Chapter XIX: Prologue: To "the Lighthouse."

(Spoken by CHARLES DICKENS.)

_Slow music all the time, unseen speaker, curtain down._

A story of those rocks where doomed ships come
To cast them wreck'd upon the steps of home,
Where solitary men, the long year through--
The wind their music and the brine their view--
Warn mariners to shun the beacon-light;
A story of those rocks is here to-night.
Eddystone lighthouse

[_Exterior view discovered._

In its ancient form;
Ere he who built it wish'd for the great storm
That shiver'd it to nothing; once again
Behold outgleaming on the angry main!
Within it are three men; to these repair
In our frail bark of Fancy, swift as air!

They are but shadows, as the rower grim
Took none but shadows in his boat with him.
So be _ye_ shades, and, for a little space,
The real world a dream without a trace.
Return is easy. It will have ye back
Too soon to the old beaten dusty track;
For but one hour forget it. Billows rise,
Blow winds, fall rain, be black ye midnight skies;
And you who watch the light, arise! arise!

[_Exterior view rises and discovers the scene._

THE SONG OF THE WRECK.

I.

The wind blew high, the waters raved,
A ship drove on the land,
A hundred human creatures saved,
Kneeled down upon the sand.
Threescore were drowned, threescore were thrown
Upon the black rocks wild,
And thus among them, left alone,
They found one helpless child.

II.

A seaman rough, to shipwreck bred,
Stood out from all the rest,
And gently laid the lonely head
Upon his honest breast.
And travelling o'er the desert wide,
It was a solemn joy,
To see them, ever side by side,
The sailor and the boy.

III.

In famine, sickness, hunger, thirst,
The two were still but one,
Until the strong man drooped the first,
And felt his labours done.
Then to a trusty friend he spake,
"Across the desert wide,
O take this poor boy for my sake!"
And kissed the child and died.

IV.

Toiling along in weary plight,
Through heavy jungle, mire,
These two came later every night
To warm them at the fire.
Until the captain said one day,
"O seaman good and kind,
To save thyself now come away,
And leave the boy behind!"

V.

The child was slumb'ring near the blaze,
"O captain, let him rest
Until it sinks, when God's own ways
Shall teach us what is best!"
They watched the whitened ashy heap,
They touched the child in vain;
They did not leave him there asleep,
He never woke again.

This song was sung to the music of "Little Nell," a ballad composed by the late Mr. George Linley, to the words of Miss Charlotte Young, and dedicated to Charles Dickens. He was very fond of it, and his eldest daughter had been in the habit of singing it to him constantly since she was quite a child.

END OF VOL. I.

CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

Page 63, "levee" changed to "levee" (regular levee every)

Page 66, "levee" changed to "levee" (a regular levee)

Page 114, word "or" inserted into text. (hencoop or any old)

Page 304, 305, 307, 312, "Chateau" changed to "Chateau"

Page 339, "chistened" changed to "christened" (christened Trotty Veck)

End of Project Gutenberg's The Letters of Charles Dickens, by Charles Dickens