dxxvi LIFE OF WILSON. 



one is led to conjecture that he was weary of his protracted la- 

 bour. We have tale, and smile; sent and want; blest and past; 

 bespread and clad; and many other similar imperfections. 



The conclusion of the poem is a specimen of slovenly and 

 inaccurate composition: 



" And when some short and broken slumbers came 

 " Still round us roaring- swept th' outrageous stream; 

 " Whelm'd in the deep we sunk engulf 'd, forlorn; 

 " Or down the dreadful rapids helpless borne; 

 " Groaning we start! and, at the loudening tear, 

 Ask our bewildered senses where we ore." 



In common with those who are ignorant of naval affairs, he 

 commits a blunder in the use of the technical term main-sheet, 

 mistaking it for a sail: 



" They trim their thundering sail, 



" The boom and main-sheet bending to the gale." 



The main-sheet is the rope by means of which the boom is 

 governed, either eased off, or drawn in, as suits the state of the 

 wind. 



In a poem consisting of more than two thousand lines, it 

 would be strange if some touches of excellence could not be 

 found, some passages which prove that the author not only 

 possessed poetical ideas, but also was familiar with the art of 

 poetical expression. In his description of the calm, smoky, au- 

 tumnal weather, which, in America, is usually denominated the 

 Indian Summer, we are presented with a beautiful image, 

 which I do not recollect to have seen elsewhere: 



" Slow sailed the thistle-down along the lawn." 



The description of the Dutch farmer, and his habitation, would 

 not disgrace the author of Rip Van Winkle. 



In the enumeration of the miseries of a country schoolmaster 

 there is much truth; and the picture is vividly and feelingly 

 drawn from nature. Few had more experience than Wilson of 

 the degraded condition of a teacher, when under the control 



