ELEGY OF THE TIMES. First printed at
BOSTON,
Sept.
20th,
1774.
By
JOHN TRUMBULL, Esq.
OH BOSTON! late with ev'ry pleasure crown'd,
Where Commerce triumph'd on the favoring gales,
And each pleas'd eye, that rov'd in prospect round,
Hail'd thy bright spires and bless'd thy op'ning sails!
Thy plenteous marts with rich profusion smil'd;
The gay throng crouded in thy spacious streets;
From either IND thy chearful stores were fill'd;
Thy ports were gladden'd with unnumber'd fleets.
For there more fair than in their native vales,
Tall groves of masts arose in beauteous pride;
The waves were whiten'd by the swelling sails,
And plenty wafted on the neighb'ring tide.
Alas, how chang'd! the swelling sails no more
Catch the fair winds and wanton in the sky;
But hostile beaks affright the guarded shore,
And pointed thunders all access deny.
[Page 2]
Where the bold Cape its warning forehead rears,
Where tyrant Vengeance waved her magic wand,
Far from the sight each friendly vessel veers,
Calls the kind gales and flies the fatal strand.
The ruin'd Merchant turns his mournful eyes
From the drear shore and desolated way;
Thy silent marts unusual glooms surprize,
And through thy streets the sons of rapine stray.
Such the dread stillness of the desert night,
When brooding ho
[...]ror settles on the groves;
While powers of darkness claim their ha
[...]eful right,
And fierce for prey the savage tyger roves.
Along thy fields, which late in beauty shone
With lowing herds and grassy vesture fair,
The insulting tents of barbarous troops are strown,
And bloody standards stain the peaceful air.
Are these thy deeds, oh Britain? this the praise,
That points the growing lustre of thy name?
These glorious works that in thy latter days,
Gild the bright period of thine early fame?
Shall thy strong fleets, with awful sails
[...]unfurl'd,
On Freedom's shrines the unhallow'd vengeance bend?
And leave forlorn the desolated world,
Crush'd—every foe, and ruin'd—every friend!
And damp'd alas! thy soul-inspiring ray,
Where Virtue prompted and where Genius soar'd,
Or quench'd in darkness, and the gloomy sway
Of Senates venal and the liveried Lord!
[Page 3]
There shame sits blazon'd on the unmeaning brow,
And o'er the scene thy factious Nobles wait,
Prompt the mixt tumult of the noisy show,
Guide the blind vote and rule the mock debate.
To these how vain, in weary woes forlorn,
With fearful hands the fond complaint to raise,
Lift fruitless offerings to the ear of Scorn—
Of servile vows and well-dissembled praise!
Will the grim savage of the nightly fold
Learn from their cries the blameless flock to spare?
Will the deaf gods, that frown in molten gold,
Bless the dup'd hand, that spreads the prostrate prayer?
With what pleas'd hope before the face of Pride,
We rear'd our suppliant eyes with filial awe;
While loud Disdain with ruffian voice reply'd,
And Injury triumph'd in the garb of Law!
While Peers enraptur'd hail the unmanly wrong,
See Ribaldry, vile prostitute of shame,
Stretch the brib'd hand and prompt the venal tongue,
To blast the laurels of a FRANKLIN's fame!
But will the Sage, whose philosophic soul,
Controul'd the lightning in its fierce career,
Hear'd unappal'd the aerial thunders roll,
And taught the bolts of vengeance where to steer;—
Will he, while echoing to his just renown
The voice of kingdoms swells the loud applause;
Heed the weak malice of a Courtier's frown,
Or dread the coward insolence of laws?
[Page 4]
See envying Britain rends the sacred bays;
Illuded Justice pens the mock decree;
While Infamy her darling scroll displays,
And points well pleas'd, oh, WEDDERBURNE, to thee!
For nought avail
[...] the virtues of the heart,
The vengeful bolt no Muse's laurels ward;
From Britain's rage, and death's relentless dart,
No worth can save us, and no fame can guard.
O'er hallow'd bounds see dire Oppression roll;
Fair Freedom buried in the whelming flood;
Nor charter'd rights the tyrant course controul,
Though seal'd by Kings and witness'd in our blood.
No more shall Justice with unbiass'd hand,
From lawless Rapine snatch her trembling prey,
While in her balance by
supreme command
Hang the dead weights of ministerial sway.
(For taught by pain, our injur'd bosoms feel
The potent claims whence all our woes began,
And own
supreme the power, that could repeal,
Those laws of heaven, that guard the rights of man.)
In vain we hope from Britain's haughty pride
An hand to save us, or an heart to bless;
'Tis strength, our own, must stem the rushing tide,
And our own virtue yield the wish'd success.
But, oh, my friends, the arm of blood
* restrain!
(No rage intemperate aids the public weal)
Nor basely blend (too daring, but in vain)
The assassin's madness with the patriot's zeal.
[
For the Note, see next page.]
[Page 5]
Shall the fields blush, with vital crimson stain'd,
When blind resentment marks the victim'd breast?
