VIEW FROM THE TOP OF BLACK COMB

This Height a ministering Angel might select:

For from the summit of BLACK COMB ( dread name

Derived from clouds and storms! ) the amplest range

Of unobstructed prospect may be seen

That British ground commands:— low dusky tracts,

Where Trent is nursed, far southward! Cambrian hills

To the south-west, a multitudinous show;

And, in a line of eye-sight linked with these,

The hoary peaks of Scotland that give birth

To Tiviot's stream, to Annan, Tweed, and Clyde:—

Crowding the quarter whence the sun comes forth

Gigantic mountains rough with crags; beneath,

Right at the imperial station's western base

Main ocean, breaking audibly, and stretched

Far into silent regions blue and pale;—

And visibly engirding Mona's Isle

That, as we left the plain, before our sight

Stood like a lofty mount, uplifting slowly

( Above the convex of the watery globe )

Into clear view the cultured fields that streak

Herhabitable shores, but now appears

A dwindled object, and submits to lie

At the spectator's feet.— Yon azure ridge,

Is it a perishable cloud? Or there

Do we behold the lineof Erin's coast?

Land sometimes by the roving shepherd-swain

( Like the bright confines of another world )

Not doubtfully perceived.— Look homeward now!

In depth, in height, in circuit, how serene

The spectacle, how pure!— Of Nature's works,

In earth, and air, and earth-embracing sea,

A revelation infinite it seems;

Display august of man's inheritance,

Of Britain's calm felicity and power!