The balanced ship, now forward, now behind,
Still felt th' impression of the waves and wind,
And to the right and left by turns inclined;
But Albert from behind the balance drew,
And on the prow its double efforts threw.-
The order now was given to bear away;
The order given the timoneers obey.
High o'er the bowsprit stretch'd the tortured sail,
As on the rack, distends beneath the gale.
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.

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, convulsed with pangs of

death,

Imbibes the gangrene's pestilential breath!
Th' experienced 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,
Resolved at last, he quits th' unequal strife,
Severs the member, and preserves the life.

CANTO III.

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

all her sails furled: or be, according to the sea-phrase, as to receive the greatest exertion of the wind. See line under bare poles.

The intent of spreading a sail at this time, is to keep the ship more steady, and to prevent her from rolling violently by pressing her side down in the water; and also to turn her head towards the source of the wind, so that the shock of the seas may fall more obliquely on her flank, than when she lies along the trough of the sea, or in the interval between two waves. While she lies in this situation, the helm is fastened close to the lee side, to prevent her, as much as possible, from falling to leeward. But as the ship is not then kept in equilibrio by the ope. ration of her sails, which at other times counterbalance | each other at the head and stern, she is moved by a slow but continual vibration, which turns her head alternately to windward and to leeward, forming an angle of 30 or 40 degrees in the interval. That part where she stops in approaching the direction of the wind is called her coming to: and the contrary excess of the angle to leeward is called her falling-off.

Veering, or wearing, (see line 55, 2d col. p. 23, and line 20, 1st col. 1. 25 ;) as used in the present sense, may be defined, the movement by which a ship changes her state from trying to that of scudding, or of running before the direction of the wind and sea.

It is an axiom in natural philosophy, that "every body will persevere in a state of rest, or of moving uniforinly in a right line, unless it be compelled to change its state by forces impressed: and that the change of motion is proportional to the moving force impressed, and made according to the right line in which that force acts."

Hence it is easy to conceive how a ship is compelled to turn into any direction by the force of the wind, acting upon any part of her length in lines parallel to the plane of the horizon. Thus, in the act of veering, which is a necessary consequence of this invariable principle, the object of the seamen is to reduce the action of the wind on the ship's hinder part, and to receive its utmost exertion on her fore part, so that the lat ter may be pushed to leeward. This effect is either produced by the operation of the sails, or by the impression of the wind on the masts and yards. In the former case, the sails on the hind part of the ship are either furled or arranged nearly parallel to the direction of the wind, which then glides ineffectually along their surfaces; at the same time the foremast sails are spread abroad, so

9 of preceding column. The fore part accordingly yields to this impulse, and is put in motion; and this motion necessarily conspiring with that of the wind, pushes the ship about as much as is requisite to produce the desired effect.

But when the tempest is so violent as to preclude the use of sails, the effort of the wind operates almost equally on the opposite end of the ship, because the masts and yards situated near the head and stern serve to counterbalance each other in receiving its impression. The effect of the helm is also considerably diminished, because the head-way, which gives life and vigour to all its operations, is at this time feeble and ineffectual Hence it becomes necessary to destroy this equilibrium which subsists between the masts and yards before and behind, and to throw the balance forward to prepare for veering. If this cannot be effected by the arrangement of the yards on the masts, and it becomes absolutely necessary to veer, in order to save the ship from destruction, (see line 20 of preceding column,) the mizenmast must be cut away, and even the main-mast, if she still remains incapable of answering the helm by turning her prow to leeward.

Scudding is that movement in navigation by which a ship is carried precipitately before a tempest. See line 20, 1st col. p. 25.

As a ship flies with amazing rapidity through the wa ter whenever this expedient is put in practice, it is never attempted in a contrary wind, unless when her condition renders her incapable of sustaining the mutual effort of the wind and waves any longer on her side, without being exposed to the most imminent danger.

A ship either scuds with a sail extended on her foremast, or, if the storm is excessive, without any sail, which in the sea-phrase is called scudding under bare poles.

The principal hazards incident to scudding are generally a sea striking a ship's stern; the difficulty of steering, which perpetually exposes her to the danger of broach. ing-to; and the want of sufficient sea-room. A sea which strikes the stern violently may shatter it to pieces, by which the ship must inevitably founder. By broaching. to suddenly, she is threatened with losing all her masts and sails, or being immediately overturned; and for want of sea-room she is exposed to the dangers of being wrecked on a lee-shore.

