The Sea-King A metrical romance, in six cantos. With notes, historical and illustrative. By J. Stanyan Bigg |
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 | The Sea-King |  |
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XV.
He led him on through many a gloomy vault,Until at length they came
Where twice five thousand steps descended,
And polished marble was their frame:
Above, the flickering flame
Revealed the damp and dripping roof:
It was a reeking rock of darkest gloom,
Against the inroads of the sea scarce proof.
And as they downward wended,
It seemed that they descended
Into the bowels of a yawning tomb;
For damp and noxious steams came through the air,
And hung like halos round the lamp-light's lurid glare.
| The Sea-King | |