FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69  
70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   >>   >|  
what a mourning and lamentation there must have been at Spithead, when the fatal truth was borne to their sorrowing friends." MR. WILTON. "They were not _all_ washed ashore, Dora, for the good old Admiral Kempenfeldt was never found. Vast portions of the wreck have been recovered, and many of her stores; but they are comparatively worthless when we think of the widows and orphans left to pine in poverty and wretchedness." EMMA. "Cowper has written some touching-lines on this awful calamity, with which we shall wind up the subject:-- "'Toll for the brave! The brave that are no more! All sunk beneath the wave, Fast by their native shore! "'Eight hundred of the brave, Whose courage well was tried, Had made the vessel heel, And laid her on her side. "'A land breeze shook the shrouds, And she was overset; Down went the Royal George, With all her crew complete. "'Toll for the brave! Brave Kempenfeldt is gone; His last sea-fight is fought: His work of glory done. "'It was not in the battle; No tempest gave the shock; She sprang no fatal leak; She ran upon no rock. "'His sword was in its sheath His fingers held the pen, When Kempenfeldt went down, With twice four hundred men! "'Weigh the vessel up, Once dreaded by our foes! And mingle with our cup The tear that England owes. "'Her timbers yet are sound, And she may float again, Full charged with England's thunder, And plough the distant main. "'But Kempenfeldt is gone, His victories are o'er; And he and his eight hundred Shall plough the main no more!" MRS. WILTON. "I fear we are prolonging this evening's discussion beyond the customary bounds; but I should not be satisfied to quit the Channel without a peep at rocky Eddystone." GEORGE. "Mamma is very anxious to see the Lighthouse, and so am I. It appears to me a most wonderful building, standing as it does, surrounded by foaming waves, and in constant danger from winds and storms. Who knows anything about it?" EMMA. "I do! the Eddystone Lighthouse is built on a rock in the Channel, about fifteen miles south-south-west from the citadel of Plymouth. It is, as George remarked, exposed to winds and waves, for the heavy swells from the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic Ocean send the waves breaking over the rock with prodigious fury. The first Lighthouse erected
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69  
70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Kempenfeldt

 

hundred

 
Lighthouse
 
George
 
vessel
 

plough

 

WILTON

 

Eddystone

 

England

 

Channel


prolonging

 

evening

 

discussion

 

distant

 

timbers

 
mingle
 

dreaded

 
victories
 

customary

 
thunder

charged

 

citadel

 
Plymouth
 

remarked

 

exposed

 

fifteen

 

swells

 

prodigious

 

erected

 

breaking


Biscay

 
Atlantic
 

storms

 

danger

 

GEORGE

 

anxious

 

satisfied

 

standing

 

surrounded

 

foaming


constant

 

building

 

wonderful

 

appears

 

bounds

 

orphans

 
poverty
 
wretchedness
 
widows
 

stores