She sails; and swifter than the course of light
Directs her rapid intellectual flight:
The fugitive ideas she restores,
And calls the wandering thought from Lethe's shores;
To things long past a second date she gives,
And hoary time from her fresh youth receives; 100
Congenial sister of immortal Fame,
She shares her power, and Memory is her name.
O first-born daughter of primeval time!
By whom transmitted down in every clime
The deeds of ages long elapsed are known,
And blazon'd glories spread from zone to zone;
Whose magic breath dispels the mental night,
And o'er the obscured idea pours the light:
Say on what seas, for thou alone canst tell,
What dire mishap a fated ship befell, 110
Assail'd by tempests, girt with hostile shores?
Arise! approach! unlock thy treasured stores!
Full on my soul the dreadful scene display,
And give its latent horrors to the day.


[Footnote 1: 'A ship-boy,' &c.: Shakspeare's 'Henry the Fourth,' act
iii.]
[Footnote 2: 'Isthmus:' of Darien.]