Will reeking life, by vengeful hands prophan'd,
Our wrongs relieve, or charm our woes to rest?
Ours be the manly firmness of the sage,
From shameless foes the ungrateful wounds to bear;
Alike remov'd from baseness and from rage,
The flames of faction, and the chills of fear.
Check the vast torrent of commercial gain,
That buys our ruin at a price so rare;
And while we scorn Britannia's servile chain,
Disdain the livery of her marts to wear.
For shall the lust of fashions and of show,
The curst idolatry of silks and lace,
Bid our proud robes insult our Country's woe,
And welcome Slav'ry in the glare of dress?
Will the blind dupe, in liveried tinsel gay,
Boast the shamed trappings, that adorn the slave?
Will the fond mourner change his sad array,
To attend in gorgeous pomp a parent's grave?
[Page 6]
No! the rich produce of our fertile soil,
Shall cloath the neatness of our chearful train,
While heaven-born virtues bless the pious toil,
And gild the humble vestures of the plain.
No foreign labour in the Asian field
Shall weave her silks to deck the wanton age,
But, as in Rome, the furrow'd vale shall yield
The unvanquish'd Chieftain and paternal Sage.
And ye, whose heaven in ermin'd pomp to shine,
To run with joy the vain, luxurious round,
Bless the full banquet with the charms of win
[...]
And roll the thundering chariot o'er the ground▪
For this, while guis'd in sycophantic smile,
With hearts all mindless of your country's pain,
Your flattering falshoods feed the ears of Guile,
And barter freedom for the dreams of gain!
Are these the joys, on vassal'd climes that wait—
In downs of ease luxuriant to repose,
Quaff streams nectareous in the domes of state,
And blaze in splendor of imperial shows?
No—the hard hand, the tortur'd brow of Care,
The thatch-roof'd hamlet and defenceless shed,
The tatter'd garb, that meets the inclement air,
The famish'd table, and the matted bed.—
These are their fate—In vain the arm of toil
With gifts autumnal crowns the bearded plain;
In vain glad Summer prompts the genial soil,
And Spring dissolves in softening showers in vain;
[Page 7]
There savage Power extends his dismal shade,
And chill Oppression, with her frosts severe,
Sheds her dire blastings o'er the springing blade,
And robs the expecting labours of the year.
So must we sink?—and at the stern command
That bears the terrors of a tyrant's word,
Bend the crouch'd knee and raise the suppliant hand,
The scorn'd, dependant, vassals of a Lord?
The wintry ravage of the storm to meet,
Brave the scorch'd vapours of the autumnal air,
Then pour the hard-earn'd harvest at his feet,
And beg some pittance from our pains to share?
But not for this, by heaven and virtue led,
From the mad rule of hierarchal pride,
From slavish chains our injur'd fathers fled,
And follow'd freedom on the advent'rous tide;
Dar'd the wild horrors of these climes unknown,
The insidious savage, and the crimson'd plain,
To us bequeath'd the prize, their woes had won,
Nor deem'd they suffer'd, or they bled in vain.
And think'st thou, NORTH, the sons of such a race,
Where beams of glory blest their purpled morn,
Will shrink unnerv'd before a tyrant's face,
Nor meet thy louring insolence with scorn?
Look thro' the circuit of the extended shore,
That checks the surges of the Atlantic deep!
What weak eye trembles at the frowns of pow'r?
What leaden soul invites the bands of sleep?
[Page 8]
How Goodness warms each heaven-illumin'd heart▪
What generous gifts the woes of want assuage,
And sympathetic tears of pity start,
To aid the destin'd victims of thy rage!
No clamourous faction with unhallow'd zeal
To wayward madness wakes the impassion'd throng;
No thoughtless furies sheath their breasts with steel,
Or call the sword to avenge the oppressive wrong.
Fraternal bands with vows accordant join;
One guardian Genius, one enrapturing Soul
Nerves the bold arm, inflames the just design,
Combines, inspirits, and illumes, the whole.
Now meet the Fathers of this western clime;
Nor names more noble graced the rolls of fame,
When Spartan firmness brav'd the wrecks of time,
Or Rome's bold virtues fann'd the heroic flame.
Not deeper thought th' immortal Sage inspir'd,
On Solon's lips when Grecian senates hung;
Nor manlier eloquence the bosom fir'd,
When genius thunder'd from the Athenian tongue.
And hopes thy pride to match the patriot strain
By the brib'd slave in pension'd lists enroll'd;
Or awe their councils by the voice prophane,
That wakes to utterance at the calls of gold?
Can frowns of terror daunt the warrior's deeds,
Where guilt is stranger to the ingenuous heart?
Or Craft illude, where godlike Science sheds
[...] of knowledge and the gifts of art?
[Page 9]
Go, raise thy hand, and with its magic pow'r
Pencil with night the sun's ascending ray,
Bid the broad veil eclipse the noon-tide hour,
And damps of stygian darkness shroud the day.—
(Such night as lours o'er Britain's fated land,
Where rayless shades the darken'd throne surround;
Nor deeper glooms at Moses' waving wand,
Pour'd their thick horrors o'er the Memphian ground.)
