[Page 134]

WATER-PARTY ON BEAULIEU RIVER, IN THE NEW FOREST.

1 I thought 'twas a toy of the fancy, a dream
2 That leads with illusion the senses astray,
3 And I sighed with delight as we stole down the stream,
4 While the sun, as he smiled on our sail, seemed to say,
5 Rejoice in my light, ere it fade fast away!
6 We left the loud rocking of ocean behind,
7 And stealing along the clear current serene,
8 The Phædria
76 Cutter belonging to Nathaniel Ogle, Esq.
spread her white sails to the wind,
9 And they who divided had many a day been,
10 Gazed with added delight on the charms of the scene.
11 Each bosom one spirit of peace seemed to feel;
12 We heard not the tossing, the stir, and the roar
13 Of the ocean without; we heard only the keel,
14 The keel that went whispering along the green shore,
15 And the stroke, as it dipped, of the feathering oar.
16 Beneath the dark woods now, as winding we go,
17 What sounds of rich harmony burst on the ear!
18 Hark, cheer'ly the loud-swelling clarionets blow;
19 Now the tones gently die, now more mellow we hear
20 The horns through the high forest echoing clear!
21 They cease; and no longer the echoes prolong
22 The swell of the concert; in silence we float
23 In silence! Oh, listen! 'tis woman's
77 Mrs Sheridan.
sweet song
24 The bends of the river reply to each note,
25 And the oar is held dripping and still from the boat. [Page 135]
26 Mark the sun that descends o'er the curve of the flood!
27 Seize, Wilmot,
78 Mrs Wilmot, well known for her great talents in drawing, et cet.
the pencil, and instant convey
28 To the tablet the water, the banks, and the wood,
29 That their colours may live without change or decay,
30 When these beautiful tints die in darkness away.
31 So when we are parted, and tossed on the deep,
32 And no longer the light on our prospect shall gleam,
33 The semblance of one lovely scene we may keep,
34 And remember the day, and the hour, like a dream,
35 When we sighed with delight as we stole down the stream!

Text

  • TEI/XML (XML - 172K / ZIP - 13K) / ECPA schema (RNC - 357K / ZIP - 73K)
  • Plain text [excluding paratexts] (TXT - 1.7K / ZIP - 1.1K)

Facsimile (Source Edition)

(Page images digitized from a copy held at the University of California Libraries.)

Images

PDF

All Images (PDF - 512K)

About this text

Title (in Source Edition): WATER-PARTY ON BEAULIEU RIVER, IN THE NEW FOREST.
Themes:
Genres:

Text view / Document view

Source edition

Bowles, William Lisle, 1762-1850. The Poetical Works of William Lisle Bowles, Vol. I. With Memoir, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan. Edinburgh: James Nichol, 9 North Bank Street..., 1855, pp. 134-135.  (Page images digitized from a copy held at the University of California Libraries.)

Editorial principles

Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by William Lisle Bowles