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Prince, quoth Cadwallon, thou hast rode the waves In triumph, when the invaders felt thine arm.

Oh what a nobler conquest might be won

There, upon that wide field! .. What meanest

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thou?

I cried.... That yonder waters are not spread
A boundless waste, a bourn impassable ! . .
That man should rule the Elements!.. that there
Might manly courage, manly wisdom find

Some happy isle, some undiscovered shore,
Some resting place for peace... Oh that my soul
Could seize the wings of Morning! soon would I
Behold that other world, where yonder sun
Speeds now, to dawn in glory!

As he spake,

Conviction came upon my startled mind,

Like lightning on the midnight traveller.

I caught his hand; .. Kinsman and guide and friend,
Yea, let us go together!... Down we sate,
Full of the vision on the echoing shore.
One only object filled ear, eye, and thought:
We gazed upon the awful world of waves,
And talked and dreamt of years that were to come.

IV.

The Wopage.

NoT with a heart unmoved I left thy shores,
Dear native isle ! oh . . . not without a pang,
As thy fair uplands lessened on the view,
Cast back the long involuntary look!

The morning cheered our outset; gentle airs
Curled the blue deep, and bright the summer sun
Played o'er the summer ocean, when our barks
Began their way.

And they were gallant barks,

As ever through the raging billows rode!
And many a tempest's buffeting they bore.
Their sails all swelling with the eastern breeze,
Their tightened cordage clattering to the mast,
Steady they rode the main; the gale aloft

Sung in the shrouds, the sparkling waters hissed
Before, and frothed, and whitened far behind.
Day after day, with one auspicious wind,

Right to the setting sun we held our course.
My hope had kindled every heart; they blest
The unvarying breeze, whose unabating strength
Still sped us onward; and they said that Heaven
Favoured the bold emprize.

How many a time,

Mounting the mast-tower-top, with eager ken
They gazed, and fancied in the distant sky
Their promised shore, beneath the evening cloud,
Or seen, low lying, through the haze of morn.
I too with eyes as anxious watched the waves,
Though patient, and prepared for long delay;
For not on wild adventure had I rushed
With giddy speed, in some delirious fit
Of fancy but in many a tranquil hour
Weighed well the attempt, till hope matured to faith..
Day after day, day after day the same,
A weary waste of waters! still the breeze
Hung heavy in our sails, and we held on
One even course; a second week was gone,
And now another past, and still the same,
Waves beyond waves, the interminable sea!
What marvel, if at length the mariners

Grew sick with long expectance? I beheld

Dark looks of growing restlessness, I heard

Distrust's low murmuring; nor availed it long

To see and not perceive.

Shame had awhile

Represt their fear, till like a smothered fire

It burst, and spread with quick contagion round,
And strengthened as it spread. They spake in tones
Which might not be mistaken,.. they had done
What men dared do, ventured where never keel
Had cut the deep before; still all was sea,
The same unbounded ocean!.. to proceed
Were tempting heaven.

I heard with feigned surprise,

And, pointing then to where our fellow bark,

Gay with her fluttering streamers and full sails,
Rode, as in triumph, o'er the element,

I asked them what their comrades there would deem
Of those so bold ashore, who, when a day,
Perchance an hour, might crown their glorious toil,
Shrunk then, and coward-like returned to meet
Mockery and shame? true, they had ventured on
In seas unknown, beyond where ever man
Had ploughed the billows yet: more reason so
Why they should now, like him whose happy speed
Well nigh had run the race, with higher hope

Press onward to the prize. But late they said,

Marking the favour of the steady gale,

That Heaven was with us; Heaven vouchsafed us still Fair seas and favouring skies; nor need we pray For other aid, the rest was in ourselves;

Nature had given it, when she gave to man

Courage and constancy.

They answered not,

Awhile obedient; but I saw with dread
The silent sullenness of cold assent.
Then, with what fearful eagerness I gazed,
At earliest daybreak, o'er the distant deep!
How sick at heart with hope, when evening closed,
Gazed through the gathering shadows!... but I saw
The sun still sink below the endless waves,
And still at morn, beneath the farthest sky,
Unbounded ocean heaved. Day after day,
Before the steady gale we drove along, . .
Day after day! The fourth week now had past;
Still all around was sea,
the eternal sea!

So long that we had voyaged on so fast,

And still at morning where we were at night,
And where we were at morn, at nightfall still,
The centre of that drear circumference,

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