Bid heav'ns dread thunders at thy voice expire,
Or chain the angry vengeance of the waves;
Then hope thy breath can chill th' eternal fire,
And free souls pinion with the bonds of slaves.
Thou canst not hope—Attend the flight of days,
View the bold deeds, that wait the dawning age,
Where Time's strong arm, that rules the mighty maze,
Shifts the proud actors on this earthly stage!
Then tell us, NORTH,—for thou art sure to know;
For have not Kings and fortune made thee great?
Or lurks not genius in th' ennobled brow,
And dwells not wisdom in the robes of state?
Tell how the pow'rs of luxury and pride,
Taint thy pure zephyrs with their poison'd breath;
How dark Corruption spreads th' envenom'd tide,
And Britain trembles on the verge of death.
And tell how, rapt by Freedom's deathless flame,
And fost'ring influence of the fav
[...]ring skies,
This Western World, the last recess of fame,
Sees in her wilds a new-born empire rise:
[Page 10]
A new-born Empire, whose ascendant hour
Defies the foes, that would its life destroy,
And like Alcides, with its infant power
Shall crush those serpents, who its rest annoy.
Then look thro' time, and with extended eye,
Pierce the deep veil of fate's obscure domain!
The morning dawns, th' effulgent star is nigh,
And crimson'd glories deck her rising reign!
Behold afar beneath the cloud of days,
Where rest the wonders of ascending fame;
What Heroes rise, immortal heirs of praise!
What fields of death with conq'ring standards flame!
See her throng'd cities' warlike gates unfold!
What tow'ring armies stretch their banners wide
Where cold Ontario's icy waves are roll'd,
Or far Altama's silver waters glide!
Lo from the groves, th' aspiring cliffs that shade,
Ascending pines the surging ocean brave,
Rise in tall masts, the floating canvas spread,
And rule the dread dominions of the wave!
Where her clear rivers pour the mazy tide,
The laughing lawns in full luxuriance bloom,
The golden harvest spreads her wanton pride,
The flow'ry garden breathes a glad perfume.
Her potent voice shall hush the storms of fate,
Where the meads blossom or the billows roar;
And cities, gay with sumptuous domes of state,
Stretch their bright turrets on the sounding shore.
[Page 11]
There mark that Coast, which seats of wealth surround,
That haven, rich with many a flowing sail,
Where mighty ships, from earth's remotest bound,
Float on the chearly pinions of the gale.
There BOSTON smiles, no more the sport of scorn,
And meanly prison'd by thy fleets no more;
And far as ocean's billowy tides are borne,
Lifts her fear'd ensigns of imperial power.
So smile the shores, where lordly Hudson strays,
(Whose floods fair YORK and proud ALBANIA lave)
Or PHILADELPHIA's happier clime surveys
Her glist'ring spires in Schuylkyll's lucid wave.
Or southward far extend thy wond'ring eyes,
Where fertile streams the garden'd vales divide;
And mid the peopled fields distinguish'd rise
Virginian tow'rs, and Charlestown's spiry pride.
Genius of arts, of manners and of arms,
See deck'd with glory and the blooms of grace,
This Virgin-clime unfolds her brighter charms,
And gives her beauties to thy fond embrace!
Hark, from the glades, and ev'ry list'ning spray,
What heav'n-born Muses wake th' enraptur'd song▪
The vocal shades attune th' enchanting lay,
And echoing vales harmonious strains prolong.
Thro' the vast series of descending years,
That lose their currents in th' eternal wave,
Till heav'n's last trump shall rend th' affrighted spheres,
And ope each empire's everlasting grave;
[Page 12]
Propitious skies the joyous field shall crown,
And robe her vallies in perpetual prime,
And ages blest of undisturb'd renown,
Beam their mild radiance o'er th' imperial clime.
And where is BRITAIN?—In the skirt of day,
Where stormy Neptune rolls his utmost tide,
Where suns oblique di
[...]fuse a feeble ray,
And lonely waves the fated coasts divide;
Seest thou yon Isle, whose desert landscape yields
The mournful traces of the fame she bore;
Where matted thorns oppress the cultur'd fields,
And piles of ruin choak the dreary shore?—
From those lov'd seats, the Virtues sad withdrew,
From fell Corruption's bold and venal hand;
Reluctant Freedom wav'd her last adieu,
And Devastation swept the vassal'd land.
On her white cliffs, the pillars once of fame,
Her melancholy Genius sits to wail;
Drops the fond tear, and o'er her latest shame,
Bids dark Oblivion draw her sable veil.
[Page 33]
THE TRIAL OF FAITH.
*
PART I. DANIEL, CHAP. I.
BY TIMOTHY DWIGHT, D. D.
BENEATH the dawn, o'er Babel's fruitful plain,
In proud effulgence mov'd the conquering train.
Full on the sun's broad beam their buckler's ray
Streak'd the glad fields, and gave a mimic day.
[Page 34]With spiry splendor varying standards glow'd;
In pomp sublime majestic chieftains rode;
The silver clarions gave a solemn sound,
And cars unnumber'd, thundering shook the ground.
