The float of the Inchcape Bell was seen
A darker spot on the ocean green :
Sir Ralph the rover walked the deck,
And he fixed his eye on the darker speck.

His eye was on the bell and float,-
Quoth he, "My men, put down the boat,
And row me to the Inchcape Rock,—
I'll plague the priest of Aberbrothock."

The boat was lowered, the boatmen row,
And to the Inchcape Rock they go;
Sir Ralph leant over from the boat,
And cut the bell from off the float.

Down sunk the bell with a gurgling sound ;
The bubbles rose, and burst around,-
Quoth he, "Who next comes to the rock
Won't bless the priest of Aberbrothock!"

Sir Ralph the rover sailed away;
He scoured the sea for many a day;
And now grown rich with plundered store,
He steers his way for Scotland's shore.

So thick a haze o'erspread the sky,
They could not see the sun on high;
The wind had blown a gale all day;
At evening it hath died away.

"Canst hear," said one, "the breakers roar?
For yonder, methinks, should be the shore;
Now where we are I cannot tell,

I wish we heard the Inchcape Bell."

They hear no sound-the swell is strong,
Though the wind hath fallen, they drift along ;
Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock,-
Oh, heavens! it is the Inchcape Rock!"

Sir Ralph the rover tore his hair,
And cursed himself in his despair;
And waves rush in on every side,
The ship sinks fast beneath the tide.

SOUTHEY.

THE most prominent object in the Arctic seas is ice. Even on the land, a large portion of the ground is concealed by perpetually accumulating ice, while the same substance covers to a great extent the surface of the ocean. There is scarcely a more beautiful object than one of the towering icebergs that so abound in these regions, and that annually come down upon the southern current, into the temperate zone. I have seen numbers of these floating islands of dazzling whiteness on the coast of Newfoundland, whither they are brought every spring out of Baffin's Bay. They do not long endure their transition, but soon melt away in the warm waters of the Atlantic, though they are sometimes seen on the coast of the United States, as far down as Philadelphia.

In watching some small ice-islands, which, having drifted into the ports of Newfoundland, have grounded in shoal water, I have been surprised to observe how very rapid is their dissolution, even in the month of April. Some large ones, however, are frequently seen in the bays of that country even in July. They are often of vast dimensions: one seen by Ross, in Baffin's Bay, was estimated to be nearly two miles and a-half long, two miles wide, and fifty feet high. Of course this estimate respects only that part which is visible above the surface of the water; but this is a very small portion of its actual bulk. The relative proportion of the part which is exposed to that which is submerged, varies according to the character of the ice in Newfoundland, the part under water is usually considered to be ten times greater than that exposed, but if the ice be porous, it is not more than eight times greater; while, on the other hand, Phipps found that of dense ice, fourteen parts out of fifteen sunk. These floating icebergs are various in form; sometimes rising into pointed spires like steeples; sometimes taking the form of a conical hill; sometimes that of an overhanging cliff of most threatening brow. I have seen some resemble the form of a couching lion; but, perhaps, the most ordinary form is that of an irregular mass, higher at one end than at the other.

In the Arctic seas they often present sharp edges and spiry points; but in their progress southward, the gradual influence of climate smooths their unevenness, and gives their surface a rounded outline. The action of the waves on the portion be

neath the surface, undermining the sides and wearing away the projections, continually alters the position of the centre of gravity; and sometimes the effect of this is to cause the whole gigantic mass to roll over with a thundering crash, making the sca to boil into foam, and causing a swell that is perceptible for miles. When a boat or even a ship is in immediate proximity to an iceberg, in such circumstances, the danger is imminent; but if viewed from a secure distance, the sight is a very interesting one.

Sometimes the effect of the wave's action is to cause a large fragment to fall off, or a crack will extend through the whole mass with a deafening report, or the entire iceberg will fall to pieces, and strew the ocean with the fragments like the remnants of a wreck. Late in the summer they often become very brittle, and then a slight violence is sufficient to rupture them. Seamen avail themselves of the shelter afforded by ice-islands to moor the ship to them in storms, carrying an anchor upon the ice, and inserting the fluke in a hole made for the purpose. In the state just alluded to, such is the brittleness of the substance, that one blow with an axe is sometimes sufficient to cause the immense mass to rend asunder with fearful noise, one part falling one way and another in the opposite, often swallowing up the ill-fated mariner and crushing the gallant bark.

