"Wilt thou, upon the high and giddy Mast, And in the visitation of the Winds, Who take the ruffian billows by the top Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them Deny it to a King? then happy low! lie down ; PAGE 4. 1. 12. Till o'er her Crew distress and death prevail. In the eleven lines that succeed, I have followed the second edition in the third, the Author very inadvertently introduced the following "Where'er he wandered, thus vindictive Fate These lines strongly savour of Fatalism, and are unworthy of a British Mariner. The minds of our Mariners, I speak from experience, with very few exceptions, always display an high sense of Christianity, and a belief in an over-ruling Providence a truth which I have endeavoured to support, throughout the whole of a publication, which the public has honoured with attention, entitled Sermons on the CHARACTER, and professional Duties of Seamen. When Falconer published the third edition, his temper was soured by disappointment; and, in this instance, he forgot the principles of a CHRISTIAN MARINER. PAGE 5. 1. 1. And lo! the Power that wakes the eventful Song! I had preferred the following text, as given in the first and second editions; but, in deference to a Friend, whose Poetic Taste has been long approved, I followed the third edition although the repetition of Light, as a rhime, in the fourth, and thirteenth line, has certainly a bad effect. As Mr Bowles also observes, "the epithet propitious is too tame, it should have been instant light." The passage stood thus originally "Thee MEMORY! too, the tragic Tale implores, Arise! approach! unlock thy treasured stores !"- She scours the rapid, intellectual race;" &c. PAGE 5. 1 18. And hoary Time from her fresh youth receives. The classic ideas of our unfortunate Mariner in many in stances resemble those of the Italian Poets: thus Tasso, when speaking of Memory, exclaims (C. 1. st. 36) "Mente degli anni e dell' oblio nemica, Delle cose custode, e dispensiera." F. D. PAGE 6. 1. 9. Full on my Soul the dreadful scene display. This, and the following line, were unaccountably omitted in the third edition. PAGE 9. 1. 1. A Ship from EGYPT, o'er the deep impell'd By guiding winds, her course for Venice held. FALCONER begins his Narrative with all the simplicity of the great masters, and seems to have had in view the opening of the Æneid: • Troje qui primus ab oris Italiam, fato profugus, Lavinaque venit Littora: I have followed in the first four lines, the third edition; in the second it was thus expressed: "A Ship from EGYPT, o'er the watery plain And thence her Crew, the Slaves of Fortune, came." I was not fond of styling Seamen "the Slaves of Fortune!" PAGE 10. 1. 13. Thrice had the Sun, &c. How admirably, yet naturally, is the whole of what follows in this, and the next page contrived, towards engaging the attention of the reader, and leading it gradually on to the great event of the poem! I have in part preferred the text of the second edition. PAGE 10. l. 17, 18. ... from Shore to Shore, Unwearying wafted her commercial store. The British Merchantmen, at the time this Poem was written, and for a considerable time afterwards, remained trading from Port to Port in the Levant, and Mediterranean, until ordered for England; when they generally loaded with silks at Leghorn. The length of time to which these Voyages were extended, probably arose from the respect paid to the British flag, and the Mediterranean pass. Any British ship, though worn and crazy, sold for a considerable sum to the Genoese, or other neighbouring states, if the pass could also accompany the ship this Traffic at last caused some complaints, and is now impracticable. The pass must be returned to the Lords of the Admiralty. Mr Eton, in his Survey of the Turkish Empire, treats at large, On the state of the British Trade to the Levant (page 448, 3d edit.) and assigns four causes for its gradual decline. 1. The rivalship of other European nations. 2. The diminution of the consumption of our Manufactures in Turkey, by the impoverished state of the country. 3. Some branches of Trade being got into other channels. 4. The monopoly of the Levant Company in London. PAGE 12. 1. 3. CANDIA: The Haven enter, &c. The Harbour of CANDIA, though naturally a fine bason, in which Ships were securely sheltered from every wind, is described by Tournefort, in 1718, as capable of receiving nothing but boats. Ships of burden keep under the isle of Dia, or Standia, to the N. E. of Candia; and consequently that was the anchorage to which Falconer alludes. All merchant vessels freighted by the Turks at Candia are obliged to sail almost empty to the ports of Dia, whither their cargoes are conveyed in boats. The French merchants have in consequence taken up their residence at Canea; but even there the harbour will only receive ships of 200 tons burden, and its mouth is exposed to all the violence of the north winds its bottom, however, is good, except to the west of the town, where there are several rocks under water extremely dangerous. The harbour of Canea might be enlarged so as to admit the largest frigates. The chief revenue of Canea consists in olive-oil. According to Tournefort, the island of Candia in the year 1699, yielded 300,000 measures of oil, which the French merchants purchased, on account of the failure of oils in Provence. PAGE 12. 1. 6. Mark the fell track of desolating War. The revolutions of this celebrated Island may thus be briefly given. It received the name of Candia from the Suracens about the year 808, when they subdued it, after being repulsed in their attempts on the islands of Sardinia and Corsica by the maritime Counts whom Charlemagne appointed, under the title of Comites ad custodiendam Oram Maritimam deputati. This island was afterwards annexed to the Greek empire, either under Romanus the first in 961, |