There JUDAH's spoils in proud display were borne;
There purple vesture mock'd the rising morn;
There sacred vessels, rich from Ophir's mine,
Beam'd their strong light, and imag'd art divine;
There mov'd the prince, the queen, the lord, the sage,
And hapless captive throngs of every age.
High-thron'd, the monarch from his golden car,
Survey'd the trophies of successful war.
Majestic, tall, the mighty hero rose,
Born to command, and dreadful to his foes:
His lofty limbs, enrob'd in rich attire
Of steel, and gold, were circled round with fire:
His pride, his soul, expanded at the sight,
And his glad eye-balls warm'd with living light.
As o'er the captive train he cast his eyes,
And heard, unmov'd, their mingled groans and cries,
Four youths, companions, silent pass'd along,
By form distinguish'd from the vulgar throng.
Fair o'er them trembled beauty's purple flame;
Their eyes, as angels', cast a sunny beam;
Sublime their port; serene their solemn lock;
By sear unaw'd, by heaviest woes unbroke;
To ills superior; earth and time above;
But touch'd with kindred woe, and yearning love.
The monarch gaz'd.—His fierce and hardy mind
Then first with sweet and tender thoughts refin'd;
[Page 35]He felt each nerve with strange emotion thrill,
And down each cheek new tears in silence steal.
No more the host, no more the spoils appear'd;
No more the trump's inspiring voice was heard;
Fix'd as he gaz'd, to soft compassion won,
The pomp was buried, and the triumph gone.
To ARIOCH then, his favor'd, faithful slave,
The turning prince his sovereign pleasure gave:
"Seest thou, my ARIOCH, those bright, youthful forms;
"What grace surrounds them, and what beauty warms!
"With what fair pride, magnificently great,
"They move superior to their humble fate!
"For arms, for empire, not for bondage made,
"They win my soul, and claim imperial aid.
"Go then, my ARIOCH, go, their steps pursue;
"With gentle sympathy their souls subdue;
"Their monarch's favour to their hearts ensure;
"Win them from grief; disrobe their rags impure;
"Their course immediate to the palace bend;
"Let faithful ASHPENAZ their steps attend;
"Superior far to all in every grace,
"Among the chosen youths appoint the place."
The monarch spake. The faithful chief obey'd,
And to the palace strait the youths convey'd.
There ASHPENAZ, the eunuch's prince, receiv'd,
To hope restor'd them, and from want reliev'd.
Cheer'd with kind words, their every wish obey'd,
And thus, with soft and tender accent, said:—
"All-lovely youths! attir'd with every grace,
'The best, and brightest, of your hapless race,
[Page 36]'Think not, from war's dire scenes, the Assyrian mind,
'To love imp
[...]rvious, or to misery blind.
'Even the great prince, our mighty realm who sways,
'Train'd in fierce wars, and nurs'd in bloody ways,
'Though proudly borne on Conquest's lofty wings,
'Lord of a world, and king of countless kings,
'Yet bade me kindly every want supply,
'No hope extinguish, and no joy deny.
'By his command, on kingly dainties fed,
'Serv'd by his slaves, and in his palace bred,
'In every art, in every mystery train'd,
'By lords approv'd, by royal love sustain'd.
'Your lives, in peace serene, shall glide away,
'New joys returning with returning day.
'For me, my bosom, not of stubborn steel,
'Well knows to love, and long has learn'd to feel.
'Your woes, O Youths, your nation's fate severe,
'Pierce my sad soul, and prompt the tender tear.
'Each gentle act, that marks a parent's hand,
'From faithful ASHPENAZ assur'd command;
'From earliest years, to youths a constant guide,
''Tis joy to bless them, and to serve is pride."
Thus spoke the prince. With meek, but solemn grace,
The elder youth return'd this sad address:
'O Prince of Eunuchs, soothing friend of woe!
'Thy gentle solace bids our sorrows flow:
'With love, with gratitude, our bosoms burn,
'But, pierc'd with grief, our hapless nation mourn.
'For ah! her sons, of every good forlorn,
'Waste with dire want, or shrink from piercing scorn;
[Page 37]'Or rage, in slaughter bids them weltering roll;
'Or gloomy slavery blasts the wither'd soul;
'Her childless mothers spread the reeking ground;
'Her babes, unpitied, glut the hungry hound;
'Levell'd in dust, her heaven-built Temple lies,
'And SALEM's smoking ruins fill the skies.
'More dread these splendors shew the fearful doom,
'As day more deeply shades the darksome tomb:
'Then, mid all joys, permit our hearts to mourn,
'Nor think thy goodness meets a base return."
He spoke. The prince, to chambers proud and fair,
Led the sad youths, and sooth'd their rising care,
Their graceful forms in splendid garments dress'd,
And kindly cheer'd their troubled minds to rest.
As now all-fragrant spread the rich repast,
Cates of all climes, and wines of every taste;
Deep cares revolving in his troubled breast,
His chosen friends the elder youth address'd:—
"O youths, refin'd in fierce affliction's flame,
'Like gold, refulgent with undrossy beam!
