Merrily, merrily goes the bark, On a breeze from the northward free, So shoots through the morning sky the lark, Or the swan through the summer sea. Merrily, merrily, goes the bark, THE INCHCAPE ROCK. SCOTT. No stir in the air, no stir in the sea, The ship was still as she might be ; Without either sign or sound of their shock, The holy abbot of Aberbrothok Had floated that bell on the Inchcape Rock; And louder and louder its warning rung. When the rock was hid by the tempest's swell, And then they knew the perilous Rock, The sun in heaven shone so gay- The sea-birds scream'd as they sported round, The float of the Inchcape Bell was seen, He felt the cheering power of Spring, His eye was on the bell and float The boat is lowered, the boatmen row, Down sunk the bell with a gurgling sound; The bubbles rose, and burst aground. Quoth Sir Ralph, the next who comes to the Rock Will not bless the priest of Aberbrothok. Sir Ralph the Rover sail'd away; And now, grown rich with plunder'd store, So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky, On the deck the Rover takes his stand ; Canst hear, said one, the breakers roar? But I wish we could hear the Inchcape Bell. They hear no sound, the swell is strong, SOUTHEY. THE STEAM-BOAT. SEE how yon flaming herald treads With foam before and fire behind, The morning spray, like sea-born flowers, With every wave that swells; And flaming o'er the midnight deep, In lurid fringes thrown, The living gems of ocean sweep Along her flashing zone. With clashing wheel and lifting keel, And smoking torch on high, When winds are loud and billows reel, She thunders foaming by ; When seas are silent and serene, With even beam she glides, The sunshine glimmering through the green, That skirts her gleaming sides. Now like a wild nymph, far apart, Still sounding through the storm;- To-night yon pilot shall not sleep Before this smoky wreath has stained The rising mist of day. Hark, hark, I hear yon whistling shroud, I see yon quivering mast; The black throat of the hunted cloud An hour, and whirled like winnowing chaff, His tresses o'er yon pennon-staff, |