ELEGIAC STANZAS

To the Memory of A******** L**** R***. Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit.-- HOR.

[A. L. R. was the worthy son of the Rev. Dr. Ross, of Aberdeen. He had acted one session as Assistant to the Professor of Greek, Marischal College. He visited Greece during the following summer: but in his way thither from London he met with some misfortune which occasioned his death. He lingered till the spring of 1822. He was an amiable, a learned, and pious young man.]

INTENSE is the sorrow that death can awaken,
Though no hapless victim fall under its pow'r,
And deeper the sadness of guilt overtaken,
Or worthlessness closing its profitless hour.
But oh the emotions of sorrow and sadness
That swell ev'ry breast, that bedew ev'ry eye,
What tongue can express in the moments of
gladness,

When youth, friendship, virtue, and genius die!

Severe were the sorrows that rose in my breast,

When the sound of THY death first burst on

And though silent that tongue which delightfully join'd

In the praises of God, and the Saviour extoll'd:

With the chorus of heaven now its notes are

combin'd,

In adoring the love that must still be untold. Before him the field lay, of science extended; The flight of his genius still widen'd the view: But the field now enlarg'd, and his pow'rs all expanded,

In heaven he may his researches renew.

As submissively, calmly his spirit retir'd In peace from its mouldering mansion of clay, "What a glorious change !"*he exclaim'd-and expir'd

And fled to the realms of ineffable day.

Yet the void of his absence must still be lamented;

For where shall we seek, and his rare image find?

In vain should we search-yet vain grief be prevented

His name and example are left us behind. Thus when youth, virtue, genius, and learning decay,

Like the rose that is faded, a perfume they leave:

And thou, who now readest this tribute, O

And hope delusive cheats with promise fair.

The rising sun resplendent gilds the east, And gladdens nature with the genial feast; The cloudless skies proclaim a day serene, And man delighted hails the pleasing scene; The verdant landscape cheers the fervid eye, And zephyr, trem'lous, breathes the tender sigh;

The feather'd quiristers, the woods among,
Enchant the soul with their harmonious song;
The browsy herds and fleecy flocks unite,
In concord sweet to please the ravish'd sight;
The placid lakes the mirror bright surpass,
And splendid shine a sea of liquid glass;
The lucid ocean turgid now no more,
With gentle arms infolds the friendly shore;

These were among the last words he was heard to utter.

All nature smiles beneath the argent sky, Nor dreads the storm that now approaches nigh:

For, lo! by gradual rise the swelling breeze, Rough and tempestuous, bows the sturdy trees;

Tenebrious clouds in quick succession sail, And clothe bright nature in their ebon veil; The black'ning tumult spreads, the thunders roll,

And vivid lightnings rend the trembling pole: Fierce rain in torrents ploughs the troubled ground,

And desolation marks the scene around;

No more the slumb'ring lake translucid shines,
But turbid swelling bursts its dull confines;
The ocean now no longer peaceful laves
The laughing land with its luculent waves,
But high in air the foaming billows roar,
And dash their surges on th' affrighted shore:
Appalled views the elemental war,
The tempest-beaten weary mariner;
His vessel now a watery mountain rides,
Now sinks profound amid tumultuous tides;
Now torn in pieces by the whirld wind's
breath,

To heaven he cries, and falls ingulph'd in death:

The mid-day sun sets in primeval gloom,
And nature seems to wait her final doom.

Thus fancy pleasing draws the rising day, And man his bosom cheers with prospects

THE bell has toll'd; the circling sun
Has once his annual orbit run,

Since my lov'd William's bier

His mourning friends to earth convey'd,
His happy spirit ever fled

To bless a brighter sphere.
Why, busy Mem'ry, wilt thou turn
My wayward sight to his dear urn?
Alas! to me too dear:
To banish thought in vain I try,
Past joys intrude; in vain I dry
The unavailing tear.

Condoling forms, kind friends, are vain
To soothe my life-corroding pain,

Or change his awful doom:
Stoics! ye idly preach; my soul
Spurns in wild anguish your control,
And lives but in his tomb.

Blest spirit of my darling boy!
To my torn heart a balm apply,
And bid my sorrows cease:
Teach me thy will not mine be done,"
Bid heavenly resignation come
And kindly whisper-PEACE.

THE CONSOLATION.

gentle spirits fly THOMSON.

To scenes where love and bliss immortal
reign.
WHAT though misfortune's adverse cares,

Detraction's dark and coward snares,
And penury's chill wave,

Should all against weak man combine,
To blast him e'en at wisdom's shrine,
And bear him to the grave!

