The Sun PAGE 13. 1. 14. .... Through the bright Virgin, and the Scales had run. VIRGO is that Constellation of the Zodiac which the Sun enters about the 21st or 22d of August. LIBRA, the Balance, or Scales, was so named, because when the sun arrives at this Constellation, which is the time of the autumnal equinox, the days and nights are equal, as if weighed in a balance. Falconer with great judgment places the Sun in SCORPIO; which it is conjectured was so named, since when the sun arrives at this Constellation, the heavy Gales, Storms, and various Maladies of autumn commence. The Poet accordingly mentions the sickening Vapours, and approaching Storms, which then prevail. PAGE 14. 1. 4. A Captive fettered to the oar of gain. Falconer here appears to have confused his characters: nor could I by any reference to preceding editions correct it. ALBERT is throughout the poem styled the Master of the ship, and, in the very next page, is represented as the Father of his Crew, Brave, liberal, just! Our Author therefore must here have alluded to what past in the sordid mind of Palemon's Father, whom he should have more correctly styled the Owner of the Ship. The third edition varies from the text of the second, which I have followed, yet does not in the least remove the difficulty, but, on the contrary, rather augments it: "True to his trust, when sacred honour calls, PAGE 14. 1. 19. This crowns the prosperous Villain with applause. Falconer throughout too much displays a mind that has been soured by Adversity. If the prosperous VILLAIN ever seems to be crowned with applause in this world, such applause is only deceitful and treacherous, like the Calm which precedes a storm. Armstrong's idea of the magic power of Gold was more correct: "Riches are oft ly guilt or baseness earned, Or dealt by Chance to shield a lucky Knave, PAGE 15. 1. 1, 2, In this instance, as in many others, Falconer, or some of his friends, weakened in the third edition, the beauty and correctness of the original, viz. "With slaughtered victims fills the weeping plain, And smooths the furrows of the treacherous Main." A Plain, however bloody, cannot be said to weep; nor can Gold, however powerful, smooth the furrows of the Ocean. PAGE 15. 1. 8. Aboard, confest the Father of his Crew. The third edition, in which many beautiful lines are added to the character of Albert, reads Abroad! which spoils the whole force of the sentence. There is also a considerable portion of single-heartedness attached to the word Aboard, which, perhaps, few except Seamen will duly appreciate; it shewed that Albert was the same man on shore, and when walking his quarter-deck. PAGE ibid. 1. 11. Him Science taught! The Character, and general information of the Captains, or Masters of our merchantmen, are not sufficiently. known: what Falconer here says of Albert, is a true portrait of the majority of them. I need not look far among this class of men to find the counterpart of Albert. PAGE 16. 1.15, 16. Where'er in ambush lurk the fatal Sands They claim the danger, proud of skilful bands. In the Coal Trade, the course of the numerous Vessels to London, lying chiefly through difficult and dangerous passages between the Sands, our Seamen who are employed in that valuable Nursery, are trained from the early age of nine or ten years, to heave the Lead, and to take the Helm; and hence their great superiority in those respects over Seamen who have only been on foreign Voyages. It was in this School that the Circumnavigator Cook was formed. N. P. M PAGE 16. 1. 19. O'er Bar, and Shelf. A BAR is known, in Hydrography, to be a mass of earth, or sand, that has been collected, by the surge of the sea, at the entrance of a River, or Haven, so as to render navigation difficult, and often dangerous. A SHELF, or SHELVE, SO called from the Saxon Schylf, is a name given to any dangerous shallows, sand banks, or rocks, lying im mediately under the surface of the water. Falconer. PAGE 17. 1. 14. While tardy Justice slumbers o'er her sword. Soon after Falconer wrote, this grievance was considerably redressed: in the year 1775, and during the month of April, John Parry, a person of fortune, was executed at Shrewsbury, for having in 1773 plundered the wreck of the Ship called Charming Nancy on the coast of Anglesea. Another person of the name of Roberts was also found guilty at the same time for the like offence: they moved an arrest of judgment, and their case was referred to the Judges, who decided against them: both received sentence at the Salop Assizes.—Even a few months since, some inhabitants of Whitstable in Kent were brought up to London on information that great quantities of Goods had been found in their possession, saved from Vessels recently wrecked yet so common was this practice, and so universal was it become in the first Commercial Country. in the world, that these very people were much surprised, when informed they had no right to the goods. N. P. To the above note, I wish to add some beautiful lines that were written by Mr. Bowles at Bamborough Castle. This very ancient castle, as he informs us (which had been the property of the family of the FORSTERS, whose heiress married Lord CREWE, Bishop of Durham) is now appro. priated by the will of that pious Prelate, among other benevolent purposes, to the noble one of ministering instant relief to such shipwrecked Mariners as may happen to be cast on that dangerous coast; for whose preservation, and that of their Vessels, every possible assistance is contrived, and is at all times ready. The whole Estate is vested in the hands of Trustees, one of whom, Dr. Sharp, Archdeacon of Northumberland, with an active zeal, well suited to the nature of the humane institution, makes this Castle his chief residence, attending with unwearied diligence to the proper application of the charity. "Ye holy Tow'rs that shade the wave-worn Steep, Of Midnight, when the moon is hid on high, Blest if her aid some fainting Wretch might save, And snatch him cold and speechless from the wave." |