Contact with floating icebergs, when a ship is under sail, is highly dangerous. From the coolness of the air in their immediate neighbourhood, the moisture of the atmosphere is condensed around them, and hence they are often enveloped in fogs so as to be invisible within the length of a few fathoms. A momentary relaxation of vigilance on the part of the mariner may bring the ship's bow on the submerged part of an iceberg, whose sharp needle-like points, hard as a rock, instantly pierce the planking, and perhaps open a fatal leak. Many lamentable shipwrecks have resulted from this cause.

In the long heavy swell, so common in the open sea, the peril of floating-ice is greatly increased, as the huge angular masses are rolled and ground against each other with a force that nothing can resist. These ice-islands are quite distinct in their nature from the field-ice, which so largely overspreads the surface of the sea; and are believed to be entirely of land formation, consisting of fresh water frozen. The process of their formation is interesting the glens and valleys in the islands of Spitzbergen are filled up with solid ice, which has been accumulated for uncounted ages; these are the scources from whence the floating icebergs are supplied. Perhaps as long ago as the creation of man, or at least as the Deluge, these glaciers began in the snows of winter;

the summer sun melted the surface of this snow, and the water, thus produced, sinking down into that which remained, saturated it and increased its density. The ensuing winter froze this into a mass of porous ice, and superadded a fresh surface of

snow.

The same process again going on in summer, of water percolating through the porous crystals, which in its turn was re-frozen, soon changed the lowest stratum into a mass of dense and transparent ice. Centuries of alternate winters and summers have thus produced aggregations of enormous bulk. Scoresby mentions one of eleven miles in length, and four hundred feet in height at the seaward edge, whence it slopes upward and backward till it attains the height of sixteen hundred feet, an inclined plane of smooth unsullied snow, the beauty and magnitude of which render it a very conspicuous landmark on that inhospitable shore.-GoSSE'S Ocean.'

1. Better omit the to. On what principle?

HOPE, THE SUPPORT OF THE SAILOR.
AUSPICIOUS Hope! in thy sweet garden grow
Wreaths for each toil, a charm for every woe;
Won by their sweets, in Nature's languid hour
The way-worn pilgrim seeks thy summer bower;
There, as the wild bee murmurs on the wing,
What peaceful dreams thy handmaid spirits bring!
What viewless forms the Eolian organ play,

And sweep the furrowed lines of anxious thought away!

Angel of life! thy glittering wings explore
Earth's loneliest bounds, and ocean's wildest shore.
Lo! to the wintry winds the pilot yields

His bark careering o'er unfathomed fields;

Now on Atlantic waves he rides afar,

Where Andes, giant of the western star,

With meteor-standard to the winds unfurled,

Looks from his throne of clouds o'er half the world!

Now far he sweeps, where scarce a summer smiles,
On Behring's rocks, or Greenland's naked isles:
Cold on his midnight watch the breezes blow
From wastes that slumber in eternal snow;
And waft, across the wave's tumultuous roar,
The wolf's long howl from Oonalaska's shore.

Poor child of danger, nursling of the storm,

Sad are the woes that wreck thy manly form!
Rocks, waves, and winds, the shattered bark delay;
Thy heart is sad, thy home is far away.

But Hope can here her moonlight vigils keep,
And sing to charm the spirit of the deep:
Swift as yon streamer lights the starry pole,
Her visions warm the watchman's pensive soul;
His native hills that rise in happier climes,
The grot that heard his song of other times,
His cottage home, his bark of slender sail,
His glassy lake, and broomwood-blossomed vale,
Rush on his thought; he sweeps before the wind,
Treads the loved shore he sighed to leave behind;
Meets at each step a friend's familiar face,
And flies at last to Helen's long embrace;
Wipes from her cheek the rapture-speaking tear,
And clasps, with many a sigh, his children dear;
While, long neglected, but at length caressed,
His faithful dog salutes the smiling guest,
Points to the master's eyes, where'er they roam,
His wistful face, and whines a welcome home.

COLUMBUS himself, one of the greatest men that ever lived, if it be grand ideas grandly realized that constitute greatness, while leading the life of a seaman, not only pursued assiduously the studies more particularly relating to his profession, rendering himself the most accomplished geographer and astronomer of his time, but kept up that acquaintance which he had begun at school with the different branches of elegant literature. We are told that he was even wont to amuse himself by the composition of Latin verses. It was at sea, too, that our own Cook acquired for himself those high scientific, and we may even add literary accomplishments, of which he showed himself to be possessed.

The parents of this celebrated navigator were poor peasants, and all the school education he had ever had was a little reading,