22. For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, This pleasing, anxious being e'er resigned, 23. On some fond breast the parting soul relies, 24. For thee, who, mindful of th' unhonored dead, 26. There, at the foot of yonder nodding beech, That wreathes its old, fantastic roots so high, Mutt'ring his wayward *fancies, he would rove; Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love. 28. One morn, I missed him on the accustomed hill, Along the heath, and near his fav'rite tree: Another came; nor yet beside the rill, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he: 29. The next, with †dirges due, in sad array, Slow through the church-yard path, we saw him borne:Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay 'Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.” THE EPITAPH. 30. Here rests his head upon the lap of earth, 31. Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere: He gave to mis'ry (all he had) a tear, He gained from Heav'n ('twas all he wished) a friend. 32. No further seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, (There they alike in trembling hope repose,) The bosom of his Father, and his God. LXXXV.—THE VOYAGE. FROM IRVING. 1. To an American visiting Europe, the long voyage he has to make is an excellent preparative. The temporary absence of worldly scenes and employments produces a state of mind peculiarly fitted to receive new and vivid impressions. The vast space of waters that separates the *hemispheres is like a blank page in existence. There is no gradual transition, by which, as in Europe, the features and population of one country blend almost imperceptibly with those of another. From the moment you lose sight of the land you have left, all is vacancy until you step on the opposite shore, and are launched, at once, into the bustle and novelties of another world. 2. In traveling by land, there is a continuity of scene, and a connection of persons and incidents that carry on the story of life, and lessen the effect of absence and separation. We drag, it is true, "a lengthened chain," at each remove of our pilgrimage; but the chain is unbroken: we can trace it back link by link; and we feel that the last of them still grapples us to home. But a wide sea-voyage severs us at once. It makes us conscious of being cast loose from the secure anchorage of settled life, and sent adrift upon a doubtful world. It interposes a gulf, not merely imaginary, but real, between us and our homes; a gulf, subject to tempests, and fear, and uncertainty, that make distance *palpable, and return *precarious. 3. Such, at least, was the case with myself. As I saw the last blue line of my native land fade away like a cloud in the +horizon, it seemed as if I had closed one volume of the world and its concerns; and I had time for meditation before I opened another. That land, too, now vanishing from my view, which contained all that was most dear to me in life; what vicissitudes might occur in it, what changes might take place in me, before I should visit it again! Who can tell, when he sets forth to wander, whither he may be driven by the uncertain currents of existence; or when he may return; or whether it may ever be his lot to revisit the scenes of his childhood?. 4. I said, that at sea all is vacancy. I should correct the expression. To one given to day-dreaming, and fond of losing himself in reveries, a sea-voyage is full of subjects for meditation; but then they are the wonders of the deep, and of the air, and rather tend to abstract the mind from worldly +themes. I delighted to loll over the quarter-railing, or to climb to the main-top, of a calm day, and muse for hours together on the tranquil bosom of a summer's sea; to gaze upon the piles of golden clouds, just peering above the horizon, fancy them some fairy realms, and people them with a creation of my own; to watch the gentle undulating billows, rolling their silver volumes, as if to die away on those happy shores. 5. There was a delicious sensation of mingled security and awe with which I looked down, from my giddy height, at the monsters of the deep at their uncouth *gambols; shoals of porpoises, tumbling about the bow of the ship; the grampus, slowly heaving his huge form above the surface, or the travenous shark, darting, like a specter, through the blue waters. My imagination would conjure up all that I had heard or read of the watery world beneath me; of the finny herds that roam its fathomless valleys; of the shapeless monsters that lurk among the very foundations of the earth, and of those wild phantasms that swell the tales of fishermen and sailors. 6. Sometimes, a distant sail, gliding along the edge of the ocean, would be another theme of idle speculation. How interesting this fragment of a world, hastening to rejoin the great mass of existence! What a glorious monument of human invention, that has thus triumphed over wind and wave; has brought the ends of the world into communion; has established an interchange of blessings, pouring into the sterile regions of the north all the luxuries of the south; has diffused the light of knowledge and the charities of cultivated life; and has thus bound together those scattered portions of the human race, between which nature seemed to have thrown an insurmountable barrier. 7. We one day descried some shapeless object drifting at a distance. At sea, every thing that breaks the monotony of the surrounding expanse, attracts attention. It proved to be the mast of a ship that must have been completely wrecked; for there were the remains of handkerchiefs by which some of the crew had fastened themselves to the spar, to prevent their being washed off by the waves. There was no trace by which the name of the ship could be ascertained. 8. The wreck had evidently drifted about for many months; clusters of shell-fish had fastened about it, and long sea-weeds flaunted at its sides. But where, thought I, is the crew? Their struggle has long been over; they have gone down amid the roar of the tempest; their bones lie whitening among the caverns of the deep. Silence and toblivion, like the waves, have closed over them, and no one can tell the story of their end. What sighs have been wafted after that ship! what prayers offered up at the deserted fireside of home! How often has the father, the wife, the mother, pored over the daily news, to catch some *casual intelligence of this rover of the deep! How has expectation darkened into anxiety-anxiety into dread-and dread into despair! Alas! not one memento shall ever return, for love to cherish. All that shall ever be known, is, that she sailed from her port, "and was never heard of more." LXXXVI. THE VOYAGE-CONCLUDED. 1. THE sight of the wreck gave rise to many dismal anecdotes. This was particularly the case in the evening, when the weather, which had hitherto been fair, began to look wild and threatening, and gave indications of one of those sudden storms that will sometimes break in upon the serenity of a summer's voyage. As we sat around the dull light of a lamp in the cabin, that made the gloom more +ghastly, every one had his tale of shipwreck and disaster. I was particularly struck by a short one related by the captain. 2. "As I was once sailing," said he, "in a fine, stout ship, across the banks of Newfoundland, one of those heavy fogs that prevail in those parts rendered it impossible for us to see far ahead, even in the day-time; but at night, the weather was so thick that we could not distinguish any object at twice the length of the ship. I kept lights at the mast-head, and a constant watch forward to look out for fishing-smacks, which are accustomed to lie at anchor on the banks. The wind was blowing a smacking breeze, and we were going at a great rate through the water. Suddenly, the watch gave the alarm of a sail ahead!' It was scarcely uttered before we were upon her. She was a small schooner, at anchor, with her broadside toward us. The crew were all asleep, and had neglected to hoist a light. As 3. "We struck her just *amid-ships. The force, the size, the weight of our vessel bore her down below the waves; we passed over her and were hurried on our course. the crashing wreck was sinking beneath us, I had a glimpse of two or three half-naked wretches, rushing from her cabin; they just started from their beds to be swallowed shrieking by the waves. I heard their drowning ery mingling with the wind. The blast that bore it to our ears swept us out of all further hearing. I shall never forget that cry! It was some time before we could put the ship about, she was under such headway. We returned, as nearly as we could guess, to the place where the smack had anchored. We cruised about for several hours in the dense fog. We fired signal guns, and listened if we might hear the halloo of any *survivors but all was silent-we never saw or heard any thing of them more." 4. I confess these stories, for a time, put an end to all my fine fancies. The storm increased with the night. The sea was lished into tremendous confusion. There was a fearful, sullen sound of rushing waves, and broken surges. At times the black volume of clouds overhead seemed rent asunder by flashes of lightning that quivered along the |