'Now new alarms your virtuous minds assail,
'New-dangers tempt, and untried foes prevail.
'As icy rocks, by winter beat in vain▪
'Yeild to mild suns, and melt in vernal rain,
'So the firm heart, no cruelty could move,
'May lose each virtue in the beams of love.
'Those cates, compos'd of all things rich and rare,
'Cull'd with nice art, and dress'd with skilful care,
'From truth's fair path our footsteps softly charm,
'Our prayers enfeeble, and our faith disarm.
[Page 38]'To purest food the sacred law confin'd,
'The taste luxurious, and the wandering mind.
'Fix'd be our hearts its high behests to obey,
'Nor let vain banquets lure our feet astray.
'From humble pulse serenest peace shall spring,
'Health nerve the limbs, and lift the mental wing;
'The soul, the form, with health and beauty bloom,
'And heaven complacent grant a milder doom."
Thus spoke the youth. With smiles of pure delight,
In duty's path the assenting friends unite,
To heaven the feast, the roving wish resign'd,
And gain'd the banquet of the obedient mind.
The courteous prince, by soft intreaties led,
Indulg'd their prayer, and gave the humble bread.
Heaven bless'd its sons.—As mid the inferior grove,
Four beauteous pines ascend the clouds above,
Mid heats, and droughts, and storms, and frost, and snow,
Through the full year with living verdure grow,
O'er every wood, with pride majestic, reign,
And wave exulting round the adjacent plain:
In port, in stature, thus, with thoughts sublime,
And worth, superior to the assaults of time,
Their gentle manners, great beyond disguise,
Friendly to man, and faithful to the skies,
The favour'd captives grew, and learn'd to soar
Through all the mysteries of Chaldean lore;
Learn'd how the stars in solemn splendor roll;
How countless realms compose one mighty whole;
What arts, what mazes, through the system run;
How hosts are marshall'd, and how fields are won.
[Page 39]
THE TRIAL OF FAITH. BY THE SAME.
PART II. DANIEL, CHAP. II.
THUS rose the youths, by lords and kings approv'd,
By earth exalted, and by Heaven belov'd,
When, lost in slumbers as the sovereign lay,
What time fair Phosphor sings the approach of day,
Full to his eyes a vision rose sublime,
Big with dread mysteries of ascending time.
Alarm'd, awak'd, he left the thorny bed;
His sleep all vanish'd, and the vision fled:
In vain he tried the wonders to restore,
The fleeted phantom met his eyes no more.
Then deep convulsions shook his stormy mind,
That knew no crosses, and no wish resign'd.
At once he summon'd all the learn'd and wise,
Skill'd to explain, and artful to disguise,
Practis'd to bode, in words of soothing guile,
New feats, new triumphs, and new realms of spoil.
And thus the king—"Let every sage and seer,
Dreamer of dreams, and star-taught prophet hear!
This night, as sunk in sleep, your monarch lay,
When truth's clear dreams attend approaching day,
[Page 40]Before my eyes a solemn vision rose,
Clear, full, distinct, as morn's full splendor glows;
Fill'd with dread scenes, with acts of mighty name,
With change of empires, and with years of fame.
I wak'd—I rose—but all the events of night
Fled from m
[...] view, and took their final flight.
Then hear ye sages; borne by skill sublime,
Thro' the dark ages of ascending time,
Explore the vision, make the wonders known;
And tell what changes wait the Assyrian throne."
The Hero spoke. Around the spacious room
The strange command diffus'd a solemn gloom;
When thus a hoary sage—"O king divine,
Be endless life, and power, and honour thine!
Thy high behests our hearts delight to obey;
We own thy glory, and we bless thy sway.
But, O dread Prince, thy visions to reveal,
Tra
[...]scends the efforts of terrestial skill.
Could'st thou, by m
[...]mory's aid, the scenes restore,
Easy thy seers the mystery would explore;
Would teach, for thee what crowns of triumph bloom,
Or what new nations meet the general doom.
The Gods alone, to whose unbounded eye
Spread, in clear sight, all realms beneath the sky,
In obvious view the stars immensely roll,
Or on fleet pinions roves the wandering soul,
Can bid the eventful scenes of night return,
Or ope the vanish'd visions of the morn.
A new command, a labour yet undone,
Thy will enjoins us, and thy voice makes known,
[Page 41]Nor lord requir'd, nor prophet e'er divin'd,
The secret motions of the mazy mind."
The monarch heard. With sudden anger bright,
From his fierce eye-balls flash'd a withering light:
Sternly he cried,—"Base, impious wretches, hear
What wrath betides you, and what fate is near.
If, taught by heaven, your hearts the dream divine,
Wealth waits your steps, and crowns before you shine:
Prophets of truth, your race shall then be seen,
Lov'd by the Gods, and precious gifts to men.
But if this feat your purblind skill denies,
Each wretch, who soils the robe of wisdom, dies.
