The Norton Anthology of English literature. Volume 2

200 Where the cliff, hollow'd by the wintry storm, Affords a seat with matted sea-weed strewn, A softer form reclines; around her run, On the rough shingles,0 or the chalky bourn, pebbles Her gay unconscious children, soon amus'd;

205 Who pick the fretted stone, or glossy shell, Or crimson plant marine: or they contrive The fairy vessel, with its ribband sail And gilded paper pennant: in the pool, Left by the salt wave on the yielding sands,

210 They launch the mimic navy.�Happy age! Unmindful of the miseries of Man!� Alas! too long a victim to distress, Their Mother, lost in melancholy thought, Lull'd for a moment by the murmurs low

215 Of sullen billows, wearied by the task Of having here, with swol'n and aching eyes Fix'd on the grey horizon, since the dawn Solicitously watch'd the weekly sail From her dear native land, now yields awhile 220 To kind forgetfulness, while Fancy brings, In waking dreams, that native land again! Versailles2 appears�its painted galleries, And rooms of regal splendour; rich with gold, Where, by long mirrors multiply'd, the crowd 225 Paid willing homage�and, united there, Beauty gave charms to empire.�Ah! too soon From the gay visionary pageant rous'd, See the sad mourner start!�and, drooping, look With tearful eyes and heaving bosom round 230 On drear reality�where dark'ning waves, Urg'd by the rising wind, unheeded foam Near her cold rugged seat. * 4 *

1793

Beachy Head1

On thy stupendous summit, rock sublime! That o'er the channel rear'd, half way at sea

2. Louis XIV's opulent palace, south of Paris. what degree Smith considered the poem finished. 1. This is the longest of several works left in man-Beachy Head is the southernmost point of Sussex, uscript when Smith died in October 1806 and pub-near Eastbourne and directly across the Channel lished in the posthumous volume Beachy Head and from the French town of Dieppe. Other Poems the following year. It is not known to

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48 / CHARLOTTE SMITH

The mariner at early morning hails,2 I would recline; while Fancy should go forth,

5 And represent the strange and awful hour Of vast concussion;3 when the Omnipotent Stretch'd forth his arm, and rent the solid hills, Bidding the impetuous main flood rush between The rifted shores, and from the continent

10 Eternally divided this green isle. Imperial lord of the high southern coast! From thy projecting head-land I would mark Far in the east the shades of night disperse, Melting and thinned, as from the dark blue wave

is Emerging, brilliant rays of arrowy light0 dawn Dart from the horizon; when the glorious sun Just lifts above it his resplendent orb. Advances now, with feathery silver touched, The rippling tide of flood; glisten the sands,

20 While, inmates of the chalky clefts that scar Thy sides precipitous, with shrill harsh cry, Their white wings glancing in the level beam, The terns, and gulls, and tarrocks, seek their food,4 And thy rough hollows echo to the voice

25 Of the gray choughs,5 and ever restless daws, With clamour, not unlike the chiding hounds, While the lone shepherd, and his baying dog, Drive to thy turfy crest his bleating flock.

The high meridian0 of the day is past, noon

30 And Ocean now, reflecting the calm Heaven, Is of cerulean hue; and murmurs low The tide of ebb, upon the level sands. The sloop, her angular canvas shifting still, Catches the light and variable airs

35 That but a little crisp the summer sea, Dimpling its tranquil surface.

Afar off, And just emerging from the arch immense Where seem to part the elements, a fleet Of fishing vessels stretch their lesser sails;

40 While more remote, and like a dubious spot Just hanging in the horizon, laden deep, The ship of commerce richly freighted, makes Her slower progress, on her distant voyage, Bound to the orient climates, where the sun

2. In crossing the Channel from the coast of mandy has no likeness whatever to the part of France, Beachy-Head is the first land made England opposite to it [Smith's note]. [Smith's note]. 4. Terns. Sterna hirundo, or Sea Swallow. Gulls. 3. Alluding to an idea that this Island was once Lams canus. Tarrocks. Larus tridactyhis [Smith's joined to the continent of Europe, and torn from note]. it by some convulsion in Nature. I confess I never 5. Gray choughs. Connis Graculus, Cornish could trace the resemblance between the two Choughs, or, as these birds are called by the Sussex countries. Yet the cliffs about Dieppe, resemble people, Saddle-backed Crows, build in great numthe chalk cliffs on the Southern coast. But Nor-bers on this coast [Smith's note].

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BEACHY HEAD / 49

45 Matures the spice within its odorous shell, And, rivalling the gray worm's filmy toil, Bursts from its pod the vegetable down;6 Which in long turban'd wreaths, from torrid heat Defends the brows of Asia's countless castes.