ON ENTERING DOUGLAS BAY, ISLE OF MAN. 351 XV. ON ENTERING DOUGLAS BAY, ISLE OF MAN. 1 'Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori.' THE feudal Keep, the bastions of Cohorn,* 1845. A tower of refuge to the else forlorn. 1835. * Baron Menno van Cohorn (or Coehoorn) was a Dutch military engineer of genius (1641-1704). His fame rests on discoveries connected with the effect of projectiles on fortifications. His practical successes against the French, under Vauban, were great; and the fortifications he designed and constructed, of which that of Bergen-op-Zoom was the chief, give him a place in the history of military science, greater than that derived from his writings. He devised a kind of small mortar or howitzer, for use in siege operations, which is named after him a Cohorn.-ED. The TOWER of REFUGE, an ornament to Douglas Bay, was erected chiefly through the humanity and zeal of Sir William Hillary; and he also was the founder of the lifeboat establishment, at that place; by which, under his superintendence, and often by his exertions at the imminent hazard of his own life, many seamen and passengers have been saved.— W. W., 1835. In Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal of a visit to the Isle of Man in 1826, the following occurs:-" Monday, July 3rd.-Sir William Hillary saved a boy's life to-day in harbour. He raised a regiment for government, and chose his own reward, viz., a Baronetcy! and now lives here on £300 per annum, &c., &c."-ED. XVI. BY THE SEA-SHORE, ISLE OF MAN. WHY stand we gazing on the sparkling Brine, And all-enraptured with its purity?— Because the unstained, the clear, the crystalline, A sleeping infant's brow, or wakeful eye Scarcely the hand forbears to dip its palm XVII. ISLE OF MAN. [My son William + is here the person alluded to as saving the life of the youth, and the circumstances were as mentioned in the Sonnet.] A YOUTH too certain of his power to wade On the smooth bottom of this clear bright sea,1 1 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. * The sea-water on the coast of the Isle of Man is singularly pure and beautiful.-W. W. + But it was his son John, and not William, who accompanied the poet in this Tour. See the first Fenwick note (p. 332.)—Ed. ISLE OF MAN. To sight so shallow, with a bather's glee Leapt from this rock, and but for timely aid He, by the alluring element betrayed, Had perished. Then might Sea-nymphs (and with sighs Of self-reproach) have chanted elegies* Bewailing his sad fate, when he was laid1 In peaceful earth: for, doubtless, he was frank, Knew not the double-dealing of a smile; Nor aught that makes men's promises a blank, The Power that saved him in his strange distress. DID 3 pangs XVIII. ISLE OF MAN.2 of grief for lenient time too keen, Grief that devouring waves had caused-or guilt 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; 1835. * Compare Ariel's Song in The Tempest, Act i., Sc. 2 "Nothing of him that doth fade 353 -ED. Which they had witnessed,-sway 1 the man who built That hung between two callings. May no strife XIX. BY A RETIRED MARINER.† (A FRIEND OF THE AUTHOR.) [Mrs Wordsworth's Brother, Henry.‡] FROM early youth I ploughed the restless Main, 1 1837. swayed 1835. * Henry Hutchinson. See the Fenwick note to the next Sonnet.-Ed. + This unpretending Sonnet is by a gentleman nearly connected with me, and I hope, as it falls so easily into its place, that both the writer and the reader will excuse its appearance here.-W. W., 1835. Mr Henry Hutchinson, Mrs Wordsworth's brother, was-the Bishop of Lincoln tells us-"a person of great originality and vigour of mind, a very enterprising sailor, and a writer of verses distinguished by no ordinary merit."-See the Memoirs of W. W., Vol. II., p. 246.-ED. AT BALA-SALA, ISLE OF MAN. For poor to Sea I went, and poor I still remain. For Fortune on me never deign'd to smile; Though poor to Sea I went, and poor I still remain. 355 XX. AT BALA-SALA, ISLE OF MAN. (SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN BY A FRIEND.) [Supposed to be written by a friend (Mr Cookson) who died there a few years after.] BROKEN in fortune, but in mind entire And sound in principle, I seek repose Where ancient trees this convent-pile enclose,* In ruin beautiful. When vain desire Intrudes on peace, I pray the eternal Sire To cast a soul-subduing shade on me, A grey-haired, pensive, thankful Refugee; A shade-but with some sparks of heavenly fire + The "old Tower" is that of Rushen Abbey, close to Bala Sala, the latest dissolved monastery in the British Isles. Little of it survives; |