On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Culver eliffV . They terminate * far in the ocean , very abruptly , in a bold perpendicular mass of dazzling chalk * Well f I walked one day towards the other extremity of the bay > often looking back at those white Culvers blazing in the sun * until I got so far as to see another white cliff , not so high , but still of enormous size , projecting beyond them , and which , being in form and colour
not unlike the swelling mainsail of a man-of-war , had something the appearance of a gigantic vessel doubling the point in order to come into the bay . Struck with this appearance , I lay me down on the sands to enjoy it , when , after gazing intently for some minutes , I actually beheld it move . It sailed off , right out into the sea , and then stood for the centre of the bay . Only imagine
my astonishment . On it came , that huge ship of solid chalk , and the very waves fled away affrighted from its prow , and came crowding and trembling to the shore for protection . As it approached , their alarm seemed greater , and for escape they eVett ran into the country , and up the adjacent hills , all in a foam . On it came ; and I saw that it had a crew ( such a crew !) of the same material as itself—monstrous animated blocks of chalk—
their eyes , the black glassy substances which stick about in the cliffs , all irregularly disposed , and glaring as with the light of spirit-lamps behind them ; their limbs , half shaped , as if not cut , but broken roughly out of the rock , moving as if by pulleys , and with a harsh grating noise ; their tramp on the deck resounded and re-echoed like thunder along the shore , towards which they seemed addressing themselves in a wild chaunt , which 1 imperfectly caught above the roar of the terrified waters- ^ something like this : —
* Brethren of chalk ! Brethren of stone ! Whose blood is the billow , and granite your bone ; We are free—so are ye—quick , awake from your trance ; Start , move , and unite in our song and our dance , Which we sang and we danced ere the hand of creation Had fixed us for props to vile man ' s habitation , —_ The song and the dance which old Chaos sublime Rejoiced in before the curst birthday of Time . We are free— -so are ye—join our dance axid our song-, Father Chaos is coming in triumph along . '
r he indeed , thinks I ; then here's a pretty white flag hoisted , and for a precious restoration . ' But I had no time to meditate , for all the cliffs along the bay , from Culver to Shankiin , from Shanklin to Dunnoae , and from Dunnose to Chine End / were already responding to the invocation of that chaotic crew . That
whole majestic line of coast broke into thousands of pieces , and every shapeless lump became instinct with life . O the horrid variety of monstrous forms that rushed into the ocean , leaving the land they had pillared for ages to sink , a helpless mass of untnead&ble mud ! The only tolerable form amongst them was my
Untitled Article
Sandrmm Bay . 9 ? ft
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1832, page 275, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1810/page/59/
-