_(First printed in the Graphic Illustrator.)_
The catastrophe described in the following sketch, occurred near
_Highbridge_, in Somersetshire, about the year 1779.--Mr. or
_Doctor Cox_, as surgeons are usually called in the west, was
the only medical resident at Huntspill, and in actual practice
for many miles around that village. The conduct of Mr. Robert
Evans, the friend and associate of Cox, can only be accounted for
by one of those unfortunate infatuations to which the minds of
some are sometimes liable. Had an immediate alarm been given when
we children first discovered that Cox was missing, he might,
probably, have been saved. The real cause of his death was, a too
great abstraction of heat from the body; as the water was fresh
and still, and of considerable depth, and, under the surface, much
beneath the usual temperature of the human body. This fact ought
to be a lesson to those who bathe in still and deep fresh water;
and to warn them to continue only a short time in such a cold
medium. [Footnote: Various efforts to restore the suspended
animation of _Cox,_ such as shaking him, rolling him on a
cask, attempts to get out the water which it was then presumed had
got into the stomach or the lungs, or both, in the drowning;
strewing salt over the body, and many other equally ineffectual
and improper methods to restore the circulation were, I believe,
pursued. Instead of which, had the body been laid in a natural
position, and the lost heat gradually administered, by the
application of warm frictions, a warm bed, &c., how easily in all
probability, would animation have been restored!]
The BRUE war bright, and deep and clear;
[Footnote: The reader must not suppose that the _river Brue,_
is generally a clear stream, or always rapid. I have elsewhere
called it "lazy Brue." It is sometimes, at and above the
floodgates at _Highbridge,_ when they are not closed by the
tide, a rapid stream; but through the moors, generally, its course
is slow. In the summertime, and at the period to which allusion is
made, the floodgates were closed.]
And Lammas dâ and harras near:
The zun upon the waters drode
Girt sheets of light as on a rode;
From zultry heät the cattle hirn'd
To shade or water as to firnd:
Men, too, in yarly âternoon
Doft'd quick ther cloaths and dash'd in zoon
To thic deep river, whaur the trout,
In all ther prankin, plâd about;
And yels wi' zilver skins war zid,
While gudgeons droo the wâter slid,
Wi' carp sumtimes and wither fish
Avoordon many a dainty dish.
Whaur elvers too in spring time plâd,
[Footnote: Young eels are called _elvers_ in Somersetshire.
_Walton_, in his Angler, says, "Young eels, in the Severn,
are called _yelvers_." In what part of the country through
which the Severn passes they are called yelvers we are not told in
Walton's book; as eels are called, in Somersetshere, yels, analogy
seems to require _yelvers_ for their young; but I never heard
them so called. The elvers used to be obtained from the salt-water
side of the bridge.]
And pailvuls mid o' them be had.
The wâter cold--the zunshine bright,
To zwiminers than what high delight!
'Tis long agwon whun youth and I
Wish'd creepin Time would rise and vly--
A, half a hundred years an moor
Zunz I a trod theäze earthly vloor!
I zed, the face o' Brue war bright;
Time smil'd too in thic zummer light.
Wi' Hope bezide en promising
A wordle o' fancies wild ö' whing.
I mine too than one lowering cloud
That zim'd to wrop us like a shroud;
The death het war o' Doctor Cox--
To thenk o't now the storry shocks!
Vor âll the country vur and near
Shod than vor'n many a horty tear.
The _Doctor_ like a duck could zwim;
No fear o' drownin daver'd him!
The pectur now I zim I zee!
I wish I could liet's likeness gee!
His _Son_, my brother _John, myzel_,
Or _Evans_, mid the storry tell;
But thâ be gwon and I, o' âll
O'm left to zâ what did bevâll.
Zo, nif zo be you like, why I
To tell the storry now ool try.
Thic _Evans_had a coward core
And fear'd to venter vrom the shore;
While to an vro, an vur an near,
And now an tan did _Cox_ appear
In dalliance with the wâters bland,
Or zwimmin wi' a maëster hand.
We youngsters dree, the youngest I,
To zee the zwimmers âll stood by
Upon the green bonk o' the Brue
Jist whaur a stook let water droo:
A quiet time of joyousness
Zim'd vor a space thic dâ to bless!
A dog' too, faithful to his maëster
War there, and mang'd wi' the disaster--
_Vigo_, ah well I mine his name!
A Newvoun-lond and very tame!
But Evans only war to blame:
He âllès paddled near the shore
Wi' timid hon and coward core;
While _Doctor Cox_ div'd, zwim'd at ease
Like fishes in the zummer seas;
Or as the skaiters on the ice
In winin circles wild and nice
Yet in a moment he war gwon,
The wonderment of ivry one:
That is, we _dree_ and Evans, âll
That zeed what Blanscue did bevâll.--
Athout one sign, or naise, or cry,
Or shriek, or splash, or groan, or sigh!
Could zitch a zwimmer ever die
In wâter?--Yet we gaz'd in vain
Upon thic bright and wâter plain:
All smooth and calm--no ripple gave
One token of the zwimmer's grave!
We hir'd en not, we zeed en not!--
The glassy wâter zim'd a blot?
While Evans, he of coward core,
Still paddled as he did bevore!
At length our fears our silence broke,--
Young as we war, and children âll,
We wish'd to goo an zum one câll;
But Evans carelissly thus spoke--
"Oh, _Cox_ is up the river gone,
Vor sartain ool be back anon;--
He tâlk'd o' cyder, zed he'd g'up
To Stole's an drenk a horty cup!"
[Footnote: Mr. Stole resided near _Newbridge_, about a mile
from the spot where the accident occurred; he was somewhat famous
for his cyder.]
Conjecture anty as the wine!
And zoon did he het's faleshood vine.
_John Cox_ took up his father's cloaths--
Poor fellow! he beginn'd to cry!
Than, Evans vrom the wâter rose;
"A hunderd vawk'll come bimeby,"
A zed; whun, short way vrom the shore.
We zeed, what zeed we not avore,
The _head_ of Doctor Cox appear--
Het floated in the wâter clear!
Bolt upright war he, and his hair,
That pruv'd he sartainly war there,
Zwimm'd on the wâter!--Evans than,
The stupid'st of a stupid man,
Call'd _Vigo_--pointed to that head--
In _Vigo_ dash'd--_Cox was not dead_!
But seiz'd the dog's lag--helt en vast!
One struggle, an het war the last!
Ah! well do I remember it--
That struggle I sholl ne'er forgit!
Vigo was frightened and withdrew;
The body zink'd at once vrom view.
Did _Evans_, gallid _Evans_ then,
Câll out, at once, vor father's men?
(Thâ war at work vor'n very near
A mendin the old Highbridge pier,)
A did'n câll, but 'mus'd our fear--
"A hundred vawk ool zoon be here!"
A zed.--We gid the hue and cry!
And zoon a booät wi' men did vly!
But twar âll auver! _Cox_ war voun
Not at the bottom lyin down,
But up aneen, as jist avore
We zeed en floatin nigh the shore.
But death 'ad done his wust--not âll
Thâ did could life's last spork recall.
Zo Doctor Cox went out o' life
A vine, a, and as honsom mon,
As zun hath iver shin'd upon;
A left a family--a _wife_,
Two _sons_--one_dater_,
As beautiful as lovely Mâ,
Of whom a-mâ-bi I mid za
Zumthin hereâter:
What thâ veel'd now I sholl not tell--
My hort athin me 'gins to zwell!
Reflection here mid try in vain,
Wither particulars to gain,
_Evans_ zim'd all like one possest;
Imagination! tell the rest!