drawing his sword, cut off the man's hand, which fell with the ball into the sea; and the men gladly plying their oars, the curragh resumed her outward voyage. When the queen saw this she began to weep and lament, wringing her hands and tearing her hair with grief; and her maidens also began to weep and cry aloud, and clap their hands, so that the whole palace was full of grief and lamentation. But none the less did the men bend to their oars, and the curragh sailed away, and it was in this manner that the voyagers made their escape from the island. From "Old Celtic Romances," by P. W. Joyce. 43. THE BALLAD OF THE BOAT. The stream was smooth as glass; we said, "Arise and let's away: The siren sang beside the boat that in the rushes lay; And spread the sail and strong the oar, we gaily took our way. When shall the sandy bar be crossed? when shall we find the bay? The broadening flood swells slowly out o'er cattle-dotted plains, The stream is strong and turbulent, and dark with heavy rains ; The labourer looks up to see our shallop speed away. When shall the sandy bar be crossed? when shall we find the bay? Now are the clouds like fiery shrouds; the sun superbly large, Slow as an oak to woodman's stroke, sinks flaming at their marge. The waves are bright with mirrored light as jacinths on our way. When shall the sandy bar be crossed? when shall we find the bay? The moon is high up in the sky, and now no more we see The sea-gull shrieks high overhead, and dimly to our sight The moonlit crests of foaming waves gleam towering through the night. We'll steal upon the mermaid soon, and start her from her lay, When once the sandy bar is crossed, and we are in the bay. What rises white and awful as a shroud-enfolded ghost? What roar of rampant tumult bursts in clangour on the coast? Pull back! pull back! the raging flood sweeps every oar away. O stream, is this thy bar of sand? O boat, is this the bay? R. GARNETT. Among ships, the fisher-boat, corresponding to the cottage on the land (only far more sublime than a cottage can ever be), is, on the whole, the thing most venerable. I doubt if ever academic grove were half so fit for profitable meditation as the little strip of shingle between two black, steep, overhanging sides of stranded fishing-boats.-Ruskin. 44. THE SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR, 1782. In 1779 the fortress of Gibraltar, situate on a high rock, and in a position excellently calculated for the support of the English fleets and trade in the Mediterranean, was attacked by the Spaniards, from whom it had been captured by Sir George Rooke in 1704. General Eliot had the command of the British, whose garrison was rather more than five thousand, and he performed his duty admirably. The operations of the Spaniards were at first confined to a blockade, with the purpose of preventing supplies of provisions being brought in. They succeeded in raising the price of food within the town. Veal, mutton, and beef were eight times as dear as usual, fowls were eighteen shillings a couple, ducks a guinea, and other things in proportion; but in January 1780 Admiral Rodney gained two victories over the Spanish fleets, and relieved the garrison. As soon as Rodney departed, the blockade was renewed, and on the night of June 6 an attempt was made to set fire to the storehouses and shipping by sending ten fire-ships into the bay. The design, however, was frustrated by the courage and fortitude of the British seamen, who manned their boats, grappled the fire-ships, and towed them out of reach of the vessels. The greatest annoyance which the garrison suffered was from the Spanish gunboats, carrying 26-pounders, and manned by forty or fifty men, with fifteen oars on a side. The blockade was successfully continued, and the garrison cut off from supplies they had derived from Africa, and from vegetables planted in a small plot of ground called the neutral ground, between the Spanish territory and the range of the batteries of Gibraltar. The constant use of salted provisions caused a complaint called the scurvy, by which wounds and fractures of bones were opened afresh, and many a stout fellow was rendered useless. Some remedy, however, was obtained for these miseries by the seizing of a small vessel laden with oranges and lemons. In the middle of February 1781, the bakers left off work for want of flour, and the salted food was dealt out from the public stores in diminished quantity. In April, another relief came from England, and after great difficulties from the enemy's gunboats, which were too small to be well shot at, too numerous to be neglected, and too active to be overtaken, the supply was thrown into the town. The Spanish Government, irritated at these reliefs, determined on an active assault; and this began by a general bombardment which lasted three weeks, and during which from four to five thousand shots and shells were thrown into the fortress every twentyfour hours. The buildings were much shattered, and as the accommodation of the garrison was of greater consequence than that of the townsmen, these were reduced to distress. Such, therefore, as chose to go were sent away. By-and-by this bombardment was relaxed, but did not cease, and on November 27 the garrison, in a sally, destroyed the enemy's works, blew up their magazines, and spiked their guns. |