Near to the wound he grafps the fpear,

And flowly, fteadily, carefully, He draws until the barbs appear;

A moment, and the blade is free; He cafts the gory spear on the ground, Puts the lifted flesh again in the wound — It heals 'neath his touch, and no cicatrice Is left on the skin to mark its place!

crew,

The Merman rose up from the bed
And to the Chieftain sternly said:
"To mock the fears of your faithful
Fears that they felt alone for you,
By dangerous rocks you fteered your way,
Putting all their lives in jeopardy :
A helpless creature you came near,
Offending none it did not fear
Even when it faw your lifted fpear;
This confidence, with noble mind,
This helpleffnefs, with nature kind,
Its fureft fafeguard would have been :-
Chief, was your action great or mean ?
You did not hesitate to bring

This helpless thing to painful end,
Or to protracted suffering

Should Heaven its weary life extend :—

Was it a mean or noble act?

For this your life I did exact,

And you have borne the pangs of death
When parts in Ocean mortal breath :
But as you nobly honour prized,
And as you nobly death defpifed,

And freely plunged into the wave
Your faithful followers to fave,

And, nobly ftill, the wrong confeffed

Your hafty hand had done, And readily that wrong redreffed,

Your life you back have won.

Bring wine!" "Tis brought. The Chieftain drinks,

And inftantly in fleep he finks

Sinks on the couch by which he stands,

Even with the goblet in his hands.

The Chieftain looks around again,
Breathes freely without flush or pain -
How cool, how sweet the air!

And what is this he fondly eyes
That spread on his neck and bofom lies?
'Tis the harper's filver hair!

He lies fobbing aloud with excess of joy,

As when yielding to grief fobs a maid or boy,
And nothing his tears can stay :

The cable runs rattling down the fide,

The bark fwings round to the rushing tide,

And they ride in Duncan's Bay.

The Neck.

"He heard that strain fo wildly sweet."

His

The Neck was a river fpirit of Scandinavia. dwelling was under the fhelving banks of rivers, or in pools washed up by eddies near the fords. Sometimes he was seen as as a pretty little boy, with golden hair furmounted by a little red cap; at others, and more frequently, as an old man with long beard flowing down to his waift. He was a great musician, and from this fact it would appear that he was not unknown in the Isle of Man.

"A gentleman was about to pass over Douglas Bridge, but the tide being high he was obliged to take the river, having an excellent horfe under him and one accustomed to swim. As he was in the middle of it, he heard, or imagined he heard, the fineft fymphony, I will not fay in the world, for nothing human ever came up to it. The horse was no less fenfible of the harmony than himself, and kept an immoveable posture all the while it lafted."

Even the fabled power of Orpheus did not exceed, if indeed it equalled, that of the Neck. The giant Norway pines waved their mighty arms and nodded

their lofty heads, keeping time to the cadences of his harp-ftrain; while the running ftreams stood still and the cataracts hung fufpended in air to listen to it. And more than all, mortals who knew that he was luring them to their doom had not the power to refift, but were drawn from bank to ford, from ford to pool, by the tones of his harp as if by chains of steel. But it was only over the faithless and inconstant that he could exercise this power; to lovers who held facred their plighted vows his mufic gave only delight.