'Twas vain the loud waves lash'd the shore

Return or aid preventing ;

The waters wild went o'er his child,

And he was left lamenting.

CXXIV

T. Campbell

THE SEA

To sea! to sea! the calm is o'er,
The wanton water leaps in sport,
And rattles down the pebbly shore,

The dolphin wheels, the sea cows snort,
And unseen mermaid's pearly song
Comes bubbling up, the weeds among.
Fling broad the sail, dip deep the oar :
To sea! to sea! the calm is o'er.

To sea! to sea! our white winged bark
Shall billowing cleave its watery way,
And with its shadow, fleet and dark,
Break the caved Tritons' azure day,
Like mountain eagle soaring light
O'er antelopes on Alpine height.

The anchor heaves! The ship swings free!
Our sails swell full! To sea! to sea!

T. L. Beddoes

CXXV

FIDELITY

A barking sound the shepherd hears,

A cry as of a dog or fox;

He halts, and searches with his eye
Among the scattered rocks:

And now at distance can discern
A stirring in a brake of fern;
And instantly a dog is seen,
Glancing through that covert green.

The dog is not of mountain breed ;
Its motions, too, are wild and shy;
With something, as the shepherd thinks,
Unusual in its cry:

Nor is there any one in sight

All round, in hollow or on height;
Nor shout, nor whistle strikes his ear:
What is the creature doing here?

It was a cove, a huge recess,

That keeps, till June, December's snow
A lofty precipice in front,

A silent tarn below;

Far in the bosom of Helvellyn,
Remote from public road or dwelling,
Pathway, or cultivated land;

From trace of human foot or hand.

There sometimes doth a leaping fish
Send through the tarn a lonely cheer;
The crags repeat the raven's croak,
In symphony austere ;

Thither the rainbow comes, the cloud-
And mists that spread the flying shroud,
And sunbeams; and the sounding blast,
That if it could would hurry past ;
But that enormous barrier holds it fast.

Not free from boding thoughts, awhile The shepherd stood; then makes his way

O'er rocks and stones, following the dog
As quickly as he may ;

Nor far had gone before he found
A human skeleton on the ground:
The appalled discoverer with a sigh
Looks round to learn the history.

From those abrupt and perilous rocks
The man had fallen, that place of fear!
At length upon the shepherd's mind
It breaks, and all is clear:

He instantly recalled the name,

And who he was, and whence he came ;
Remembered too the very day

On which the traveller passed that way.

But here a wonder for whose sake
This lamentable tale I tell!

A lasting monument of words

This wonder merits well.

The dog, which still was hovering nigh,

Repeating the same timid cry,

This dog had been through three months' space

A dweller in that savage place.

Yes, proof was plain that since the day

When this ill-fated traveller died,

The dog had watch'd about the spot,

Or by his master's side:

How nourished there through that long tim
He knows who gave that love sublime;
And gave that strength of feeling great,
Above all human estimate.

W. Wordsworth

CXXVI

THE FOX AND THE CAT

The fox and the cat, as they travell'd one day,
With moral discourses cut shorter the way:

"Tis great,' says the Fox, 'to make justice our guide!'

'How god-like is mercy!' Grimalkin replied.

Whilst thus they proceeded, a wolf from the wood,

Impatient of hunger, and thirsting for blood, Rush'd forth-as he saw the dull shepherd asleep

And seiz'd for his supper an innocent sheep.

In vain, wretched victim, for mercy you bleat, When mutton's at hand,' says the wolf, 'I must eat.'

Grimalkin's astonish'd !—the fox stood aghast, To see the fell beast at his bloody repast.

'What a wretch,' says the cat, "'tis the vilest of

brutes;

Does he feed upon flesh when there's herbage and roots?'

Cries the fox, 'While our oaks give us acorns so good,

What a tyrant is this to spill innocent blood!'

Well, onward they march'd, and they moraliz'd

still,

Till they came where some poultry pick'd chaff by a mill.

Sly Reynard survey'd them with gluttonous eyes, And made, spite of morals, a pullet his prize.

A mouse, too, that chanc'd from her covert to stray, The greedy Grimalkin secured as her prey.

A spider that sat in her web on the wall, Perceiv'd the poor victims, and pitied their fall ; She cried, 'Of such murders, how guiltless am I !' So ran to regale on a new-taken fly.

J. Cunningham

CXXVII

THE DOG AND THE WATER-LILY

The noon was shady, and soft airs
Swept Ouse's silent tide,
When, 'scaped from literary cares,
I wander'd on his side.

My spaniel, prettiest of his race,
And high in pedigree,―

(Two nymphs adorn'd with every grace
That spaniel found for me,)

Now wanton'd lost in flags and reeds,

Now starting into sight,

Pursued the swallow o'er the meads
With scarce a slower flight.

It was the time when Ouse display'd
His lilies newly blown ;
Their beauties I intent survey'd,
And one I wish'd my own.