Venus. Delos. Apollo and Diana. Troy. Leander and Hero. Delphos. Temple of Parnassus. The Muses. The subject reSparkling of the sea. Prodigious tempest, panied with rain, hail, and meteors. Darkness, ng, and thunder. Approach of day. Discovery .The ship, in great danger, passes the island of orge. Turns her broadside to the shore. Her rit, foremast, and main topmast carried away. trikes a rock. Splits asunder. Fate of the

titches from that part of the Archipelago which lies ten the northward of Falconera, to Cape Colonna in Attica.

Might sympathize with Briton's sons distrest:
For this, my theme through mazes I pursue,
Which nor Mæonides nor Maro knew!

A while the mast in ruins dragg'd behind,
Balanced th' impression of the helm and wind:
The wounded serpent, agonized 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
You timoneers, her motion still attend!

it about seven hours, being from one till eight in the For on your steerage all our lives depend.

n a barbarous age with blood defiled. man savage roam'd the gloomy wild; ullen Ignorance her flag display'd, pine and Revenge her voice obey'd ; m the shores of light, the Muses came, rk and solitary race to tame; heirs the lawless passions to control, It in tender sympathy the soul: art from vice and error to reclaim, -athe in human breasts celestial flame. dling spirit caught th' empyreal ray, w'd congenial with the swelling lay. from the chaos of primeval night, fair Truth and Reason sprung to light. reat Mæonides, in rapid song, andering tide of battle rolls along. vish'd bosom feels the high alarms, the burning pulses beat to arms. arth upborne, on Pegasean wings,

So, steady!† meet her, watch the blast behind,
And steer her right before the seas and wind!"
Starboard, again!" the watchful pilot cries;
Starboard!" the obedient timoneer replies.
Then to the left the ruling helm returns;
The wheelt revolves; the ringing axle burns!
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,
Scourged 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.

ough the boundless realms of thought he Her joints forget their firm elastic tone;

prings ;

Histant poets, trembling as they view ward flight, the dazzling track pursue. en his strings, with mournful magic, tell ire distress Laertes' son befell,

nins, meandering through the maze of wo, red sympathy the heart o'erflow.

old time, the Muses' heavenly breath
ital force dissolved the chains of death;
ard in Epic lays began to sing,
by the master of the vocal string.-
ne, alas! through dangerous scenes to stray,
m the light of his unerring ray!

all unused the wayward path to tread,
■g I wander with prophetic dread.
in vain the bold Mæonian lyre

s the numbers, fraught with living fire!
, indeed, that mournful harp of yore
he sad wanderer lost upon the shore;
r that scene th' impatient numbers ran,
vient only to a nobler plan.

ne, th' unravell'd prospect to display, main th' events in regular array.

h hard the task, to sing in varied strains,
all unchanged the tragic theme remains!
happy! might the secret powers of art
x the latent windings of the heart,

Her long keel trembles, and her timbers groan;
Upheaved 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 gulf divides.
Now launching headlong down the horrid vale,
She hears no more the roaring of the gale;
Till up the dreadful height again she flies,
Trembling beneath the current of the skies.
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 upheaved,
With daring wing th' infernal air he cleaved;
There, in some hideous gulf descending prone,
Far in the rayless void of night was thrown.

E'en 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 vibrations round her axle swing.
To guide the wayward course amid the gloom,
The watchful pilots different posts assume.

*To square the yards, in this place, is meant to ar

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 cruisers wandering o'er the deeps;
Where'er he moves Palemon still attends,

As if on him his only hope depends;

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,

While Rodmond, fearful of some neighbouring shore, Of all her towering structures, now alone,

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 riveted they stand,
And hear the breakers lash the rugged strand:
But soon beyond this shore the vessel flies,
Swift as the rapid eagle cleaves the skies.
So from the fangs of her insatiate foe,
O'er the broad champaign scuds the trembling roe.
That danger past, reflects a feeble joy;
But soon returning fears their hopes destroy.
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 streams th' aerial billows fly;
A while deliver'd from the scorching heat,

In gentle tides the feverish pulses beat.

Some scatter'd columns stand, with weeds o'er

grown.

The wandering stranger near the port descries
A milk-white lion of stupendous size;

| Unknown the sculpture; marble is the frame;
And hence the adjacent haven drew its name.

