Onward, amid the copse 'gan peep A narrow inlet, still and deep, Affording scarce such breadth of brim As served the wild duck's brood to swim.

Lost for a space, through thickets veering, But broader when again appearing, Tall rocks and tufted knolls their face Could on the dark-blue mirror trace;And farther as the Hunter strayed, Still broader sweep its channels made.

The shaggy mounds no longer stood, Emerging from entangled wood, But, wave-encircled, seemed to float, Like castle girdled with its moat;Yet broader floods extending still Divide them from their parent hill, Till each, retiring, claims to be An islet in an inland sea.