A LEGEND OF THE ATLANTIC.

Lightly the south wind kissed the sea,
As it slept in deep tranquillity,

And the crescent moon was bathed in light,
Like a silver loop of the curtained night,
And the stars were twinkling bright and high,
Like human eyes, in the ample sky.

Along the shore of the beautiful bay,

The Kazie ploughed on her stately way;

Among the superstitions which prevailed in the colonies, during the early times of the settlements, there seems to have been a singular one about phantom ships. The superstitious fancies of men are always apt to turn upon those objects which concern their daily occupations. The solitary ship, which, from year to year, came like a raven in the wilderness, bringing to the inhabitants of a settlement the com- . forts of life from the world from which they were cut off, was apt to be present to their dreams, whether sleeping or waking. The accidental sight from shore of a sail gliding along the horizon in those, as yet, lonely seas, was apt to be a matter of much talk and speculation. There is mention made by one of the early New England writers, of a ship navigated by witches, with a great horse that stood by the main. mast. I have met with another story, somewhere, of a ship that drove on shore, in fair, sunny, tranquil weather, with sails all set, and a table spread in the cabin, as if to regale a number of guests, yet not a living being on board. These phantom ships always sailed in the eye of the wind, or ploughed their way with great velocity, making the smooth sea foam before their bows, when not a breath of air was stirring.-Washington Irving.

The spray was dashed from her cleaving prow,
And fell like gems to the waves below,
And the mariners laughed with joy to see
The track she left on her foaming lee.

Time glowed on its axle. Away, like light,
The hours had fled in their traceless flight.
The ship had entered the heaving main,
And sullenly ploughed the untrodden plain.
The sailors slept; but the face of the sky
Was darkened by clouds that were coming nigh,
And the vessel rocked to the rising swell,
And the sails flapped loose, or idly fell,
And the helmsman's brow grew troubled fast,
As the giant clouds went driving past.

*

*

Now, as far on the sea as the sight could lie, Where the ocean joined to the stooping sky,

Seen dim through the mist like the moon in her wane,
Strange gleamings of light flashed again and again.
A moment-the blood, like electrical light,
Rushes back on the heart-the doom'd ship is in sight!
And up to the sky went a shrieking of fear,
As the light on her quarter flashed fearfully near.
Ah! well may the gray-haired seaman tell
The tale of that vessel he knows so well;

That the spirits of some who were murderers at sea,
On the deck of that ship are known to be,
With a sense of life and a perishing thirst,
On the sight of the living in storm they burst,
For ever in chase, with a fearful way,

Of relief for whose coming they may not stay.

**

Nearer, still nearer, their shouts are heard;
They are chasing a ship with the speed of a bird;
The furrow is deep in the waters they sever-
And the ship they pursue has gone down for ever!
On came the prison of souls to view,
Enveloped in clouds of a fiery hue;
Her bellying sails gave way to the blast,
And bent the lithe topsail and stately mast,
While in strong relief on the lurid glow,

Was painted each spar of the " mariners' foe."

The spray was dashed from her cleaving prow,
And fell like gems to the waves below,
And the mariners laughed with joy to see
The track she left on her foaming lee.

Time glowed on its axle. Away, like light,
The hours had fled in their traceless flight.
The ship had entered the heaving main,
And sullenly ploughed the untrodden plain.
The sailors slept; but the face of the sky
Was darkened by clouds that were coming nigh,
And the vessel rocked to the rising swell,
And the sails flapped loose, or idly fell,
And the helmsman's brow grew troubled fast,
As the giant clouds went driving past.

*

*

*

Now, as far on the sea as the sight could lie,
Where the ocean joined to the stooping sky,

Seen dim through the mist like the moon in her wane,
Strange gleamings of light flashed again and again.
A moment-the blood, like electrical light,

Rushes back on the heart-the doom'd ship is in sight!
And up to the sky went a shrieking of fear,
As the light on her quarter flashed fearfully near.
Ah! well may the gray-haired seaman tell
The tale of that vessel he knows so well;
That the spirits of some who were murderers at sea,
On the deck of that ship are known to be,
With a sense of life and a perishing thirst,
On the sight of the living in storm they burst,
For ever in chase, with a fearful way,

Of relief for whose coming they may not stay.

*

Nearer, still nearer, their shouts are heard;
They are chasing a ship with the speed of a bird;
The furrow is deep in the waters they sever-
And the ship they pursue has gone down for ever!
On came the prison of souls to view,
Enveloped in clouds of a fiery hue;
Her bellying sails gave way to the blast,
And bent the lithe topsail and stately mast,
While in strong relief on the lurid glow,
Was painted each spar of the "mariners' foe."