Mock'd by your boasts, my soul, no longer tame,
Shall rouse to sense, and bid just vengeance flame;
Each pamper'd carcase this right hand shall tear,
Glut the rob'd wolves, and feast the fowls of air.
Your hosts, your houses, give to flames a prey,
And sweep the nuisance from the world away."
He spoke: the seers withdrew.—The realm around,
From voice to voice diffus'd the dismal sound.
From ARIOCH, ASHPENAZ the tidings knew!
With thoughts all anxious to the youths he flew,
Rehears'd the tale—and "You, by worth betray'd,
Must soon," he cried, "be number'd with the dead."
"Fear not, O Prince,"—the elder youth reply'd:
"While heaven commands no ills the just betide.
Virtue refines, beneath affliction's power,
As gold runs beauteous from dissolving ore.
To light the dream shall rise, or, if the sky
Ordains our death, 'tis highest gain to die▪
[Page 42]Unmov'd, our hearts, that thousand deaths have known
In Judah's woes, will meet the pangs of one;
From toil, and grief, and shame, unpinion'd rise,
And mix with angels in their native skies.
But haste, ah haste, and faithful ARIOCH bring,
E're he commence the vengeance of the king▪
This night, shall Heaven the vanish'd scenes restore,
And save the prophets from vindictive power."
The Prince to ARIOCH flew, and, bath'd in tears,
Rehears'd the tale of mingled hopes, and fears.
He came: And pleas'd to stay the monarch's rage,
Led to the throne the young, unbearded sage.
With mild regard, the softening sovereign view'd,
While worth, and beauty, half his wrath subdued,
Heard him, with modest mien, his hope propose,
That Heaven, ere morn, the vision would disclose,
And bade glad ARIOCH vengeance dire delay,
'Till the wish'd hour should ope the promis'd day.
Those hours, the youths consum'd in fasts severe,
And the pure fervence of effectual prayer.
The God of worlds, to whom, with beam divine,
Fairer than morn the sons of Zion shine,
With love all bounteous bade the vision rise,
Dread, full, and clear, to DANIEL's slumbering eyes.
At earliest dawn, the youths, in bright array,
Toward the new palace bent their early way;
Through rows of lords, and rows of kings they pass'd,
While eyes of wonder thousands on them cast;
For round the court had spread the fearful doom,
That mark'd the guiltless Magi to the tomb.
[Page 43]
Before the throne the beardless prophets stood;
Round their fair forms the grace of virtue glow'd;
Pleas'd, the great monarch view'd▪ With softer ray,
His eye-balls smil'd their fiercer flames away;
His settling visage lost its wrathful form,
As Spring looks fair behind a wintery storm.
"O KING of kings?" the elder youth began—
"Thy dread request transcends the power of man.
In vain thy seers the vision would regain;
Like ours, their wishes, toils, and tears, are vain.
'Tis God alone the wonders can display,
The God, who form'd the heaven, the earth, and sea;
Naked, and clear, before whose searching eye,
The soul, the thoughts, and deep affections lie;
He brought the eventful vision to thy sight,
And he again commands it into light.
"What time the dew of peace around thy bed
The silent slumbers of the morning spread,
Dread to thine eyes a wonderous image shone,
Awful in form, in splendor like the sun.
Its head of flaming gold, its arms
[...] breast,
Of silver fair, inferior worth confess'd;
Its thighs and belly glow'd with brazen light;
Its legs, of iron, mark'd resistless might;
Its iron feet, commix'd with miry clay,
Display'd unsolid power, to time a prey.
When lo! spontaneous, from the mountains rent,
A stone came thundering down, with swift descent;
Full on the form, with mighty force it burst,
Crush'd all its limbs, and ground its frame to dust;
[Page 44]Borne by the winds, thou saw'st its ruins fly,
Like chaff, when whirlwinds sweep the summer sky.
And as a rising cloud, but just beheld,
Approaching, widens o'er the aerial field,
Expands, ascends, and, slow thro ether driven,
Sails thro the immense, and fills the bounds of heaven:
So the small cliff to rise, and swell, began,
Spread thro' the fields, the neighbouring groves o'er-ran,
O'er towns, o
[...]er realms, o'er mountains, left the eye,
Uprose beyo
[...]
[...] clouds, and heav'd the boundless sky.
"'Tis thus, O king! the Lord of Heaven declares,
What scenes roll onward with the tide of years.
By us, his sovereign voice to thee makes known,
And tells what changes wait the Assyrian throne.
"Thou art this head of gold: Thy power sublime,
Rules thousand kings, and spreads thro every clime.
But soon thy glory hastens to decay,
Soon the bright arms commence a humbler sway;
That too shall sail; the brazen kingdom rise,
Like ocean, spreading to surrounding skies.
As iron then an empire strong shall spring,
Subdue each realm, and vanquish every king:
Beneath its wonderous power, all nature yeilds,
Europe's lone wilds, and Asia's cultur'd fields.
Hence various kings, to art, and force, a prey,
As iron potent, yet dissolv'd like clay:
Unsound, unsolid, shall their empire rise,
Varying, as clouds their changes in the skies.
