THE BELLS OF OSTEND.
Reading edition
WRITTEN ON A BEAUTIFUL MORNING AFTER A STORM,
BY W. L. BOWLES,
THE MUSIC COMPOSED AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO
SAMUEL MOFFAT JR. ESQ. OF ALBANY,
BY J. HILTON JONES.
No, I never, till life and its shadows shall end,
Can forget the sweet sound of the bells of Ostend!
The day set in darkness, the wind it blew loud,
And rung as it pass’d thro’ each
murmuring shroud.
My forehead was wet with the foam of the spray,
My heart sighed in secret for those far away;
When slowly the morning advanc’d from the east,
The toils and the noise of the tempest had ceased:
The peal from a land I ne’er saw seemed to say,
Let the stranger forget all his sorrow to-day.
SECOND VERSE.
Yet the short-lived emotion was mingled with pain—
I thought of those eyes I should ne’er see again;
I thought of the kiss, the last kiss which I gave,
And a tear of regret fell unseen on the wave;
I thought of the schemes fond affection had planned,
Of the trees, of the towers of my own native land;
But still the sweet sounds, as they swelled on the air
Seemed tidings of pleasure, though mournful to bear;
And I never, till life and its shadows shall end,
Can forget the sweet sound of the bells of Ostend.
Transcriber’s Notes:
For illustrations, some caption text may be missing or incomplete due to condition of the originals available for preparation of the ebook. In the story The Wager of Battle, the Chapter VI heading is missing due to being absent from the original publication. Hyphenation and archaic spellings have been retained. Punctuation has been corrected without note. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected as noted below.
page 90, leaves are sear, ==> leaves are sere,
page 93, to make their ==> to make to their
page 104, whispered a page ==> whispered to a page
page 106, cylinders and guaging ==> cylinders and gauging
page 107, for the denouément ==> for the dénouement
page 107, I glad ==> I am glad
page 110, from all wordly ==> from all worldly
page 111, none was politec ==> none was politic
page 111, of their Lupercalla ==> of their Lupercalia
page 113, the wordly advantages ==> the worldly advantages
page 113, Mendelsshon’s music ==> Mendelssohn’s music
page 114, Druid chorusses ==> Druid choruses
page 119, Greydon, then she ==> Greydon, than she
page 121, tonge of flame ==> tongue of flame
page 125, from a regime forcé ==> from a régime forcé
page 127, merchans of celebrity ==> merchants of celebrity
page 128, ask him them ==> ask him then
page 132, sod have been ==> sod had been
page 132, sear turf of ==> sere turf of
page 145, havn’t told us ==> haven’t told us
page 146, physican arrived ==> physician arrived
page 150, maiden-thought be- becomes ==> maiden-thought becomes
page 151, style and rythm ==> style and rhythm
page 152, invaluabte companion ==> invaluable companion
page 153, with the orginal ==> with the original
page 154, down and mak ==> down and make
page 155, was her’s ==> was hers
page 155, an open sessame ==> an open sesame