What though the Christian's heart is torn
By persecution's rankling thorn,

In earth's bewildering vale;
Though haply life's career he ends,
Where no lov'd object o'er him bends,
To catch his parting tale!

Yet is there not a bourn on high,
Where happiness can never die

Beneath extinction's rod?
Where meek-eyed peace immortal reigns,
Where love calls music with her strains
To hymn the living God?

Where Virtue, freed from mortal clay,
Ecstatic "wins her easy way,"

Lit by celestial rays?
Where world-illuming suns enshrine,
Regions ethereal, pure, divine,

That speak the Father's praise!
Then ne'er let fragile man despair,
Though throbs his burning brow with care,
His bosom though oppress'd;
But let his musing visions soar
To that eternal hallow'd shore,
Where the bright spirit droops no more,
But blooms, for ever blest,
R. W. BARKer.
Norwich, Jan. 13th, 1823.

INTERESTING NARRATIVE OF THE LOSS OF THE BRIG WEAR OF LONDON, AND SUBSEQUENT SUFFERINGS OF THE SHIP'S COMPANY, BY THOMAS THOMPSON, THE CAPTAIN.

(Communicated by E. D.)

MR. EDITOR.

SIR,-Captain Thompson, prior to the disaster which he details, had been no stranger to hardships. His vessel was engaged as an extra ship by the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1819, to accompany the regular ships, the Prince of Wales and the Eddystone, to York Fort, Hudson's Bay. In Hudson's Straits these vessels fell in

with a quantity of drift ice; when, with a view to prevent the Eddystone from forcing on the ice, 'Captain Thompson sent the jolly-boat with four of his best men to assist to tow her off; but a very heavy fog coming on, he lost sight of the other vessels, and did not rejoin his men till he arrived at York Fort, the place of his destination, where the Prince of Wales arrived three days after him with his men on board.

In consequence of making a voyage in the country, he wintered there, and travelled inland from York Fort to Cumberland Lake, where the governor resides, and where he found two gentlemen belonging to Captain Frankland's land expedition to the Copper Mine River, Dr. Richardson, and the late Mr. Robert Hood, whose death has been announced in the newspapers, attended with some melancholy circumstances. Of the latter gentleman Captain Thompson speaks in the highest strain of commendation, and respects his amiable manners and scientific acquirements.

The distance between these places, as ascertained by the Company of the Northern Land Expedition, by means of observations and chronometers, is 686 miles. Captain Thompson, by his mode of measurement, by the compass, sextant, and his watch, (calculating his rate of walking,) made the distance about 692 miles. During this excursion he slept 57 nights on the snow, there being only four trading houses on the line of his route. He performed the first part of his journey entirely on foot, using snow-shoes, accompanied by some of the natives. On his return, after staying 20 days with the governor, from 2d to 22d of February, 1820, he returned by the same rout to York Fort, but was conveyed about two-thirds of the way on a sledge drawn by dogs. He was induced to undertake this hazardous and tedious journey on account of business of importance to his employers.

E. D.

age to Hudson's Bay, where she wintered.

"On the 12th of March, 1822," says Captain Thompson, "we sailed from London, for a cargo of ice. The first part of our passage out was very favourable, till we were as far north as the Shetland Islands, after which we encountered several heavy gales. The Wear was thoroughly tight, and altogether in the best condition; and every thing seemed to portend a quick and prosperous voyage.

"About five o'clock in the afternoon, of March 27th, we saw straggling pieces of ice, and shortly after the main body. Night coming on, we put the ship under easy sail, till the next morning at daylight, the wind blowing a moderate breeze from the north-east, and the weather clear. We soon entered the main body, which was open, with good leads. We continued running to the westward, that the ship might be safe from any sea or swell. About eleven o'clock the ice closed round us, and the N. E. swell gave it so much motion, that it staved the ship, which being in ballast, she sunk almost immediately.

"We did not find out where she was staved, she sunk so quickly; but prior to this catastrophe, seeing she had a list to port, and there being but a very light wind, I was surprised, on looking down the main hatchway, to

see the water above the ballast. We immediately got some bread up, before the water reached it; and, as we were endeavouring to get the boats out, the ship went down. We could not succeed in getting out the boats, as four of the crew had sought their safety on a piece of ice, and were gone astern of the ship, and I had sent a boy on the ice to keep the bread from being washed off, so that there were left only six on board.

