While yet the shades, on Time's eternal scale,
With long vibration deepen o'er the vale;
While yet the songsters of the vocal grove,
With dying numbers tune the soul to love;
With joyful eyes th' attentive master sees
Th' auspicious omens of an eastern breeze-
Now radiant Vesper leads the starry train,
And Night slow draws her veil o'er land and main.
Round the charged bowl the sailors form a ring,
By turns recount the wondrous tale, or sing;
As love or battle, hardships of the main,
Or genial wine, awake the homely strain:
Then some the watch of night alternate keep,
The rest lie buried in oblivious sleep.

Deep midnight now involves the livid skies,
While infant breezes from the shore arise.
The waning moon, behind a watery shroud,
Pale glimmer'd o'er the long-protracted cloud;
A mighty ring around her silver throne,
With parting meteors cross'd portentous shone.
This in the troubled sky full oft prevails;
Oft deem'd a signal of tempestuous gales.—
While young Arion sleeps, before his sight
Tumultuous swim the visions of the night.
Now blooming Anna, with her happy swain,
Approach'd the sacred Hymeneal fane,
Anon, tremendous lightnings flash between,
And funeral pomp and weeping loves are seen!
Now with Palemon up a rocky steep
Whose summit trembles o'er the roaring deep,
With painful step he climb'd; while far above
Sweet Anna charm'd them with the voice of love,
Then sudden from the slippery height they fell,
While dreadful yawn'd beneath the jaws of hell.
Amid this fearful trance, a thundering sound
He hears-and thrice the hollow decks rebound.
Upstarting from his couch on deck he sprung;
Thrice with shrill note the boatswain's whistle rung.
All hands unmoor! proclaims a boisterous cry;
All hands unmoor! the cavern'd rocks reply!
Roused from repose aloft the sailors swarm,
And with their levers soon the windlass arm.*
The order given, upspringing with a bound,
They lodge the bars, and wheel their engine round;
At every turn the clanging pauls resound.
Uptorn reluctant from its oozy cave,
The ponderous anchor rises o'er the wave:
Along their slippery masts the yards ascend,
And high in air the canvass wings extend:
Redoubling cords the lofty canvass guide,
And through inextricable mazes glide.
The lunar rays with long reflection gleam,
To light the vessel o'er the silver stream:
Along the glassy plain serene she glides,
While azure radiance trembles on her sides
From east to north the transient breezes play,
And in th' Egyptian quarter soon decay.
A calm ensues; they dread th' adjacent shore;
The boats with rowers arm'd are sent before:
With cordage fasten'd to the lofty prow,
Aloof to sea the stately ship they tow.t

The nervous crew their sweeping oars extend,
And pealing shouts the shore of Candia rend.
Success attends their skill; the danger's o'er :
The port is doubled and beheld no more.
Now Morn, her lamp pale glimmering on the sight,
Scatter'd before her van reluctant Night.
She comes not in refulgent pomp array'd,
But sternly frowning, wrapt in sullen shade.
Above incumbent vapours, Ida's height,
Tremendous rock! emerges on the sight.
North-east the guardian isle of Standia lies,
And westward Freschin's woody capes arise.

With winning postures, now the wanton sails
Spread all their snares to charm th' inconstant gales.
The swelling stud-sails* now their wings extend,
Then stay-sails sidelong to the breeze ascend :
While all to court the wandering breeze are placed;
With yards now thwarting, now obliquely braced.
The dim horizon lowering vapours shroud,
And blot the sun, yet struggling in the cloud :
Through the wide atmosphere, condensed with
haze,

His glaring orb emits a sanguine blaze.
The pilots now their rules of art apply,
The mystic needle's devious aim to try.
The compass, placed to catch the rising ray,t
The quadrant's shadows studious they survey!
Along the arch the gradual index slides,
While Phoebus down the vertic circle glides.
Now, seen on Ocean's utmost verge to swim,
He sweeps it vibrant with his nether limb.
Their sage experience thus explores the height
And polar distance of the source of light:
Then through the chiliads triple maze they trace
Th' analogy that proves the magnet's place.
The wayward steel, to truth thus reconciled,
No more th' attentive pilot's eye beguiled.

The natives, while the ship departs the land,
Ashore with admiration gazing stand.
Majestically slow, before the breeze,
In silent pomp she marches on the seas;
Her milk-white bottom cast a softer gleam,
While trembling through the green translucent

stream.

The wales, that close above in contrast shone,
Clasp the long fabric with a jetty zone.
Britannia, riding awful on the prow,
Gazed o'er the vassal wave that roll'd below:
Where'er she moved the vassal waves were seen
To yield obsequious and confess their queen.
Th' imperial trident graced her dexter hand,
Of power to rule the surge, like Moses' wand,

means of ropes, extending from her fore part to one or more of the boats rowing before her.

Studding-sails are long, narrow sails, which are only used in fine weather and fair winds, on the outside of the larger square sails. Stay-sails are three-cornered sails, which are hoisted up on the stays, when the wind crosses the ship's course either directly or obliquely.