In those far distant days, o'er every land,
Shall God's dread sceptre rear its high command:
[Page 45]Before its power, resisting powers decay;
Nations, and kings, and empires, melt away;
Through unknown wilds the vast dominion roll,
Extend its conquering force from pole to pole;
From morn's far regions reach the shores of even,
Fill earth, and time, and rear its pomp to heaven.
Thus, King of kings! the heavens thy dream restore,
And teach the changes of terrestial power."
The monarch heard, and look'd, when heavenly flame,
Round the fair youths should cast a golden beam;
Or o'er their limbs instinctive lightnings run;
Or rainbow'd pinions lift them to the sun.
Prostrate to earth he fell: and,—"Oh!" he cries,
"Your God is Lord of gods, and worlds, and skies:
He, only he, could make these visions known;
Let praise, and glory, wait his heavenly throne."
To DANIEL, then the raptur'd hero bade
Incense be fir'd, and rich oblations paid;
O'er his prime lords his favourite place ordain'd,
A prince to every king, and every land:
While, high o'er BABEL's realm, his partners sate
In kingly favour, and judicial state.
Where'er they pass'd, pursuing wonder came;
The Magi bless'd, the children lisp'd their name;
To them were Judah's prayers and blessings given,
And the poor mark'd them as the sons of Heaven.
[Page 46]
THE TRIAL OF FAITH. BY THE SAME.
PART III. DANIEL, CHAP. III.
AND now once more, the spacious empire round,
War's fearful clarion ceas'd its shrilling sound;
Her voice harmonious, on subsiding gales,
Sweet peace resounded through the gladdening vales:
When lo, new fears the faithful friends await,
And other trials lour'd approaching fate.
Long through the monarch's soul the project ran,
(Grateful to proud and heaven-dethroning man)
To bind the soul, the conscience to enchain,
And force one worship through his wide domain.
Fir'd with the fond design, an image fair,
Rich with pure gold, and gem'd with many a star.
He form'd, fair image of the morning sun,
Acknowledg'd guardian of th' Assyrian throne.
To this, his soul decreed mankind should bow,
Each victim burn, and rise each sacred vow,
And bade his mighty lords direct their way
To meet their sovereign, on th' appointed day.
North of proud Babel's walls, from sky to sky,
The plain of Dura left the labouring eye:
[Page 47]There willows wav'd o'er Tygris flowery side:
There broad Euphrates roll'd his mighty tide.
This the dread scene the monarch's will ordain'd;
And hither throng'd the lords of many a land.
As now the destin'd morn her lustre shed,
Here o'er the fields a host immensely spread;
Kings, nobles, chieftains, every sage and seer,
And hosts of slaves, and warriors gather'd here.
Bright rose, in pomp divine, the imperial sun;
Light, life, and joy danc'd round his golden throne;
The heavens unclouded smil'd a fairer blue;
Reviving beauty cloath'd the world anew;
As on old ocean glows the sun's broad ray,
And lights his glassy fields with mimic day;
So, kindled by his beams, around the plain,
A new morn trembled o'er the unnumber'd train;
From helms, and shields, and steeds, and cars, aspires
A general glory of immingling fires:
The Tygris brighten'd in the golden beam,
And sweeter murmurs soften'd o'er the stream.
On a tall pedestal, before them shone
The sacred image of the rising sun;
In solemn pomp, a hero rose sublime,
His eye deep piercing through the scenes of time.
When first the orb, ascending from the main,
Cast his far level'd beams along the plain,
The form superb with every splendor shone,
Streak'd the gay fields, and seem'd another sun.
There the deep ruby pour'd a crimson ray;
The sunny topaz shed a rival day:
[Page 48]Of every hue the mimic rainbow came,
And join'd its varied lights in one transcendant flame.
Far
[...]ound the plain the throng unnumber'd stood,
And gaz'd in silence on the imag'd god,
When thus the heralds cried, "With reverent ear
Your Monarch's voice, ye kings and nations, hear,
What time the notes of mingled music roll,
With magic influence on th' enraptur'd soul,
Before yon golden form, ye suppliants all
Prostrate on earth, with sacred homage, fall.
They spoke: as, borne thro' some far winding vale,
The voice of ocean leads the springing gale;
More loud, more solemn from the distant shore,
The slow, deep murmurs rise, and swell, and roar;
Propp'd on his staff, the hoary seaman stands,
And calls back happier times, and other lands;
Through his limbs thrills the youth-renewing charm,
And skies, and winds, and waves, his bosom warm:
So sudden, from ten thousand pipes and strings,
Loud, full and clear, the voice of music springs:
O'er the glad plain, the breathing sounds exhale,
And swell, and wanton in the rising gale;
Now deep, majestic in dread pomp they roll;
Now softly languish on the yeilding soul;
Now solemn awe, now lively zeal inspire,
Wake heavenly dreams, and light romantic fire:
Now sunk on earth, the unnumber'd suppliants lie,
And smoking altars cloud the fragrant sky.
