Main ocean, breaking audibly, and stretched Far into silent regions blue and pale ;And visibly engirding Mona's Isle That, as we left the plain, before our sight Stood like a lofty mount, uplifting slowly (Above the convex of the watery globe) Into clear view the cultured fields that streak Her habitable shores, but now appears A dwindled object, and submits to lie At the spectator's feet.—Yon azure ridge, Is it a perishable cloud ? Or there Do we behold the line of Erin's coast ? 2 Land sometimes by the roving shepherd-swain (Like the bright confines of another world) Not doubtfully perceived.—Look homeward now : In depth, in height, in circuit, how serene The spectacle, how pure !-Of Nature's works, In earth, and air, and earth-embracing sea, A revelation infinite it seems ; Display august of man's inheritance, Of Britain's calm felicity and power. Black Comb stands at the southern extremity of Cumberland. These lines were included among the “Poems of the Imagination.”—ED.

WRITTEN WITH A SLATE PENCIL ON A STONE, ON THE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN OF BLACK COMB.

Comp. 1813. Pub. 1815. [The circumstance, alluded to at the conclusion of these verses, was told me by Dr Satterthwaite, who was Incumbent of Bootle, a small town at the foot of Black Comb. He had the particulars from one of the engineers who was employed in making trigonometrical surveys of that region.]

STAY, bold Adventurer; rest awhile thy limbs
On this commodious Seat ! for much remains
Of hard ascent before thou reach the top
Of this huge Eminence,-from blackness named,
And, to far-travelled storms of sea and land,
A favourite spot of tournament and war!
But thee may no such boisterous visitants
Molest: may gentle breezes fan thy brow:
And neither cloud conceal, nor misty air
Bedim, the grand terraqueous spectacle,
From centre to circumference, unveiled !
Know, if thou grudge not to prolong thy rest,
That on the summit whither thou art bound
A geographic Labourer pitched his tent,
With books supplied and instruments of art,
To measure height and distance ; lonely task,
Week after week pursued To him was given
Full many a glimpse (but sparingly bestowed
On timid man) of Nature's processes
Upon the exalted hills.

He made report
That once, while there he plied his studious work
Within that canvas Dwelling, colours, lines,
And the whole surface of the out-spread map,
Became invisible :1 for all around
Had darkness fallen-unthreatened, unproclaimed-
As if the golden day itself had been
Extinguished in a moment; total gloom,
In which he sate alone, with unclosed eyes,
Upon the blinded mountain's silent top !
These lines were included from the first among the “Inscriptions."
-ED.

1

1836.

Within that canvas Dwelling, suddenly
The many-coloured map before his eyes
Became invisible :

:

1815.

NOVEMBER, 1813.

Comp. Nov. 1813. Pub. 1815.
Now that all hearts are glad, all faces bright,
Our aged Sovereign sits, to the ebb and flow
Of states and kingdoms, to their joy or woe,
Insensible. He sits deprived of sight,
And lamentably wrapt in twofold night,
Whom no weak hopes deceived ; whose mind ensued,
Through perilous war, with regal fortitude,
Peace that should claim respect from lawless Might.
Dread King of Kings, vouchsafe a ray divine
To his forlorn condition ! let thy grace
Upon his inner soul in mercy shine ;
Permit his heart to kindle, and to embracel
(Though it were only for a moment's space)
The triumphs of this hour ; for they are THINE!

The reference is to the rejoicings on the Leipsig victory of the Allied Forces, October 16 to 19, 1813. Napoleon crossed the Rhine on the 2nd November, and returned to Paris with the wreck of his army. George III. was English Sovereign ; but, owing to his illness, the Prince of Wales had been appointed Regent, and assumed executive power in January 1811. The King died at Windsor in 1820, being 82 years of age. He had been entirely blind for some years before his death. The “twofold night” referred to in the sonnet is sufficiently obvious.-ED.

APPENDIX.