, And the stunned strand stands solid as before.

But swift a fresh on-coming billow meets
The flying foam, and carries it along,

Back to the assault, with volume doubly strong.

A. AUSTIN.

[From The Human Tragedy, Act iv.]

AND soon they were afresh the upon sea,

Hearing no more discordant tongues of men,

But only ocean's plastic melody,

With wave attuned to wave, attuned again

To wave, where every wave withal was free.

A. AUSTIN.

[From Festus, ix.]

FESTUS. Away, away upon the whitening tide,

Like lover hastening to embrace his bride,

We hurry faster than the foam we ride;

Dashing aside the waves which round us cling,
With strength like that which lifts an eagle's wing
Where the stars dazzle and the angels sing.

Lucifer. We scatter the spray,

And break through the billows,
As the wind makes way
Through the leaves of willows.

Festus. In vain they urge their armies to the fight; Their surge-crests crumble 'neath our stroke of might.

G

We meet, fear not, we mount; now rise, now fall;
And dare with full-nerved arm the rage of all.
Through anger-swollen wave, or sparkling spray,
Nothing it recks; we hold our perilous way
Right onward till we feel the whirling brain
Ring with the maddening music of the main ;
Till the fixed eyeball strives and strains to ken,
Yet loathes to see the shore and haunts of men;
And the blood, half starting through each ridgy vein
In the unwieldy hand, sets, black with pain.
Then let the tempest cloud on cloud come spread,
And tear the stormy terrors of his head;

Let the wild sea-bird wheel around my brow,
And shriek, and swoop, and flap her wing as now;
It gladdens. On, ye boisterous billows, roll;
And keep my body, ye have ta’en my soul.
Thou element, the type which God hath given,
For eyes and hearts too earthy, of His heaven;
Were Heaven a mockery, never I would mourn
While o'er thy billows I might still be borne;
While yet to me the power and joy were given

To fling my breast on thine, and mingle earth with

Heaven.

The sea again, the swift bright sea!...

Look, listen! there is music in the cave,

Where ocean sleeps, and brightness in the wave,

The sea-bird makes its pillow, and the star,

Last born of Heaven, its azure mirror ;-far

And wide, the pale, fine gleam of sea-fire glows,
Softly sublime, like lightnings in repose-

Till roused anon, afar its flaming spray it throws.

Lucifer. Well, now we have travelled above the waves,

Wilt travel a time beneath?

And visit the sea-born in their caves;

And look on the rainbow-tinted wreath

Of weed, pearl-starred, and gemmed wherewith

The mermaid binds her long green hair?

Or rouse the sea-snake from his lair?

See where he gambols for us there!
Festus. Ay, ay; down let us dive. . .
Lucifer. Come on! come on!

Was heavy.

Festus.

...

The dew last night

Are those spars so bright,

Or eyes of things which ne'er forgive,

That seem to play on us, and glare

With rage,

that we so far should dare

To search the hidden deeps,

Where tide, the moon-slave, sleeps ;

And ork and kraken, world-forgotten, live?
Where the wind breathes not, and the wave

Walks softly, as above a grave;

Where coral worms, in countless nations,

Build rocks up from the sea's foundations;

Where the islands strike their roots
Far from the old mainland;

And spring like desert fruits,

Shook off by God's strong hand,

Up from their bed of sand.

PHILIP JAMES BAILEY.

A Song of the Sea.

"SAILOR, sailor, tell to me

What sights have you seen on the mighty sea!"

"When the seas were calm and the skies were clear,

And the watch I've kept until day was near,
Eyes I have seen, black as yours, dear, are,
And a face I've looked on that was, how far!
That was, girl, oh! how far from me!"

"Sailor, sailor, tell to me

What else have you seen on the far, far sea?"

"I've seen the flying-fish skim the brine,

And the great whales blow, and these eyes of mine
Have seen on the icebergs the north-lights play-
But often I've seen a home far away,

And a girl, oh, how dear to me!"

"Sailor, sailor, tell to me

The sounds men hear on the stormy sea."

"I've heard, my girl, the wild winds blow,

And the good ship creak to her keel below;

But a laugh, too, I've heard, that, O well, well I know!
And a far, far voice-a voice that was, O

How sweet! O how sweet to me!"

"Nay, tell me, sailor, tell to me

The sights and scenes of the wild, wild sea."

"Alike in calm, and breeze, and storm,