Excerpt from Cwm Dhu, or the Black Dingle: Windermere; The Curse of Earth; And Other Poems As aeronauts, before they mount on high, With greater certainty that they may know What currents in those upper regions blow, A small balloon, their pilot, use to fly; So we, who would a bolder venture try, Our pinions' doubtful strength that we may prove In Fancy's loftier realms expert to move, Nor unknown dangers carelessly defy, Throw out these scattered leaves inquiringly Content to watch, if haply they may rise On favouring gales like those that breathe below Or should perchance their luckless fate belie The hope that prompted to the fond emprize, Each more ambitious project to forego. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.