214 THE AUTHOR OF " DARTMOOR /' 



While oft the beautiful, beloved orb 

 The seaman watched, and sighed to see it sink 

 Beneath the wave ; but as the twilight grew 

 Deeper and deeper, and the darkness closed 

 Upon him, and the hungry, howling surge 

 Was heard below, loud clamouring for its prey 

 He wept — the lone man wept ! 



Again it came, 

 The unchanged, unchanging morning rising wild 

 Upon a joyless world ; yet did his eye 

 Glisten to see the dawn, though it awoke 

 In tempest; and that day flew by, and night 

 Once more fell on him, and another morn 

 Broke, and the sufferer lived ! The hand of death 

 W^as on him, yet delayed the fatal grasp ; 

 And round the agonizing victim looked. 

 But succour came not ! On the rugged rock 

 Crashed the torn vn-eck in thunder, and the sea 

 Disgorged the dead — within the black recoil 

 Of waters dashed the dead ; and on the brave. 

 The loved, he gazed, and at his side Despair 

 Now sat, and pointed to the abyss I — 



A shout 

 Comes from the cliffs — a shout of joy ! Awake, 

 Thou lonely one from death's fast coming sleep ! 

 Arise, the strand is thronging with brave men — 

 A thousand eyes are on thee, and a bark 

 Bursts o'er the breaching foam ! The shifting cloud 

 Flies westward, and away the storm, repelled 

 Reluctant sails ; the winds have backward flung 

 The billows of the Atlantic ! See, — they come, — 

 They come — a dauntless island band — and now 

 A cheer is heard — and hark the dash of oars 

 Ajnong the reefs I His eye with instant hope 

 Brightens, and all the ebbing tides of life 

 Hush with returning vigour ! Now the spray 

 Flies o'er the advancing pinnace, for the wave 

 Though half subdued, is mighty ; yet her prow 

 Victorious parts the surges, — nearer roll 

 The cheers of that bold crew — the welcome sounds 

 Thrill on his ear — the deepening plunge of oars 

 Foams round the desert rock — 'tis won, 'tis won ! 

 And— he is saved! " p. p. 41, 42, 43, 44. 



The romantic waterfall and bridge of Lydford are 

 denoted by the poet as the means used by a suicide to 



