[ [527] [For the invention of the electric telegraph before the date of this poem, see Sir Francis Ronalds, F. R. S., and his Works in connection with Electric Telegraphy in 1816, by J. Sime, 1893. But the "Telegraph" to which Byron refers was, probably, the semaphore (from London to Portsmouth), which, according to [Sir] John Barrow, the Secretary of the Admiralty, rendered "telegraphs of any kind now wholly unnecessary" (vide ibid., p. 10).]

[ [528] {506}[Compare, for similarity of sound—

"It plunged and tacked and veered."

Ancient Mariner, pt. iii. line 156.]

[ [ha]

——No land was ever overflowed
By locusts as the Heaven appeared by these.—[MS. erased.]

[ [hb] And many-languaged cries were like wild geese.—[Erased.]

[ [529] [Compare—

"Wherefore with thee
Came not all Hell broke loose?"

Paradise Lost, iv. 917, 918.]