the boundless plain;
Till Belvoir's lordly terraces the sign to Lincoln sent,
And Lincoln sped the message on o'er the wide vale of Trent;
Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile,
And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlise.
* * * * *
THE TORNADO.
AN AFRICAN SKETCH,--BY THOMAS PRINGLE.
Dost thou love to list the rushing
Of the tempest in its might?
Dost thou joy to see the gushing
Of the torrent at its height?
Hasten forth ere yet the gloaming
Waneth wildly into night,
While the troubled sea is foaming
With a strange phosphoric light.
Lo, the sea-fowl, loudly screaming,
Seeks the shelter of the land;
And a signal light is gleaming
Where yon vesel nears the strand:
Just at sun-set she was lying
All-becalmed upon the main;
Now, with sails in tatters flying,
She to sea-ward beats--in vain!
* * * * *
Now the forest trees are shaking,
Like bullrushes in the gale;
And the folded flocks are quaking
'Neath the pelting of the hail.
From the jungle-cumbered river
Comes a growl along the ground;
And the cattle start and shiver,
For they know full well the sound.
'Tis the lion, gaunt with hunger.
Glaring down the darkening glen;
But a fiercer Power and stronger
Drives him back into his den:
For the fiend TORNADO rideth
Forth with FEAR, his maniac bride.
Who by shipwrecked shores abideth,
With the she-wolf by her side.
Heard ye not the Demon flapping
His exulting wings aloud?
And his mate her wild hands clapping
From yon scowling thunder-cloud?
By the fireflaucht's gleamy flashing
The doomed vessel ye may spy,
With the billows o'er her dashing--
Hark (Oh God!) that fearful cry!
Seven hundred human voices
In that shriek came on the blast!
Ha! the Tempest-Fiend rejoices--
For all earthly aid is past!
White as smoke the surge is showering
O'er the cliffs that sea-ward frown,
While the greedy gulph, devouring,
Like a dragon sucks them down.
The Plates are excellent: two or three fancy portraits beam with
loveliness; Christ entering Jerusalem, engraved by E.J. Roberts, from
Martin, is a sublime scene of "the glorious city of God;" and Corfu and
the Bridge of Alva, from drawings by Purser, maintain the promising
excellence of his pencil.
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