Next, in the gulf of Engia, Corinth lies,
Whose gorgeous fabrics seem'd to strike the skies,
Whom, though by tyrant victors oft subsued,
Greece, Egypt, Rome, with awful wonder view'd.
Her name, for Pallas' heavenly art renown'd,*
Spread, like the foliage which her pillars crown'd;
But now, in fatal desolation laid,

Oblivion o'er it draws a dismal shade.

Then further westward, on Morea's land,
Fair Misitra! thy modern turrets stand.
Ah! who, unmoved with secret wo, can tell
That here great Lacedæmon's glory fell?
Here once she flourish'd at whose trumpet's
sound

War burst his chains, and nations shook around.

So, when their trembling vessel pass'd this isle, Here brave Leonidas, from shore to shore,

Such visionary joys the crew 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,
Unconcious 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 wandering naval train,
One stripling exiled from th' Aonian plain,
Had e'er, entranced in Fancy's soothing dream,
Approach'd to taste the sweet Castalian stream,
(Since those salubrious streams with power di-
vine,

To purer sense th' attemper'd soul refine,)
His heart with liberal commerce here unblest,
Alien to joy sincerer grief possest.
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 Heaven pronounced the wisest of mankind;

Through all Achaia bade her thunders roar.
He, when imperial Xerxes, from afar,
Advanced with Persia's sumless troops to war,
Till Macedonia shrunk beneath his spear,
And Greece dismay'd beheld the chief draw near
He, at Thermopyla's immortal plain,
His force repell'd with Sparta's glorious train.
Tall Eta saw the tyrant's conquer'd bands,
In gasping millions, bleed on hostile lands.
Thus vanquish'd Asia trembling heard thy name,
And Thebes and Athens sicken'd at thy fame!
Thy state, supported by Lycurgus' laws,
Drew, like thine arms, superlative applause:
E'en 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 false, 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 breathed perpetual May!
Where buxom Ceres taught th' obsequious field,
Rich without art, spontaneous gifts to yield;
Then with some rural nymph supremely blest,
While transport 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' uncultured plain.
Westward of these, beyond the isthmus lies
The long-lost isle of Ithacus the wise;
Where fair Penelope her absent lord
Full twice ten years with faithful love deplored.

Architecture.

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 the Aonian hills surround!
Ye fairy scenes, where Fancy loves to dwell,
And young Delight, for ever, O farewell!
The soul with tender luxury you fill,
And o'er the sense Lethean dews distil!
Awake, O Memory, from th' 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 torrents 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.
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;
Still shield the flanks, the routed squadrons join,
And guide the flight in one imbodied 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 the 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,
Incensed to sevenfold rage the tempest foams;
And o'er the trembling pines, above, below,
Shrill through the cordage howls, with notes of wo.
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 unhinged, in palsied languors play,
As ice dissolves beneath the noontide ray.
The skies asunder torn, a deluge pour;
The impetuous hail descends in whirling shower.
High on the masts, with pale and livid rays,
Amid the gloom portentous meteors blaze.
Th' ethereal dome, in mournful pomp array'd,
Now lurks behind impenetrable shade;
Now, flashing round intolerable light,
Redoubles all the terrors of the night.
Such terrors Sinai's quaking hill o'erspread,

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 suspense and fear congeal'd their blood
Now in a deluge burst the living flame,

And dread concussion rends th' 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 wings,
The cheering dawn of light propitious brings!
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 descried.
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 adored resigns her blooming charms
To bless with love some happier rival's arms.
So to Eliza dawn'd that cruel day
That tore neas 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, [reign
And gild the scenes where health and pleasure
But let not here, in scorn, thy wanton beam
Insult the dreadful graudeur 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
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' wandering son

When heaven's loud trumpet sounded o'er its Was seen the straits of Sicily to shun:

head.

It seem'd, the wrathful angel of the wind
Had all the horrors of the skies combined;
And here, to one ill-fated ship opposed,
At once the dreadful magazine disclosed.
And lo! tremendous o'er the deep he springs,
Th' inflaming sulphur flashing from his wings!-

When Palinurus, from the helm descried
The rocks of Scylla on his eastern side;

⚫ Broaching-to is a sudden and involuntary movement in navigation, wherein a ship, whilst sailing or scudding before the wind, unexpectedly turns her side to windward. It is generally occasioned by the difficulty of steering her, or by some disaster happening to the •The quarter is the hinder part of a ship side; or that machinery of the helm. See the last note of the second part which is near the stern.

Canto.