From the pure depths of her humanity!
A Maiden gentle, yet, at duty's call,

Firm and unflinching, as the Lighthouse reared
On the Island-rock, her lonely dwelling-place;
Or like the invincible Rock itself that braves,
Age after age, the hostile elements,

As when it guarded holy Cuthbert's cell.*

All night the storm had raged, nor ceased, nor paused, When, as day broke, the Maid, through misty air, Espies far off a Wreck, amid the surf,

Beating on one of those disastrous isles

Half of a Vessel, half-no more; the rest
Had vanished, swallowed up with all that there
Had for the common safety striven in vain,

Or thither thronged for refuge.† With quick glance
Daughter and Sire through optic-glass discern,
Clinging about the remnant of this Ship,

Creatures how precious in the Maiden's sight!
For whom, belike, the old Man grieves still more
Than for their fellow-sufferers engulfed

Where every parting agony is hushed,

And hope and fear mix not in further strife.

"But courage, Father! let us out to sea—

A few may yet be saved." The Daughter's words,

*St Cuthbert of Durham, born about 635, was first a shepherd boy, then a monk in the monastery of Melrose, and afterwards its prior. He left Melrose for the island monastery of Lindisfarne; but desiring an austerer life than the monastic, he left Lindisfarne, and became an anchorite, in a hut which he built with his own hands, on one of the Farne islands. He was afterwards induced to accept the bishopric of Hexham, but soon exchanged it for the see in his old island home at Lindisfarne, and after two years there resigned his bishopric, returning to his cell in Farne island, where he died in 687. His remains were carried to Durham,

and placed within a costly shrine.-ED.

+ Fifty-four persons had perished, before Darling's lifeboat reached the wreck.-ED.

Her earnest tone, and look beaming with faith,
Dispel the Father's doubts: nor do they lack
The noble-minded Mother's helping hand

To launch the boat; and with her blessing cheered,
And inwardly sustained by silent prayer

Together they put forth, Father and Child!
Each grasps an oar, and struggling on they go-
Rivals in effort; and, alike intent

Here to elude and there surmount, they watch
The billows lengthening, mutually crossed
And shattered, and re-gathering their might;
As if the tumult, by the Almighty's will
Were, in the conscious sea, roused and prolonged,
That woman's fortitude-so tried, so proved―
May brighten more and more!

True to the mark,

They stem the current of that perilous gorge,

Their arms still strengthening with the strengthening heart,
Though danger, as the Wreck is near'd, becomes
More imminent. Not unseen do they approach;
And rapture, with varieties of fear

Incessantly conflicting, thrills the frames
Of those who, in that dauntless energy,
Foretaste deliverance; but the least perturbed
Can scarcely trust his eyes, when he perceives
That of the pair-tossed on the waves to bring
Hope to the hopeless, to the dying, life-
One is a Woman, a poor earthly sister,
Or, be the Visitant other than she seems,
A guardian Spirit sent from pitying Heaven,
In woman's shape. But why prolong the tale,
Casting weak words amid a host of thoughts
Armed to repel them? Every hazard faced

And difficulty mastered, with resolve

That no one breathing should be left to perish,
This last remainder of the crew are all

Placed in the little boat, then o'er the deep

Are safely borne, landed upon the beach,

And, in fulfilment of God's mercy, lodged

Within the sheltering Lighthouse.-Shout, ye Waves!
Send forth a song of triumph. Waves and Winds,
Exult in this deliverance wrought through faith
In Him whose Providence your rage hath served!
Ye screaming Sea-mews, in the concert join!
And would that some immortal Voice-a Voice
Fitly attuned to all that gratitude

Breathes out from floor or couch, through pallid lips
Of the survivors to the clouds might bear-
Blended with praise of that parental love,
Beneath whose watchful eye the Maiden grew
Pious and pure, modest and yet so brave,
Though young so wise, though meek so resolute-
Might carry to the clouds and to the stars,
Yea, to celestial Choirs, GRACE DARLING's name !

INSCRIPTION

FOR A MONUMENT IN CROSTHWAITE CHURCH, IN THE VALE OF KESWICK.

