THE AUTHOR OF " DARTMOOR." 213 



points out the last mortal rest of Major-general Sparrow, who died 

 on shipboard in our harbour some years since. A brass letter of 

 the inscription has disappeared by accident or otherwise ; — I thought 

 on " old Mortality " among the covenanters' graves, and wished it 

 in my power to replace it. 



THE AUTHOR OF "DARTMOOR." 



Continued and Concluded from Page 194. 



Of these the best are " The Hellweathers," " Lyd- 

 ford bridge," and " The destruction of Tavistock 

 abbey : " they are written with a vigour and nervous- 

 ness equal to that of any passage in Dartmoor, and 

 display an apparent freedom which never deserted the 

 writer while he made use of blank verse and adhered 

 to the descriptive style. 



In the first of the above-named pieces there is given 

 an account of the wreck of Sir Cloudesly ShoveFs 

 squadron on the Scilly rocks; — every sentence is 

 touching and powerful, and the concluding clauses, 

 which depict the condition of the one solitary man 

 saved out of two thousand, are eminently good. 



" Morning came 

 In vain, though on the island rock the sea 

 Had flung the hapless mariner. Around 

 Howled the remorseless surge ; above, the cloud 

 Swept, terror-winged ; — the lightning o'er the day 

 Shed an unnatural glare, and near him broke 

 The thunder with its peal of doom. No aid 

 Came through the long, long day, yet on the cliffs 

 Floated the cheering signal ; — from the strand 

 Came voices animating — men were there 

 Impatient as the bounding greyhound held 

 Within the straining leash — a gallant band 

 Nursed in, the western storm, familiar long 

 With danger, and with — death, but might not brave 

 The monster, now. And thus the victim hung 

 Upon eternity's dread verge, and gazed 

 Appalled upon its gulf; then backwards shrunk 

 Convulsively to life, and hope renewed 

 Unfroze his blood, and o'er his features threw 

 A light that could not last. For evening came. 

 And the great sun descended to the main. 



