CHAPTER VI. 



" The Eagle of the sea from Atlas soars 

 Or Teneriffe^s hoar peak — 

 The watchful helmsman from the stern descries 

 And hails her course — 



She mounts Alp-high and with her lower d head 

 Suspended eyes the bulging sails, disdains 

 Their tardy course, out/lies the hurrying rack, 

 And disappearing mingles ivith the clouds ^ 



Grahame, 



The following lines of Spenser's, though multitudes have been 

 written upon the eagle, have never been improved upon : 



" An eagle in his kinglj' pride, 

 Soaring througli liis wide empire of tlie air 

 To weather his broad sails." 



" Sailing with supreme dominion, through the azure deep of 

 air" — "Eao-les, Q-olden-feathered, who do tower above us in 

 their beauty, and must reign, in right thereof," — but it is no 

 use to go on quoting, for the poets' tributes to their flight alone 

 would fill many pages. To feel the full force of them, to 

 understand how little exaggeration there is in them, one must 



u 



