Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Ocean
Hear old ocean roar!
Dr. Young.—Last Day, Book I. Line 34.
The storm is up; the anchor spring,
And man the sails, my merry men;
I must not lose the carolling
Of ocean in a hurricane.
George Gray.—(Quoted by the Rev. G. Gilfilian in the Life of Falconer, in his edition of the British Poets.)
And I have loved thee, ocean! and my joy
Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be
Borne, like thy bubbles, onward: from a boy
I wanton’d with thy breakers—they to me
Were a delight; and if the fresh’ning sea
Made them a terror—’twas a pleasing fear,
For I was as it were a child of thee,
And trusted to thy billows far and near,
And laid my hand upon thy mane—as I do here.
Byron.—Childe Harold, Canto IV. Stanza 184.
[From the above source I have culled the following remarkable coincidences between this Gray and the preceding quotation from Byron:—]
G. Gray.
My soul mates with the mountain storm;
I’ll bid him welcome, clap his mane,
And hug his breakers to my breast.
Byron.
I have loved thee, ocean, and was as a child of thee,
And laid my hand upon thy mane.
My joy was on thy breast to be borne. I wanton’d with thy breakers.