s not amused himself
with little Fancies upon the occasion, as Authors of an inferiour
Genius, whom he mentions, had done, but because he has gathered
together those Circumstances which are the most apt to terrify the
Imagination, and which really happen in the raging of a Tempest. [1]
It is for the same reason, that I prefer the following Description of
a Ship in a Storm, which the Psalmist has made, before any other I
have ever met with.

'They that go down to the Sea in Ships, that do Business in great
Waters: These see the Works of the Lord, and his Wonders in the
Deep. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy Wind, which lifteth
up the Waters thereof. They mount up to the Heaven, they go down
again to the Depths, their Soul is melted because of Trouble. They
reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken Man, and are at their
Wits End. Then they cry unto the Lord in their Trouble, and he
bringeth them out of their Distresses. He maketh the Storm a Calm,
so that the Waves thereof are still. Then they are glad because they
be quiet, so he bringeth them unto their desired Haven.' [2]

By the way, how much more comfortable, as well as rational, is this
System of the Psalmist, than the Pagan Scheme in _Virgil_, and other
Poets, where one Deity is represented as raising a Storm, and another
as laying it? Were we only to consider the Sublime in this Piece of
Poetry, what can be nobler than the Idea it gives us of the Supreme
Being thus raising the Tumult among the Elements, and recovering them
out of their Confusion; thus troubling and becalming Nature?

Great Painters do not only give us Landskips of Gardens, Groves, and
Meadows, but very often employ their Pencils upon Sea-Pieces: I could
wish you would follow their Example. If this small Sketch may deserve
a Place among your Works, I shall accompany it with a divine Ode, made
by a Gentleman [3] upon the Conclusion of his Travels.

I. How are thy Servants blest, O Lord!
How sure is their Defence!
Eternal Wisdom is their Guide,
Their Help Omnipotence.

II. In foreign Realms, and Lands remote,
Supported by thy Care,
Thro' burning Climes I pass'd unhurt,
And breath'd in tainted Air.

III. Thy Mercy sweeten'd ev'ry Soil,
Made ev'ry Region please;
The hoary A