Definitions.—­2.  Eu’lo-gy, a speech or writing in praise of the character of a person.  Cher’ished, supported, nurtured with care. 4.  Ap-pre’ci-at-ed (pro. ap-pre’shi-at-ed), valued justly. 5.  Con—­sci-en’tious (pro. kon-shi-en’shus), governed by a strict regard to the rules of right and wrong. 7.  Mood, state of mind, disposition. 11.  Sub-dued’, reduced to tenderness, softened. 12.  In-de-pend’ent, not relying on others. 13.  Leg’a-cy, a gift by will, a bequest. 14.  Cap’i-tal stock employed in any business.

LXXXVIII.  THE INCHCAPE ROCK.

Robert Southey was a celebrated English poet, born 1774, who once held the honorable position of poet laureate.  He wrote a great deal both in prose and verse.  He died in 1843.

1.  No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,
   The ship was as still as she could be,
   Her sails from heaven received no motion,
   Her keel was steady in the ocean.

2.  Without either sign or sound of their shock
   The waves flowed over the Inchcape Rock;
   So little they rose, so little they fell,
   They did not move the Inchcape Bell.

3.  The good old Abbot of Aberbrothok
   Had placed that bell on the lnchcape Rock;
   On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung,
   And over the waves its warning rung.

4.  When the Rock was hid by the surges’ swell,
   The mariners heard the warning bell;
   And then they knew the perilous Rock,
   And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok.

5.  The sun in heaven was shining gay,
   All things were joyful on that day;
   The sea birds screamed as they wheeled round,
   And there was joyance in their sound.

6.  The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen
   A darker speck on the ocean green;
   Sir Ralph the Rover walked his deck,
   And he fixed his eye on the darker speck.

7.  He felt the cheering power of spring,
   It made him whistle, it made him sing;
   His heart was mirthful to excess,
   But the Rover’s mirth was wickedness.

8.  His eye was on the Inchcape float;
   Quoth he, “My men put out the boat,
   And row me to the Inchcape Rock,
   And I’ll plague the Abbot of Aberbrothok.”

9.  The boat is lowered, the boatmen row,
   And to the Inchcape Rock they go;
   Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,
   And he cut the bell from the Inchcape float.

10.  Down sunk the bell, with a gurgling sound,
    The bubbles rose and burst around;
    Quoth Sir Ralph, “The next who comes to the Rock,
    Won’t bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok.”

11.  Sir Ralph the Rover sailed away,
    He scoured the seas for many a day;
    And now grown rich with plundered store,
    He steers his course for Scotland’s shore.

12.  So thick a haze o’erspreads the sky
    They can not see the sun on high;
    The wind hath blown a gale all day,
    At evening it hath died away.