"The ship went partly down head first, and the long-boat's stern got under the fore part of the main rigging on the larboard side, and as I was in the boat's larboard quarter, in an instant I was jambed under the catharpins. I remembered no more till I found myself quite disentangled, and swallowing water. On recollecting myself, I commended my soul to heaven, then struck out to swim, and immediately saw the water of a very light colour over my head. Almost in an instant, my head struck against a piece of ice, and I got my right arm and head up, but it was some time before I could get up my left arm; this, however, I at length effected, as fortunately an empty tar-bartel was close by, of which I got hold.

"The man from the jolly-boat came up first, the cook next, then the mate, and I last; the other sailor and boy came up no more. The mate and cook were on the long-boat's bottom, and hauled me to them by a piece of wood they had picked up. We then got on the ice, and were in a very bad state from the effects of the wet, cold, and salt water we had swallowed. I was somewhat stunned by a blow I had received across my right temple and right ear, which had not only broken the skin, but left a most excruciating pain; also my left side was injured, but by what means I did not know. I was much worse than any of the rest, having been longer under water, so much so, that I lay down on the ice, and should have soon perished, had they not roused me up, and led me about till I revived a little. We then endeavoured to get where the rest of the crew and the provisions were, which we accomplished, with the assistance of a rough ash oar, by going from one piece of ice to another, though not without much danger, as the swell agitated the ice so much; I was washed off the ice twice. We shifted ourselves with the few dry things which some of the sailors had thrown on the ice.

"I then sent the men that had not been wet, to endeavour to save the long-boat, or skiff, they having two topmast steering-sail booms, with which they could easily go from piece to piece of the ice. They, however, used little exertion, and as neither the

they soon returned, bringing two main hatches, a sixteen-foot elm board, and the after main-top rail. They saw the long-boat broken off, about two feet from the stern; the skiff still uninjured, inside, but by the time they got back, the boats were crushed to pieces, and we never saw a fragment of the wreck afterwards.

"Here we were, on a piece of ice, in a most deplorable situation, not having even a small boat to save our lives; and all we had saved was some bread, a few pieces of beef and pork, part of a bolt of new canvass, (about 27 yards,) some nails, about two skeins of twine, some small rope, two topmast steeringsail booms, two oars, and one rough oar; one boat-hook three main-hatches; the after top-rail; a piece of rail three inches square, and about ten feet long; three half-inch elm boards, each sixteen feet long; a porter firkin; the slide of the halfdeck hatch; and a candle box, with some candles; the carpenter's axe, caulking mallet, one caulking iron, an inch chisel, a gouge, and tenon saw.

"The piece of ice on which we were was about 70 yards in circumference, and about two feet high out of the water, except one hillock, near the centre, which was somewhat higher. We first put the oars, and what wood we had, up in the form of a tent, nailing on the canvass to keep off the wind. We then sewed six handkerchiefs together, and hoisted them on a studdingsail boom for a flag, but had little hopes of any ship coming that way. Our thoughts were next turned to the consideration how we were to save our lives, as the expectation of being picked up by a ship was by no means flattering, and it would not be prudent to stay till all our provisions were expended, if, by any means, we could contrive otherwise. The ice also was washing away so fast, that we should be forced off in a short time. The idea of forming a boat, with the wood we had, and covering her with canvass instead of wood, was the only resource I could think of; however, the weather was so cold that we could do little till Monday, April 1st, when the carpenter made a beginning; and arranging, in the best manner we were able, the few mate

"Our situation was miserable beyond description. Though our boat was finished, we could not remove that day, being surrounded with ice, among which we durst not venture, neither could we shift to a better piece, there being so many small pieces between, and still a swell. On the 11th, the piece of ice. we were on was driven so near the edge of the main body, that we got out with our boat, and the wind prevailing from the S. W. we pulled with the two oars to a large piece of ice, on which we hauled the boat, and remained there all that, and the next day.

"April 13th, the wind being moderate from the eastward, and our provisions growing short, we thought to get

to the southward along the outer edge of the ice, but a thick fog coming on, and finding ourselves inside of a large body, we thought it would be more prudent to make for Iceland, by which means we could haul the boat on the ice at night, and when our provisions were expended, we could get seals. This plan was thought advisable, as our boat was ill adapted for sea.

"We continued steering to the westward all the 13th, but on the 14th we were several times obstructed by the close ice. In the afternoon we were finally stopped, and the next morning, seeing no prospect of getting to Iceland that way, we resolved to try what could be done at sea. We therefore made the best of our way