174 A SALT BREEZE. 



is noble and stately, but it is only his forest hymn 

 shifted to the shore. It touches the same chords. 

 It has no marine quality or atmosphere. The bitter- 

 ness and the sweetness of the sea, as of a celestial 

 dragon devouring and purifying, are not in it. The 

 poet wings his lofty flight above sea and shore alike. 

 When Emerson sings of the sea, there is more savor, 

 more tonic air, a closer and stronger hold upon the 

 subject ; but even he takes refuge in the vastness of 

 his theme and speaks through the imperial voice of 

 the sea : 



" I heard, or seemed to hear, the chiding sea 

 Say, Pilgrim, why so late and slow to come ? 

 Am I not always here, thy summer home ? 

 Is not my voice thy music, morn and eve, 

 My breath thy healthful climate in the heats, 

 My touch thy antidote, my bay thy bath ? 

 Was ever building like my terraces ? 

 Was ever couch magnificent as mine ? " 



There are strong lines in Rossetti's " Sea Limits," 

 but, like the others, it is a far-off idealization of the 

 subject, and does not bring one nearer the sea. 



There are occasionally good descriptive lines in 

 Miller, as 



"I crossed the hilly sea." 



And again, 



"The ships, black bellied, climb the sea." 



There is something fresh and inviting in this com- 

 parison : 



" As pure as sea-washed sands." 



