| C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. 1917. | | | | Shipwreck |
| | | | He who has suffered shipwreck, fears to sail |
| Upon the seas, though with a gentle gale. |
Herrick. | 1 |
| | Or shipwrecked, kindles on the coast |
| False fires, that others may be lost. |
Wordsworth. | 2 |
| | Some hoisted out the boats, and there was one |
| That begged Pedrillo for an absolution, |
| Who told him to be damnd,in his confusion. |
Byron. | 3 |
| | Then rose from sea to sky the wild farewell |
| Then shriekd the timid, and stood still the brave, |
| Then some leapd overboard with fearful yell, |
| As eager to anticipate their grave. |
Byron. | 4 |
| | O, I have sufferd |
| With those that I saw suffer! a brave vessel, |
| Who had no doubt some noble creature in her, |
| Dashd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock |
| Against my very heart! poor souls! they perishd. |
Shakespeare. | 5 |
| | But hark! what shriek of death comes in the gale, |
| And in the distant ray what glimmering sail |
| Bends to the storm?Now sinks the note of fear! |
| Ah! wretched mariners!no more shall day |
| Unclose his cheering eye to light ye on your way! |
Mrs. Radcliffe. | 6 |
| | And fast through the midnight dark and drear, |
| Through the whistling sleet and snow, |
| Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept |
| Towards the reef of Normans Woe. |
Longfellow. | 7 |
| | In vain, alas! the sacred shades of yore |
| Would arm the mind with philosophic lore, |
| In vain theyd teach us, at the latest breath, |
| To smile serene amid the pangs of death. |
Falconer. | 8 |
| | Again she plunges! hark! a second shock |
| Bilges the splitting vessel on the rock; |
| Down on the vale of death, with dismal cries, |
| The fated victims shuddering cast their eyes |
| In wild despair; while yet another stroke |
| With strong convulsion rends the solid oak: |
| Ah heaven!behold her crashing ribs divide! |
| She loosens, parts, and spreads in ruin oer the tide. |
Falconer. | 9 | | |
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