The operation of taking the sun's azimuth, in order to discover the eastern or western variation of the mag. netic needle.

Hope lifts his heart, before whose vivid ray
Distress recedes, and danger melts away.
Already Britain's parent cliffs arise,
And in idea greet his longing eyes!

Each amorous sailor too, with heart elate,
Dwells on the beauties of his gentle mate.
E'en they th' impressive dart of Love can feel,
Whose stubborn souls are sheathed in triple steel.
Nor less o'erjoy'd, perhaps with equal truth,
Each faithful maid expects th' approaching youth.
In distant bosoms equal ardours glow;
And mutual passions mutual joy bestow.-
Tall Ida's summit now more distant grew,
And Jove's high hill was rising on the view;
When, from the left approaching, they descry
A liquid column, towering, shoot on high:
The foaming base an angry whirlwind sweeps,
Where curling billows rouse the fearful deeps:
Still round and round the fluid vortex flies,
Scattering dun night and horror through the skies.
The swift volution and th' enormous train
Let sages versed in Nature's lore explain!
The horrid apparition still draws nigh,
-And white with foam the whirling surges fly;
The guns were primed-the vessel northward

veers,

Till her black battery on the column bears.
The nitre fired; and while the dreadful sound,
Convulsive, shook the slumbering air around.
The watery volume, trembling to the sky,
Burst down the dreadful deluge from on high;
Th' affrighted surge, recoiling as it fell,
Rolling in hills disclosed th' abyss of hell.
But soon this transient undulation o'er,
The sea subsides, the whirlwinds rage no more.
While southward now th' increasing breezes

veer,

Dark clouds incumbent on their wings appear.
In front they view the consecrated grove
Of Cypress, sacred once to Cretan Jove.
The thirsty canvass, all around supplied,
Still drinks unquench'd the full aërial tide;
And now, approaching near the lofty stern,
A shoal of sportive dolphins they discern.
From burnish'd scales they beam'd refulgent rays,
Till all the glowing ocean seems to blaze.
Soon to the sport of death the crew repair,
Dart the long lance, or spread the baited snare.
One in redoubling mazes wheels along,
And glides, unhappy! near the triple prong.
Rodmond, unerring, o'er his head suspends
The barbed steel, and every turn attends.
Unerring aim'd the missile weapon flew,
And, plunging, struck the fated victim through.
Th' upturning points his ponderous bulk sustain ;
On deck he struggles with convulsive pain.
But while his heart the fatal javelin thrills
And flitting life escapes in sanguine rills,
What radiant changes strike th' astonished sight!
What glowing hues of mingled shade and light!
Not equal beauties gild the lucid west,
With parting beams all o'er profusely drest;
Not lovelier colours paint the vernal dawn,
When orient dews impearl th' enamell'd lawn,
Than from his sides in bright suffusion flow,
That now with gold empyreal seem'd to glow;
Now in pellucid sapphires meet the view,
And emulate the soft celestial hue;

Now beam a flaming crimson on the eye;
And now assume the purple's deeper dye.
But here description clouds each shining ray-
What terms of Art can Nature's powers display?

Now, while on high the freshening gale she feels,
The ship beneath her lofty pressure reels.
Th' auxiliar sails that court a gentle breeze,
From their high stations sink by slow degrees.
The watchful ruler of the helm no more
With fix'd attention eyes th' adjacent shore;
But by the oracle of truth below,

The wondrous magnet, guides the wayward prow.-
The wind, that still th' impressive canvass swell'd,
Swift and more swift the yielding bark impell'd.
Impatient thus she glides along the coast,
Till, far behind, the hill of Jove is lost:
And while aloof from Retimo she steers,
Malacha's foreland full in front appears.
That once enclosed the hallow'd fane of Jove.
Wide o'er yon isthmus stands the cypress grove

Here too, memorial of his name! is found
A tomb, in marble ruins on the ground.
This gloomy tyrant, whose triumphant yoke
Through Greece, for murder, rape, and incest known,
The trembling states around to slavery broke;
The muses raised to high Olympus throne.-
For oft, alas! their venal strains adorn
The prince whom blushing Virtue holds in scorn.
Still Rome and Greece record his endless fame,
And hence yon mountain yet retains his name.

But see! in confluence borne before the blast,
Clouds roll'd on clouds the dusky noon o'ercast;
The blackening ocean curls; the winds arise;
And the dark scud* in swift succession flies.
While the swoln canvass bends the masts on high
Low in the wave the leeward cannon lie,†
The sailors now, to give the ship relief,
Reduce the topsails by a single reef.t
Each lofty yard with slacken'd cordage reels,
Rattle the creaking blocks and ringing wheels.
Down the tall masts the topsails sink amain;
And, soon reduced, assume their post again.
More distant grew receding Candia's shore;
And southward of the west Cape Spado bore.

Four hours the sun his high meridian throne
Had left, and o'er Atlantic regions shone:
Still blacker clouds, that all the skies invade,
Draw o'er his sullied orb a dismal shade.
A squall deep lowering blots the southern sky,
Before whose boisterous breath the waters fly.
Its weight the topsails can no more sustain:
'Reef topsails, reef!' the boatswain calls again!

