XV. ON ENTERING DOUGLAS BAY, ISLE OF MAN. 'Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori.' THE feudal Keep, the bastions of Cohorn, A Tower of refuge built for the else forlorn. XVI. BY THE SEA-SHORE, ISLE OF MAN. WHY stand we gazing on the sparkling Brine, And all-enraptured with its purity?— Because the unstained, the clear, the crystalline, * See Note. Have ever in them something of benign; Scarcely the hand forbears to dip its palm XVII. ISLE OF MAN. [My son William is here the person alluded to as saving the life of the youth, and the circumstances were as mentioned in the Sonnet.] A YOUTH too certain of his power to wade On the smooth bottom of this clear bright sea, To sight so shallow, with a bather's glee He, by the alluring element betrayed, Had perished. Then might Sea-nymphs (and with sighs Of self-reproach) have chanted elegies Bewailing his sad fate, when he was laid * The sea-water on the coast of the Isle of Man is singularly pure and beautiful. VOL. IV. M In peaceful earth: for, doubtless, he was frank, Knew not the double-dealing of a smile; Nor aught that makes men's promises a blank, XVIII. ISLE OF MAN. DID pangs of grief for lenient time too keen, He, in disgust, turned from the neighbouring sea That hung between two callings. May no strife XIX. BY A RETIRED MARINER. H. H. [MRS. WORDSWORTH's Brother, Henry.] FROM early youth I ploughed the restless Main, [SUPPOSED to be written by a friend (Mr. Cookson) who died there a few years after.] BROKEN in fortune, but in mind entire Where ancient trees this convent-pile enclose", * Rushen Abbey. Intrudes on peace, I pray the eternal Sire To cast a soul-subduing shade on me, A grey-haired, pensive, thankful Refugee; A shade-but with some sparks of heavenly fire Of stormy weather-stains that semblance wrought, "Shine so, my aged brow, at all hours of the day! XXI. TYNWALD HILL. [MR. ROBINSON and I walked the greater part of the way from Castle-town to Piel, and stopped some time at Tynwald Hill. One of my companions was an elderly man who, in a muddy way (for he was tipsy,) explained and answered, as far as he could, my enquiries about this place and the ceremonies held here. I found more agreeable company in some little children; one of whom, upon my request, recited the Lord's Prayer to me, and I helped her to a clearer understanding of it as well as I could; but I was not at all satisfied with my own part; hers was much better done, and I am persuaded that, like other children, she knew more about it than she was able to express, especially to a stranger.] ONCE on the top of Tynwald's formal mound |