360

THE SEA-CHANGE.

Welcomed the moonshiney hunting hour;-
And, save when the deep Bell boomed, you heard
The autumnal adieux of the Leaf and the Bird.-
Oh, had I not musings then! Romance
Mantled my thought in her noblest trance:
And Castles, and Barons, and Murderholes,

And Ghosts, that gibbered and squealed, (poor Souls !—)
And Battle, and Bridal, and Tournament,

Bewildered my head to my heart's content.

But now I have set up my Staff by the Sea;

And things are as altered as they can be!
The Tide comes in, and the Tide goes out,

When calm with a snivel, when rough with a shout:
Not a Tree to be seen; and the Sky, I declare,

If it does not scowl, will be sure to glare!
And the loveliest hues of my waking dream
Are alloyed with the odours of Pitch and Steam.
No lofty Horrors!-a capsized Boat,

And the Widow to beg for a black, petticoat :-
Or a Boiler burst, and a whole Ship's crew
With several arms and legs too few ;-
Or a sweet little family left to deplore

The Brandy at Sea, and the Sharks on shore,—
Are the only Themes for the heart or the eye,
To enliven its moody monotony.—

Your Dreams turn fishey; you see, when you nod,
A skeleton Skate, or a goblin Cod.-

The Mackarel Woman's your Faerie Queen;-
And your Car of Apollo,-a Bathing Machine.—

T. H. W.

SUPPLENDA.

SI was prevented by illness from making any notes at Chambery, it may not be unacceptable to the Reader if I substitute the following animated Extracts from the unpublished Papers (written Sixty Years since) of an accomplished English Ecclesiastic, principally referring to the lovely, fertile, and romantic Territory of Savoy and its vicinity.

September 22nd, 1783.

**

WE go from hence to Lyons, where we shall at present only pass a few days, and then proceed to Chambery, the capital of Savoy. We are induced to select Chambery, for the pleasure of rejoining the Baron de Chatillon, a young nobleman of Savoy, whom I fortunately met here, and soon distinguished from the herd of frivolous young Frenchmen about him. He is about eight and twenty, with the most manly and graceful person,

and a countenance as bright and open as the day: to all the politeness of the French, and all their quickness, he unites the frankness of an Englishman, and the insinuating softness of an Italian : his natural talents are highly cultivated, and excellent he has read much, discriminated much, and seen much he is a great proficient in music, and speaks the Italian language with as much elegance and fluency as the French. He made us promise to follow him into Savoy, to pass the Vintage there with him at his Country seat, and spend a part of the winter at Chambery, where he has his Town residence, and where his mother and two sisters reside; this will be an agreeable circumstance for my dear wife, as they are accomplished and amiable women.

Chambery, January 5th, 1784.

I AM lately returned with the Baron de Chatillon from an agreeable excursion into Bouget, a little neighbouring Province of France; we passed to it by the beautiful Lake of Bouget, which is three leagues long and one broad. On each hand the boldest rocks appeared, sometimes blank and precipitous, at others broken into a thousand fine angles, and adorned with all the various shades of Autumn; wherever there was an opening between them, you were certain to see it luxuriantly adorned