Page:Ainsworth's Magazine - Volume 2.pdf/384
A page right trusty stand,
And gladly bear each message—
Attend to each command!
The turnings great and small,
The stones upon the pathway—
I can avoid them all.
A truth too well I know;
I would cast light around him
Wherever he might go.
O'er him should always shine;
His sight all hearts should gladden,
Excepting only—mine![1]
I should not see their scorn;
And if, perchance, I heard it,
I know it could be borne.
Thou, the sun that cheer'd my blindness,—
Blessed voice! thou now art still.
Silence now my night has bound,
Dread and strange is all around—
All is desert, blank, and chill.
Why the colour leaves my cheek—
Why in death I am declining?
Cease your weeping, sisters dear,
Cease your questions—I can bear
All my fate without repining!
And without a wish, at last
Fearless to my grave I steal.
Owing nought to life, I part;
Calm and patient, in my heart
Now the peace of death I feel.
DESCENT OF THE GOSFORTH COLLIERY, NEWCASTLE.
BY JOHN BARROW, ESQ.
In the summer of 1839, being on a visit to some friends who reside near Newcastle-on-Tyne, I obtained permission to visit the "Gosforth Colliery." A coal-pit was to me a novelty, and this was of greater depth, and of greater extent under ground, than any in the immediate neighbourhood.
Having put on some thick clothing at the house of one of the underviewers, we proceeded a few paces to the shaft of the coal-pit, which I was informed descended perpendicularly to a depth of upwards of one thousand feet, or more than double the height of St. Paul's. The shaft was about four feet square, and boarded from top to bottom, to prevent the earth from falling in, as also to allow the baskets to run easy.
The only question asked by the underviewer was whether I had ever descended in a basket before. Upon informing him that I had not, he told me that all I had to do was to hold on by the chain which attached the basket to the rope, and to keep my head as close as possible to the chain, and not to look up. The last injunction was to prevent any particles of dust getting into the eyes. We now stepped into the basket, which was suspended over the dark abyss, the underviewer on one side, myself on the other—
"Facilis descensus Averno."
Away we went into utter darkness, my companion every now and then touching the sides of the shaft with his stick to steady the basket, which ever and anon struck and twisted about more than was agreeable. In about a minute we reached the bottom, when I was unceremoniously lifted out of the basket by some kind, and to me invisible friend, whose harsh, sepulchral voice, was
- ↑ The pathos in this verse is so exquisite, that I cannot resist giving it :Ihn sollte stets erfreuen / Das allerfreu'nde Licht, / Sein anblich sollte jeden / Erfreuen, mich nur nicht.—J.O.