Tides of aggressive war, oft served as well Greedy ambition, armed to treat with scorn Just limits; but yon Tower, whose smiles adorn 5 This perilous bay, stands clear of all offence; And they are led by noble HILLARY.' 10 XVI. BY THE SEA-SHORE, ISLE OF MAN. WHY stand we gazing on the sparkling Brine, 5 Because the unstained, the clear, the crystalline, 1 See Note. 2 The sea-water on the coast of the Isle of Man is singularly pure and beautiful. XVII. ISLE OF MAN. A YOUTH too certain of his power to wade 5 Had perished. Then might Sea-nymphs (and with sighs Of self-reproach) have chanted elegies In peaceful earth: for, doubtless, he was frank, ΙΟ Knew not the double-dealing of a smile; DID XVIII. ISLE OF MAN. pangs of grief for lenient time too keen, Grief that devouring waves had caused-or guilt Which they had witnessed, sway the man who built This Homestead, placed where nothing could be seen, Nought heard, of ocean troubled or serene ? 5 A tired Ship-soldier on paternal land, That o'er the channel holds august command, The dwelling raised,—a veteran Marine. He, in disgust, turned from the neighbouring sea To shun the memory of a listless life strife 10 May no More hurtful here beset him, doomed though free, Self-doomed, to worse inaction, till his eye Shrink from the daily sight of earth and sky! XIX. BY A RETIRED MARINER. A Friend of the Author. FROM early youth I ploughed the restless Main, A 6 For XX. AT BALA-SALA, ISLE OF MAN. Supposed to be written by a Friend. BROKEN in fortune, but in mind entire Where ancient trees this convent-pile enclose,' Intrudes on peace, I pray the eternal Sire 5 A grey-haired, pensive, thankful Refugee; fire Once to these cells vouchsafed. And when I note The old Tower's brow yellowed as with the beams Of sunset ever there, albeit streams ΙΟ Of stormy weather - stains that semblance wrought, I thank the silent Monitor, and say "Shine so, my aged brow, at all hours of the day!" XXI. TYNWALD HILL. ONCE on the top of Tynwald's formal mound Off with yon cloud, old Snafell! that thine eye 1 Rushen Abbey. XXII. DESPOND Who will-I heard a voice exclaim, "Though fierce the assault, and shattered the defence, It cannot be that Britain's social frame, 5 Should fall; that She, whose virtue put to shame, When Europe prostrate lay, the Conqueror's That orb whose beams round Saxon Alfred shone: Then laugh, ye innocent Vales! ye Streams, sweep on, Nor let one billow of our heaven-blest Isle Toss in the fanning wind a humbler plume." XXIII. IN THE FRITH OF CLYDE, AILSA CRAG. SINCE risen from ocean, ocean to defy, Now, faintly darkening with the sun's eclipse, 5 Still is he seen, in lone sublimity, Towering above the sea and little ships; For dwarfs the tallest seem while sailing by, Each for her haven; with her freight of Care, |