Adventurous mariner! in whose gray skiff, Dashing disastrous o’er the fretful wave, The steersman, subject to each breeze’s whiff, Or blast capricious that o’er seas doth rave, Scarce turns his rudder from the fatal cliff,-- Scorning his craft or e’en himself to save. Ye Powers of air, that shift the seaman’s grave, Adjust the tackle of his right intent, And bring him safely to the port he meant! Long musing there on that divinity Who to his hazard had assistance lent, He verses cons, oft taken by surprise In diverse meanings, and shrewd subtlety, That pass quaint Donne, and even Shakespeare wise. “_But else, in deep of night, when drowsiness Hath locked up mortal sense, then listen I To the celestial Syrens’ harmony That sit upon the nine infolded spheres, And sing to those that hold the vital shears, And turn the adamantine spindle round, On which the fate of gods and men is wound._” MILTON. XIX. Romancer, far more coy than that coy sex! Perchance some stroke of magic thee befell, Ere thy baronial keep the Muse did vex, Nor grant deliverance from enchanted spell, But tease thee all the while and sore perplex, Till thou that wizard tale shouldst fairly tell, Better than poets in thy own clear prose. Painter of sin in its deep scarlet dyes, Thy doomsday pencil Justice doth expose, Hearing and judging at the dread assize; New England’s guilt blazoning before all eyes, No other chronicler than thee she chose. Magician deathless! dost thou vigil keep, Whilst ’neath our pines thou feignest deathlike sleep? “_There is a Roman splendor in her smile, A tenderness that owes its depth to toil; Well may she leave the soft voluptuous wile, That forms the woman of a softer soil; She does pour forth herself a fragrant oil, Upon the dark asperities of Fate, And make a garden else all desolate._” ELLERY CHANNING. XX. Still held in sweet remembrance thou, my friend, As when I knew thee in thy maiden prime; Though later years to ripening graces lend The graver traits, whilst we together climb The pathway upward to those loftier heights, ’Bove clouded prospects and familiar sights. Thy gracious worth shines brightly in mine eyes, Thy warm heart’s labors, thy large liberal brain, Ennobling studies, and broad charities, Thou woman worthy of the coming age! Whilst household duties thou dost well sustain, Yet ampler service for thy sex presage; Can aught from Memory’s record e’er erase Thy cordial manners, and resplendent face? “_So have I seen in fair Castile, The youth in glittering squadrons start, Sudden the flying jennet wheel, And hurl the unexpected dart._” SCOTT.