399. Britain’s successes in war have only helped to hasten destruction by bringing into existence a wealthy class of men. 401-2. See note on line 398 above. 403-4. The rich man lives at his ease on estates where villages once stood. 407. =decayed.= Worn out, on the decline. 411. =Oswego.= A river in the State of New York, flowing into Lake Erie. 412. =Niagara.= Note the pronunciation. 417. =giddy.= Whirling. 418. =distressful.= Causing distress. 421. Looks towards England. 422. The feelings of the exile are the same as those of the poet. 423-38. Lines 361-422 have been in the nature of a digression, and the poet now returns to his original subject as presented in the first hundred lines of the poem. He has come to the conclusion that happiness does not depend upon external conditions, but upon the individual himself; and this conclusion is summed up in lines 431-2. 425. Why have I tried to find the source of happiness in the government rather than in the mind, which is the centre of pleasure and repose? 431. _Consigned_ modifies _felicity_. We are entrusted with the making of our own happiness. 433-4. The joy which any man feels in his life from day to day comes from his own innermost feelings, and external events cannot disturb it. 435-8. Even though a man be put to torture, it cannot rob him of the truest sources of happiness in his life—reason, faith and conscience. 434. =The lifted axe.= The executioner’s axe. =the agonizing wheel.= An instrument of torture causing extreme agony. The victim was fastened to a wheel or a cross, and his legs were broken with an iron bar. 436. =Luke’s iron crown.= In 1513 two brothers, George and Luke Dosa, were taken prisoners in a rebellion. George (not Luke) Dosa was put to death by having a red hot crown placed on his head, in mockery of his desire to become king. =Damiens’ bed of steel.= In 1757 Damiens, an insane fanatic, attempted to kill Louis XV, King of France. He was bound upon an iron bed and subjected to terrible tortures. 437. These tortures are rarely known to men who are not engaged in public affairs. * * * * * HOME-THOUGHTS, FROM THE SEA. Written on the occasion of a voyage from England to Italy in 1838. As the vessel passes the south-west coast of Portugal and Spain, Cape St. Vincent, Cadiz and Trafalgar are seen in turn, and as darkness is coming on, Gibraltar rises dimly in the distance. The poem expresses Browning’s feelings as he calls to memory the great victories of England that are connected with these historic scenes. 1. =Cape St. Vincent.= A cape at the south-east extremity of Portugal. In 1709 Admiral Jervis with a British fleet of fifteen vessels, defeated a Spanish fleet of twenty-seven vessels. 2. =reeking.= We often speak of blood as reeking, that is, steaming (_Ger. rauchen_, to smoke). So here the sunset is spoken of also as reeking because it is red like blood.