THE INCHCAPE ROCK.*—Southey.

ROBERT SOUTHEY (1774-1843), an eminent English poet, was born at Bristol.
He became one of the foremost writers of an age famous for its literary men.
He was associated with Wordsworth and Coleridge in the "Lake School" of
poetry. Chief poems: Thalaba, an Eastern Tale; Madoc; and The Curse of
Kehama.

No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,
The ship was as still as she could be ;
Her sails from heaven received no motion,
Her keel was steady in the ocean.

5 Without either sign or sound of their shock,
The waves flowed over the Inchcape Rock;
So little they rose, so little they fell,
They did not move the Inchcape Bell.

The good old Abbot* of Aberbrothok*
10 Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock;
On a buoy* in the storm it floated and swung,
And over the waves its warning rung.

When the rock was hid by the surge's* swell,
The mariners* heard the warning bell;

15 And then they knew the perilous* rock,
And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok.

The sun in heaven was shining gay,
All things were joyful on that day;
The sea-birds scream'd as they wheel'd around,
20 And there was joyance* in the sound.

The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen,
A darker speck on the ocean green;
Sir Ralph the Rover walk'd his deck,*
And he fix'd his eye on the darker speck.

25 He felt the cheering power of spring,

It made him whistle, it made him sing;
His heart was mirthful to excess,
But the Rover's* mirth was wickedness.

His eye was on the Inchcape float ;*
30 Quoth* he; "My men, put out the boat,
And row me to the Inchcape Rock,

And I'll plague* the abbot of Aberbrothok.”

Keel, the bottom of a ship.

an

Abbot, head of
abbey.
Aberbrothok, Ar-
broath, in Forfar.
shire, Scotland.
Buoy, a floating cask
or piece of wood,
fastened by a rope or
chain, to mark dan-
gerous places, or the
position of a ship's
anchor, &c.

Surge, the swell or
rise of the sea.
Mariner, a seaman
or sailor.

Perilous, very dan

gerous, unsafe. Joyance, joyfulness, gladness.

Deck, the floor or covering of a ship.

Rover, a robber or pirate, a wanderer. Float, the raft to which the bell was fastened.

Quoth, said.

Plague, to tease or annoy, to vex.

*The Inchcape, or Bell Rock, is fourteen miles east of the entrance to the Firth of Tay, and is the site of a celebrated lighthouse, built by Robert Stevenson in 1807-10.

The boat is lower'd, the boatmen row,
And to the Inchcape Rock they go;
Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,

35

And he cut the bell from the Inchcape float.

Gurgling, making an irregular sound, as water does when flowing from a bottle.

Scour, to travel from
place to place with-
out any set purpose,
as a pirate.
Steers, directs.
Shore, the land wash-
ed by the sea.

Haze, a mist or fog.

Gale, a strong stormy wind.

Down sank the bell with a gurgling * sound,
The bubbles rose and burst around;

Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to the
rock

Won't bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok."

Sir Ralph the Rover sail'd away,

He scour❜d * the seas for many a day ;
And now, grown rich by plunder'd store,
He steers his course for Scotland's shore.*

So thick a haze* o'erspreads the sky
They cannot see the sun on high;
The wind hath blown a gale * all day,
At evening it hath died away.

43

45

On the deck the Rover takes his stand,
So dark it is they see no land.

Quoth Sir Ralph, "It will be lighter soon,
For there is the dawn* of the rising moon."

"Can'st hear," said one, "the breakers * roar?
For methinks* we should be near the shore ;
Now where we are I cannot tell;

But I wish I could hear the Inchcape Bell."

*

They hear no sound, the swell * is strong;
Though the wind hath fallen, they drift along,
Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock:
Cried they, "It is the Inchcape Rock!"

Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair,
He cursed himself in his despair; *
The waves rush in on every side,
The ship is sinking beneath the tide.

But even in his dying fear

One dreadful sound could the Rover hear,
A sound as if with the Inchcape Bell,
The fiends below were ringing his knell.*

50

55

60

65

LUCY GRAY.-Wordsworth.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770-1850), a great English poet, was born at Cockermouth in Cumberland. He was educated at Cambridge. On the death of Southey in 1843, he was made Poet-Laureate. Chief poems: The Excursion, Lyrical Ballads, White Doe of Rylstone, and a very fine collection of Sonnets.

5

ΙΟ

15

20

25

30

You yet may spy the fawn* at play,
The hare upon the green:
But the sweet face of Lucy Gray,
Will never more be seen.

"To-night will be a stormy night-
You to the town must go;
And take a lantern, child, to light
Your mother through the snow."

"That, father! will I gladly do ;
"Tis scarcely afternoon-

The minster-clock * has just struck two,
And yonder is the moon."

At this the father raised his hook,
And snapped a faggot * band;
He plied* his work ;-and Lucy took
The lantern in her hand.

Not blither* is the mountain roe: *
With many a wanton * stroke
Her feet disperse the powdery snow,
That rises up like smoke.

The storm came on before its time;
She wandered up and down;
And many a hill did Lucy climb,
But never reached the town.

THOUGHTLESS WORDS.-Scott.
Он, many a shaft, at random sent,
Finds mark, the archer little meant !
And many a word at random spoken,
May soothe, or wound, a heart that's broken!

60

THE UNIVERSAL PRAYER.-Pope.

ALEXANDER POPE (1688-1744), the greatest poet of his time. His literary career began at the age of sixteen, when he published the Pastorals. His poems are characterised by a gracefulness of versification that is unequalled. Chief poems: Rape of the Lock, Essay on Man, Moral Epistles, The Dunciad, and translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.