366 CAVE OF STAFFA. Such to the tender-hearted maid XXVIII. CAVE OF STAFFA.† WE saw, but surely, in the motley crowd, Homer; so called from the fact that Mæonia in Lydia was, by some, claimed as his birth-place.-Ed. The reader may be tempted to exclaim, "How came this and the two following sonnets to be written, after the dissatisfaction expressed in the preceding one?" In fact, at the risk of incurring the reasonable displeasure of the master of the steamboat, I returned to the cave, and explored it under circumstances more favourable to those imaginative impressions which it is so wonderfully fitted to make upon the mind.— W. W., 1835. 1 CAVE OF STAFFA. 367 XXIX. CAVE OF STAFFA. AFTER THE CROWD HAD DEPARTED. THANKS for the lessons of this Spot-fit school And, measuring heaven by earth, would over-rule Expanding yet precise, the roof embowed,* XXX. CAVE OF STAFFA. YE shadowy Beings, that have rights and claims Where are ye? Driven or venturing to the spot, 1 1837. And flashing upwards to its topmost height, *Note the topographical accuracy of this description.-ED. 1832. -ED. 368 CAVE OF STAFFA. And, by your mien and bearing, knew your names; And they could hear his ghostly song who trod Earth, till the flesh lay on him like a load, While he struck his desolate harp without hopes or aims. Vanished ye are, but subject to recal; Why keep we else the instincts whose dread law Not by black arts but magic natural! If eyes be still sworn vassals of belief, Yon light shapes forth a Bard, that shade a Chief. XXXI. FLOWERS ON THE TOP OF THE PILLARS AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE CAVE. HOPE smiled when your nativity was cast, * Children of Summer! Ye fresh Flowers that brave What Summer here escapes not, the fierce wave, And whole artillery of the western blast, Of heaven contemplated by Spirits pure Upon the head of the columns which form the front of the cave, rests a body of decomposed basaltic matter, which was richly decorated with that large bright flower, the ox-eyed daisy. I had noticed the same flower growing with profusion among the bold rocks on the western coast of the Isle of Man; making a brilliant contrast with their black and gloomy surfaces.-W. W., 1835. †They still survive, and flourish above the pillars.-Ed. IONA. With mute astonishment, it stands sustained XXXII. IONA.* ON to Iona!-What can she afford To us save matter for a thoughtful sigh, In urgent contrast? To diffuse the WORD (Thy Paramount, mighty Nature! and Time's Lord) † Garlands shall wear of amaranthine bloom, While heaven's vast sea of voices chants their praise. 1 1843. Suns and their systems, diverse yet sustained 1835. 369 As the Supreme Geometer ordained. MS. * The four last lines of this sonnet are adopted from a well-known sonnet of Russel,* as conveying my feeling better than any words of my own could do.-W. W., 1835. + St Columba took up his residence at Iona, in 563.-ED. • Joshua Russel, Poems, 1819.-ED. VII. 2 A Some ragged child holds up for sale a store 2 Yet is yon neat trim church * a grateful speck Of novelty amid the sacred wreck Strewn far and wide. Think, proud Philosopher! 5 And hopes, perhaps more heavenly bright than thine, A faith more fixed, a rapture more divine, Shall gild their passage to eternal rest.' 3 1835. With outstretched hands, round every voyager MS. 1835. this sacred wreck Nay spare thy scorn, haughty Philosopher! 1835. 6 1935. Fallen as she is, this Glory of the West, MS. This refers to the Parish Church, not to St Oran's Chapel, or the Cathedral Church of St Mary.-ED. |