THE OCEAN.1 ROLL on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean-roll! His steps are not upon thy paths,-thy fields And dashest him again to earth:-there let him lay.2 Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee— (1) This passage has been much criticised both in a friendly spirit and otherwise. Its general effect cannot but be considered as striking, even though the taste displayed in the details be questioned. The assailants of the poet's genius quote with some plausibility a passage from "Corinne," to prove that even the "original and fundamental theme," was borrowed from Madame de Staël, who speaks of "Le spectacle de cette superbe mer, sur laquelle l'homme ne peut imprimer sa trace. La terre," she goes on to say, "est travaillée par lui, les montagnes sont coupées par ses routes, les rivières se reserrent en canaux pour porter ses marchandises; mais si les vaisseaux sillonnent un moment les ondes, la vague vient effacer aussitôt cette légère marque de servitude, et la mer reparaît telle qu'elle fût au premier jour de la création." (2) The cynical tone and awkward phraseology of this stanza are brought to a climax in the solecism here perpetrated. "There let him lay," is quite unpar donable. (3) "On those shores were the four great empires of the world: the Assyrian, the Persian, the Grecian, and the Roman. All our religion, almost all our law, almost all our arts, almost all that sets us above savages, has come to us from the shores of the Mediterranean."-Dr. Johnson, in Boswell's Life. Has dried Thou glorious mirror, where the Almighty's form Calm or convulsed-in breeze, or gale, or storm, Of the Invisible; even from out thy slime my hand upon thy mane, as I do here. Byron. WOMAN.1 THROUGH many a land and clime a ranger,2 A lonely unprotected stranger,3 To all the stranger's ills a prey. While steering thus my course precarious, (1) The sentiments which are above so tastefully versified may be found in the journal of Ledyard the traveller. See his interesting "Life and Travels," p. 348. (2) Ranger-Ledyard was the companion of Cook in his last voyage, and travelled much besides in the north of Europe and in Africa. (3) Stranger-from the Latin extraneus, outside, foreign; the word is thus formed: ex, extra, extraneus, estrange (oid French), strange, stranger. When parched with thirst, with hunger wasted, Her courteous looks, her words caressing, Barbauld. HUMAN FRAILTY. WEAK and irresolute is man; Woven with pains into his plan, To-morrow rends away. The bow well bent, and smart the spring; Vice seems already slain ! But passion rudely snaps the string, And it revives again. (1) Wave-The precise words of the journal are:-"These actions have been performed in so free and kind a manner that, if I was dry, I drank the sweet draught, and, if hungry, ate the coarse morsel with a double relish." (2) Bow-the "bow" is reason, whose decisions are too often thwarted by passion. Some foe to his upright intent But pleasure wins his heart. 'Tis here the folly of the wise, Bound on a voyage of awful length, But oars alone can ne'er prevail To reach the distant coast; The breath of heaven must swell the sail, Or all the toil is lost. Cowper. DEATH'S FINAL CONQUEST.3 THE glories of our blood and state* Must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade. Some men with swords may reap the field, And plant fresh laurels where they kill;5 (1) His art-The art with which he attempts to conceal his inconsistency and folly. (2) Bound, &c.-These last two stanzas are beautifully simple; the figure is well carried out, and in the line "The breath of heaven," &c., becomes particularly striking. (3) This poom was written about the beginning of the 17th century. (4) Blood and state-high birth and actual rank. (5) Where they kill-plant laurels for themselves on the blood they have spilt. And must give up their murmuring breath, The garlands wither on your brow: Then boast no more your mighty deeds! See where the victor-victim bleeds! To the cold tomb; Only the actions of the just Smell sweet, and blossom in their dust. Shirley. HELVELLYN.2 I CLIMBED the dark brow of the mighty Helvellyn, On the right, Striden-edge round the Red-tarn3 was bending, One huge nameless rock in the front was impending, When I marked the sad spot where the wanderer1 had died. Dark green was that spot 'mid the brown mountain heather, (1) Tame, &c.-but cannot tame the great conqueror, Death. (2) Helvellyn-A lofty mountain in Cumberland. Striden-edge and Cathedicam are parts of it. (3) Red-tarn—a “tarn" is a small lake high up in the bosom of a mountain. (4) Wanderer-Mr. Charles Gough, of Manchester, perished in the spring of 1805, by losing his way over the mountain Helvellyn. (5) Pilgrim-from the Italian pellegrino, which is from the Latin peregrinus, i. e. one who goes about per agrum-through the country. Hence, originally, a pilgrim was, generally, a wanderer, a traveller; then, one who travelled with a devotional purpose to some sacred spot. A "pilgrim of nature," therefore, is one who visits the shrines, i. e. the choice beauties and sublimities, of nature. |