2-996-003 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Tis a Wild Night at Sea", 1860. '...Mr. Routledge has commenced the issue of his usual series of magnificent gift-books. This is a volume got up in the very first style of richness and ornamentation...and crowded with illustrations to poems selected by the author. The artists who have been chosen to deal with the subjects are familiar for their excellence, being John Gilbert, J. Wolf, Harrison Weir, J. D. Watson, &c.; while the execution of the engravings has been committed to the trusty hands of the Messrs. Dalziel... "Tis a Wild Night at Sea. The clouds arose in giant shape, And the wind with a piercing gust - Dark as a murderer's mask of crape, And sharp as a poniard-thrust...A maiden look'd from a lattice-pane Toward where the ocean lay; And her gaze was fix'd with earnest strain On the beacon, leagues away. She knew that he who had won her soul Was getting close to land; And she clutched at every thunder roll With a hard, convulsive hand...Morning came with a tale too true, As sad as tale could be: "A homeward bound" went down with her crew, "'Twas a wild night at sea...The maiden still is in her home, But not a word breathes she; Save those that seal'd her spirit doom - " 'Tis a wild night at sea!".' From "Illustrated London News", 1860.