Or, has continued to waste them since.
SAMUEL HICKSON.
I will not dwell on T. W.'s last remarks about Byron's "Address to the Ocean," farther than to observe, that it is difficult to conceive how he can understand the French translation which he quotes, in such a way that it shall tally with the view which he has put forward. The translation says, "the waves wasted their shores in the days of liberty, as they have done since under many a tyrant." This is very different from making the line mean either "the waves wasted the tyrants," as T. W. thinks it means with Byron's punctuation, or "the shores obey the tyrants," as T. W. would make it mean with his amended punctuation.
In a recent number (p. 325.) MR. M. COLLINS objects to—
"Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee in vain!"
and exclaims, "In vain!" Why, did not Columbus, &c.? But this criticism also overlooks the meaning of the passage. The fleets traverse the ocean quite in vain, as to producing any permanent traces, as is explained in the very next words:
"Man marks the earth with ruin: his control
Stops with the shore," &c.
W. W.
Cambridge.