These are thy toys, and, as the snowy flake,
They melt into thy yeast of waves, which mar
Alike the Armada's pride, or spoils of Trafalgar."
And then he proceeds, according to my view of the passage, and according to the French translator's view, to point out, that while the shores of the ocean are changed, the action of the ocean continues the same; that it wasted the empires of the ancient world when they were free, and wasted them when they fell under the sway of tyrants:
"Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee—
Assyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, what are they?
Thy waters wasted them while they were free,
And many a tyrant since their shores obey."
Here there seems to be a logical sequence, which is surely not to be found if the semicolon is kept, as MR. CROSSLEY wishes to keep it, after the word "since."
"Thy waters wasted them while they were free,