Very beautifully is the picture continued of the ship's passage, and he
appeals to it for safely conducting
"Thy dark freight, a vanish'd life."
The placid scene, which he had imagined as attending the vessel,
harmonizes with the home-bred fancy, that it is sweeter
"To rest beneath the clover sod,
That takes the sunshine and the rains;"
that is, to be buried in the open churchyard;
"Or where the kneeling hamlet drains
The chalice of the grapes of God."[12]
that is, in the chancel of the church, near the altar rails; than if,
together with the ship, "the roaring wells" of the sea
"Should gulf him fathom deep in brine;
And hands so often clasp'd in mine,
Should toss with tangle[13] and with shells."