Chapter IX

This poem commences an address to the ship that brings Hallam's body from Vienna to England--

"My lost Arthur's loved remains."

No words can be more touching than his appeal to the vessel,[10] for care and tenderness in transporting its precious freight. He bids it come quickly; "spread thy full wings," hoist every sail; "ruffle thy mirror'd mast;" for the faster the ship is driven through the water, the more will the reflected mast be "ruffled" on its agitated surface. May no rude wind "perplex thy sliding keel," until Phosphor the morning star, Venus shines; and during the night may the lights[11] above and the winds around be gentle as the sleep of him--

"My Arthur, whom I shall not see,
Till all my widow'd race be run--"

until my life, bereaved of its first affection, be over.

In Poem xvii., 5, the same line occurs--"Till all my widow'd race be run," and it agrees with St. Paul's declaration, 2 Tim., iv., 7, "I have finished my course." The words _race_ and _course_ are synonymous, and refer to the foot-races of the ancients. "More than my brothers are to me," is repeated in P. lxxix., 1.