hat, previously
to this total submersion, as the flood increased on the lower
grounds, the animals which fed upon them ascended the heights of
Mendip, to escape impending death; and with panic rushed (as many
as could gain entrance) into this dwelling-place of their worst
enemies;--that numberless birds also, terrified by the elemental
tumult, flew into the same den, as a place of temporary
refuge;--that the interior of the cavern was speedilly filled by
the roaring Deluge, whose waters, dashing and crushing the various
substances which they embraced, against the rugged rocks, or
against each other; and continuing this violent and incessant
action for at least three months, at length tore asunder every
connected form, separated every skeleton, and produced that
confusion of substances, that scene of _disjecta membra_, that
mixture and disjunction of bones, which were apparent on the first
inspection of the cavern; and which are now visible in that part of
it which has been hitherto untouched."

* * * * *

Respecting the language of the Poem, I had nearly forgotten one
remark. In almost all the local poems I have read, there is a
confusion of the following nature. A local descriptive poem must
consist, first, of the graphic view of the scenery around the spot
from whence the view is taken; and, secondly, of the reflections
and feelings which that view may be supposed to excite. The
feelings of the heart naturally associate themselves with the idea
of the tones of the supposed poetical harp; but external scenes are
the province of the pencil, for the harp cannot paint woods and
hills, and therefore, in almost all descriptive poems, the pencil
and the lyre clash. Hence, in one page, the poet speaks of his
lyre, and in the next, when he leaves feelings to paint to the eye,
before the harp is out of the hand, he turns to the pencil! This
fault is almost inevitable; the reader, therefore, will see in the
first page of this Poem, that the graphic pencil is assumed, when
the tones of the harp were inappropriate.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: This poem, published in 1829, was dedicated to Dr Henry
Law, the Bishop of Bath and Wells.]

[Footnote 2: Of blank verse of the kind to which I have alluded, I am
tempted to give a specimen:--