A youth too certain of his power to wade On the smooth bottom of this clear bright sea,[854] To sight so shallow, with a bather's glee, Leapt from this rock, and but for timely aid He, by the alluring element betrayed, 5 Had perished. Then might Sea-nymphs (and with sighs Of self-reproach) have chanted elegies[855] Bewailing his sad fate, when he was laid[856] In peaceful earth: for, doubtless, he was frank, Utterly in himself devoid of guile; 10 Knew not the double-dealing of a smile; Nor aught that makes men's promises a blank, Or deadly snare: and He survives to bless The Power that saved him in his strange distress. FOOTNOTES: [853] But it was his son John, and not William, who accompanied the poet in this Tour. See the first Fenwick note (p. 342).--ED. [854] 1835. ... that his feet could wade At will the flow of this pellucid sea, MS. On the smooth bottom of this clear blue sea, MS. [855] Compare Ariel's Song in _The Tempest_, act I. scene ii.-- Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell.--ED. [856] 1837. Leapt from this rock, and surely, had not aid Been near, must soon have breathed out life, betrayed By fondly trusting to an element Fair, and to others more than innocent; Then had sea-nymphs sung dirges for him laid 1835. Here ... MS. XVIII ISLE OF MAN[857] Did[858] pangs of grief for lenient time too keen, Grief that devouring waves had caused--or guilt[859] Which they had witnessed, sway[860] the man who built This Homestead, placed where nothing could be seen, Nought heard, of ocean troubled or serene? 5 A tired Ship-soldier[861] on paternal land, That o'er the channel holds august command, The dwelling raised,--a veteran Marine![862] He, in disgust, turned from the neighbouring sea[863] To shun the memory of a listless life 10 That hung between two callings. May no strife More hurtful here beset him, doomed though free, Self-doomed, to worse inaction, till his eye Shrink from the daily sight of earth and sky! FOOTNOTES: [857] 1837. The Retired Marine Officer, Isle of Man. 1835. [858] 1837. Not ... 1835. [859] 1837. ... nor guilt 1835. [860] 1837. ... swayed ... 1835. [861] 1835. No--a Ship-soldier ... 1837. [862] Henry Hutchinson. See the Fenwick note to the next sonnet.--ED. [863] 1835.