The haliards and top-bow-linest soon are gone,
To clue-linest and reef-tackles next they run :
The shivering sails descend; and now they square
The yards, while ready sailors mount in air.
The weather-earings and the lee they past;
The reefs enroll'd, and every point made fast.
Their task above thus finish'd, they descend,
And vigilant th' approaching squall attend.
It comes resistless; and with foaming sweep,
Upturns the whitening surface of the deep.
In such a tempest, borne to deeds of death,
The wayward sisters scour the blasted heath.
With ruin pregnant now the clouds impend,
And storm and cataract tumultuous blend.
Deep on her side the reeling vessel lies-
"Brail up the mizen,|| quick!" the master cries,
"Man the clue-garnets !¶ let the main sheet fly!"**
The boisterous squall still presses from on high,
And swift, and fatal, as the lightning's course,
Through the torn mainsail bursts with thundering
force,

While the rent canvass flutter'd in the wind,
Still on her flank the stooping bark inclined.—
Bear up the helmtt a-weather!" Rodmond cries;
Swift, at the word, the helm a-weather flies.
The prow, with secret instinct veers apace:
And now the foresail right athwart they brace;
With equal sheets restrain'd, the bellying sail
Spreads a broad concave to the sweeping gole.
While o'er the foam the ship impetuous flies,
Th' attentive timoneert the helm applies.
As in pursuit along the aërial way,
With ardent eye the falcon marks his prey,

1 Clue lines are ropes used to truss up the clues, or lower corners of the principal sails to their respective yards, particularly when the sail is to be close reefed or furled-Reef-tackles are ropes employed to facilitate the operation of reefing, by confining the extremities of the reef close up to the yard, so that the interval becomes slack, and is therefore easily rolled up and fastened to the yard by the points employed for this purpose.

§ Earings are small cords, by which the upper corners of the principal sails, and also the extremities of the reefs, are fastened to the yard-arms.

Each motion watches of the doubtful chase, Obliquely wheeling through the liquid space; So, govern'd by the steersman's glowing hands, The regent helm her motion still commands.

But now the transient squall to leeward past, Again she rallies to the sullen blast. The helm to starboard* turns-with wings inclined, The sidelong canvass clasps the faithless wind, The mizen draws; she springs aloof once more, While the fore-staysailt balances before. The fore-sail braced obliquely to the wind, They near the prow th' extended tack confined; Then on the leeward sheet the seamen bend, And haul the bow-line to the bowsprit end. To topsails next they haste-the bunt-lines gone, The clue-lines through their wheel'd machinery run. On either side below the sheets are mann'd: Again the fluttering sails their skirts expand, Once more the topsails, though with humbler plume, Mounting aloft their ancient post resume. Again the bow-lines and the yards are braced, And all th' entangled cords in order placed.

The sail, by whirlwinds thus so lately rent, In tatter'd ruins fluttering, is unbent. With brails refix another soon prepared, Ascending, spreads along beneath the yard. To each yard-arm the head rope|| they extend, And soon their earings and the roebins¶ bend. That task perform'd, they first the braces** slack, Then to its station drag th' unwilling tack; And, while the lee clue-garnet's lower'd away, Taught aft the sheet they tally and belay.††

Now to the north, from Afric's burning shore, A troop of porpoises their course explore; In curling wreaths they gambol on the tide, Now bound aloft, now down the billow glide. Their tracks awhile the hoary waves retain, That burn in sparkling trails along the main. These fleetest coursers of the finny race, When threat'ning clouds th' etherial vault deface, Their rout to leeward still sagacious form, To shun the fury of th' approaching storm.

५

The helm being turned to starboard, or to the right side of the ship, directs the prow to the left, or to port, and vice versa. Hence the helm being put a starboard, when the ship is running northward, directs her prow

towards the west.

This sail, which is with more propriety called the fore-topmast-stay sail, is a triangular sail, that runs upon the fore-topmast-stay, over the bowsprit. It is used to

Clue garnets are employed for the same purposes on the mainsail and foresail, as the clue-lines are upon all other square sails. See note, above.

**It is necessary in this place to remark that the sheets, which are universally mistaken by the English poets and their readers for the sails themselves, are no other than the ropes used to extend the clues or lower corners of the sails to which they are attached. To the mainsail and foresail there is a sheet and a tack on each side; the latter of which is a thick rope, serving to confine the weather clue of the sail down to the ship's side, whilst the former draws out of the lee-clue or lower corner on the opposite side. Tacks are only used in a side wind.

A yard is said to be braced when it is turned about the mast horizontally, either to the right or left; the ropes employed in this service are accordingly called braces. § The ropes used to truss up a sail to the yard or mast whereto it is attached are, in a general sense, called brails. The head-rope is a cord to which the upper part of the sail is sewed.

Rope-bands, pronounced roebins, are small cords used to fasten the upper edge of any sail to its respective yard.

** Because the lee-brace confines the yard so that the tack will not come down to its place till the braces are cast loose.

stern. To belay is to fasten.