has contained drink or food-friendship's last gift to the dead. This cup is very different from the unshapely hand-made and sun-dried pottery of the Stone Period. It has been rounded on a wheel. It is made of fine baked clay, and is neatly ornamented with a simple pattern. There has been progress, then, in the mechanical arts since the ruder and older time. 9 23. Let the broken sword next tell its story. The last honour paid to the buried warrior was to break his sword and lay it beside him, ere his companions-in-arms piled over him the memorial cairn. The warrior of the Stone Period was buried with axe, lance, and bow, in barbarian anticipation of warfare beyond the grave; but the warrior of the Bronze Period was laid in his narrow bed with his broken sword, in token of warfare accomplished and of expected rest. This speaks in no obscure language of some better and higher ideas which this ancient race had acquired. NOTES. 1 Cairn, a heap of stones placed to mark a grave or where some great event took place. 2 Lochs, lakes. 4 Excavations, cuttings. 6 Barbarian, savage. 3 Clyde, a river in Scotland, on which 8 Civilisation, refinement. stands Glasgow. 9 Anticipation, expectation 66 THE DIVER. OH, where is the knight or the squire1 so bold As to dive to the howling Charybdis' below? I cast in the whirlpool a goblet of gold, And o'er it already the dark waters flow; Whoever to me may the goblet bring, Shall have for his guerdon3 that gift of his king." He spoke, and the cup from the terrible steep, That, rugged and hoary, hung over the verge Of the endless and measureless world of the deep, Swirled into the maëlstrom that maddened the surge. "And where is the diver so stout to go-I ask ye again-to the deep below? And the knights and the squires that gathered around, Stood silent, and fixed on the ocean their eyes; They looked on the dismal and savage Profound, 15 And the peril chilled back every thought of the prize. And thrice spoke the monarch-"The cup to win Is there never a wight who will venture in ?" And all as before heard in silence the king, Till a youth with an aspect unfearing but gentle, 20 R 'Mid the tremulous squires, stepped out from the ring, Unbuckling his girdle, and doffing his mantle; And the murmuring crowd, as they parted asunder, On the stately boy cast their looks of wonder. As he strode to the marge of the summit, and gave One glance on the gulf of that merciless main, Lo! the wave that for ever devours the wave, Casts roaringly up the Charybdis again; And as with the swell of the far thunder-boom, Rushes foamingly forth from the heart of the gloom. And it bubbles and seethes, and it hisses and roars, As when fire is with water commixed and contending, And the spray of its wrath to the welkin' up soars, 25 30 And flood upon flood hurries on, never ending; And it never will rest, nor from travail be free, 35 Like a sea that is labouring the birth of a sea. Yet, at length comes a lull o'er the mighty commotion, And dark through the whiteness, and still through the swell, The whirlpool cleaves downward and downward in ocean A yawning abyss, like the pathway to hell; The stiller and darker the farther it goes, Sucked into that smoothness the breakers repose. The youth gave his trust to his Maker! Before That path through the riven abyss closed again, Hark! a shriek from the gazers that circle the shore, And behold! he is whirled in the grasp of the main ! And o'er him the breakers mysteriously rolled, And the giant mouth closed on the swimmer so bold. All was still on the height, save the murmur that went From the grave of the deep, sounding hollow and fell, Or save when the tremulous sighing lament Thrilled from lip unto lip, "Gallant youth, fare thee well!" More hollow and more wails the deep on the 40 45 50 55 And cry, "Who may find it shall win it and "" wear; God wot, though the prize were the crown of a king A crown at such hazard were valued too dear. For never shall lips of the living reveal conceal. Oh, many a bark to that breast grappled fast, Has gone down to the fearful and fathom less grave; Again, crashed together the keel and the mast, To be seen tossed aloft in the glee of the wave! Like the growth of a storm ever louder and clearer, Grows the roar of the gulf rising nearer and nearer. And it bubbles and seethes, and it hisses and roars, As when fire is with water commixed and contending; And the spray of its wrath to the welkin up soars, And flood upon flood hurries on, never end ing, And as with the swell of the far thunder-boom, Rushes roaringly forth from the heart of the gloom. 60 65 70 |