YE vales and hills whose beauty hither drew

The poet's steps, and fixed them here, on you,

His eyes have closed! And ye, loved books, no more
Shall Southey feed upon your precious lore,

To works that ne'er shall forfeit their renown,
Adding immortal labours of his own--
Whether he traced historic truth, with zeal

For the State's guidance, or the Church's weal,

Or Fancy, disciplined by studious art,
Inform'd his pen, or wisdom of the heart,
Or judgments sanctioned in the Patriot's mind
By reverence for the rights of all mankind.
Wide were his aims, yet in no human breast
Could private feelings meet for holier rest.
His joys, his griefs, have vanished like a cloud
From Skiddaw's top; but he to heaven was vowed
Through his industrious life, and Christian faith
Calmed in his soul the fear of change and death.

I have received from Lord Coleridge the following extracts from letters written by Wordsworth to his father, the Hon. Justice Coleridge, in reference to the Southey Inscription in Crosthwaite Church. Wordsworth seems to have submitted the proposed Inscription to Mr Coleridge's judgment, and the changes he made upon it, in deference to the opinions he received, shew, as Lord Coleridge says, "the extreme care Wordsworth took to have the substance and the expression also as perfect as he could make it." The original draft of the "Inscription" was as follows::

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT SOUTHEY, WHOSE MORTAL REMAINS ARE INTERRED IN THE ADJOINING CHURCHYARD. HE WAS BORN AT BRISTOL, OCTOBER Y 4TH, 1774, AND DIED, AFTER A RESIDENCE OF NEARLY FORTY YEARS, AT GRETA HALL IN THIS PARISH, MARCH 21ST, 1843.

Ye Vales and Hills, whose beauty hither drew

The Poet's steps, and fixed them here, on you

His eyes have closed; and ye, loved Books, no more
Shall Southey feed upon your precious lore,

To Works that ne'er shall forfeit their renown
Adding immortal labours of his own,
As Fancy, disciplined by studious Art
Informed his pen, or Wisdom of the heart,
Or judgments rooted in a Patriot's mind
Taught to revere the rights of all mankind.
Friends, Family-ah wherefore touch that string,
To them so fondly did the good man cling!
His joys, his griefs, have vanished like a cloud
From Skiddaw's top; but He to Heaven was vowed
Through a long life; and calmed by Christian faith,
In his pure soul, the fear of change and death.

This Memorial was erected by friends of Robert Southey.

Through a life long and pure; and Christian faith
Calmed in his soul the fear of change and death.” —W. W.

December 6th.

MY DEAR MR JUSTICE COLERIDGE,

Notwithstanding what I have written before, I could not but wish to meet your wishes upon the points which you mentioned, and, accordingly, have added and altered as on the other side of this paper. If you approve don't trouble yourself to answer.

Ever faithfully yours,

W. WORDSWORTH.

"Ye torrents foaming down the rocky steeps,
Ye lakes wherein the spirit of water sleeps,
Ye vales and hills, &c.

Or judgments sanctioned in the Patriot's mind
By reverence for the rights of all mankind.
Friends, Family-within no human breast
Could private feelings need a holier nest.
His joys, his griefs, have vanished."

These alterations are approved of by friends here, and I hope will please you.

MY DEAR MR JUSTICE COLERIDGE,

Pray accept my thanks for the pains you have taken with the Inscription, and excuse the few words I shall have to say upon your remarks. There are two lakes in the Vale of Keswick; both which, along with the lateral Vale of Newlands immediately opposite Southey's study window, will be included in the words "Ye Vales and Hills" by everyone who is familiar with the neighbourhood.

I quite agree with you that the construction of the lines that particularize his writings is rendered awkward by so many participles passive, and the more so on account of the transitive verb informed. One of these participles may be got rid of, and, I think, a better couplet produced by this alteration

"Or judgments sanctioned in the Patriot's mind

By reverence for the rights of all mankind."

As I have entered into particulars as to the character of S.'s writings, and they are so various, I thought his historic works ought by no