Main ocean, breaking audibly, and stretched That, as we left the plain, before our sight Do we behold the line of Erin's coast ? 2 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. [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 That once, while there he plied his studious work And the whole surface of the out-spread map, Became invisible :1 for all around Had darkness fallen-unthreatened, unproclaimed- 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 1815. Now that all hearts are glad, all faces bright, And lamentably wrapt in twofold night, Whom no weak hopes deceived; whose mind ensued, Peace that should claim respect from lawless Might. To his forlorn condition! let thy grace Permit his heart to kindle, and to embrace1 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. 1 C. and 1843. Permit his heart to kindle and embrace 1815. |