'Mid the vast throng, the friends of Daniel stood,
Nor bent the knee before the golden god.
[Page 49]Alone they stood; for at the palace gate,
So the king bade, in judgement Daniel sate,
The Magi saw, and straight, by envy led,
Flew to the king, and thus impatient said —
(For tho' the youths preserv'd from death their race,
Their bosoms sicken'd at their rivals' place)
O prince! regardless of thy dread decree,
The Jews, so honor'd, lov'd and bless'd by thee,
Before yon golden God refuse to bow,
Present the prayer, or pay the solemn vow.
They slight thy gods, despise thy glorious name,
Nor heed the vengeance of the fearful flame.
Fir'd at the tale, before their sovereign king
He bade fierce guards the sons of Judah bring.
Serene they came. And dare your hearts, he cries,
Against the terrors of my anger rise?
Dare ye refuse before yon god to bow,
Present the prayer, and pay the solemn vow?
Then know from me, vain youths, repenting know,
Before you flames of fearful vengeance glow.
Nor hope to 'scape. What man, what god can save,
When I command you to the burning grave?
Be warn'd; be wise, your monarch's god adore;
Nor tempt the danger
[...] of resistless power.
He spoke. As cherubs, dress'd in robes of light,
To earth, on heaven's high errands, wing their flight,
With solemn, sweet, complacent smile appear,
And blossom in immortal beauty here:
So, rosy splendor purpling o'er his face,
With meekly dignity and matchless grace,
[Page 50]Whilst on the king he cast a heavenly look,
That half revers'd the sentence ere he spoke.
His lifted eye serene with solemn pride,
With gentle voice, the elder
* youth replied,
Well pleas'd, O prince! our hearts confess thy sway,
And all thy just commands with joy obey;
Faithful and patient, every toil sustain,
Unaw'd by danger, and unmov'd by pain.
But the great GOD who form'd the earth and seas,
First claims our homage, first demands our praise:
To him alone our knees in worship bend;
To him our praises and our prayers ascend;
His mighty arm his faithful sons shall save
From all the terrors of the burning grave;
Or bid the flames with harmless fury glow;
Or crown with endless bliss the transient woe.
But know, Assyrian prince! should ills most dire
Rend our rack'd hearts, and bid our lives expire;
Should virtue yeild to unrelenting power▪
And heaven forsake us in the dreadful hour;
Still to his throne our sacred thoughts shall rise,
Nor heed the gods that dwell beneath the skies.
He spoke: Again, with ecstasies of ire,
The king's full visage flash'd infernal fire;
Fiercely he bade his guards the offenders bind,
And bear them sorth, their feet and arms confin'd,
Through the wide host their guilt and fate proclaim,
And light the furnace with a seven-fold dame.
[Page 51]
The guards obey'd. As near the seat of woe,
Their eyes beheld the fearful vengeance glow,
They claim'd, with fervent prayers, the pitying sky,
And fix'd their souls to suffer and to die.
Serene, they saw the dark and dreadful fires,
Felt the fierce heat, and ey'd the gloomy spires;
Serene, they heard the long, deep murmurs roar,
As distant, rising whirlwinds rend the shore.
Forth to the flames the unfriended youths they cast;
Nor 'scap'd the eager guard
[...] the scorching blast:
Far round the
[...] shot a long unfolding spire,
And
[...]ap'd the
[...]
[...] the mantling
[...]ire.
Mean time the king, the storm of vengeance o'e
[...],
His wrath provok'd, his will oppos'd no more,
Felt other thoughts, and passions more refin'd
Compose the settling tumult of his mind.
Softening, he thought on all their conduct past,
Their virtue spotless, and their wisdom vast,
The wondrous dream, to them, with Daniel, given,
And all their pillar'd confidence in heaven.
His will they brav'd, of pains nor death afraid;
But still with mildest meekness disobey'd;
With such firm truth, such peaceful words denied,
As spoke the soul of virtue, not of pride.
Who knows, he whisper'd, but their well taught mind,
Serves nobler gods, with worship more refin'd?
Who knows but he who could the dream restore,
May save his favourites from the furnace' power?
As thus he spoke, with wand'ring course and slow,
He turn'd his footsteps towards the seat of woe:
[Page 52]'Till, with unguided, heedless feet he came
Where full before him burn'd the dismal flame.
When lo, dread scenes amaz'd his wilder'd sight:
The youths walk'd peaceful through the horrid light:
Harmless around them climb'd the circling spires,
And mild as zephyrs play'd the lambent fires.
Hymns of sweet praise the adoring prophets sung,
And mid hoarse murmurs raptur'd warblings rung.
He gaz'd: at once, with light and beauty new,
Through the dread cavern sudden splendor flew;
A new dawn brighten'd o'er the dreary tomb,
Drown'd the dark flames and quench'd the sullen gloom.
So when the mo
[...]n's bright face, in fair attire,
Through orient windows strikes the wintry fire,
The red flames wither in the etherial ray,
And all their earthly lustre dies away.
He gaz'd; when lo! a form of bodied light,
Sprung from the sun and like the parent bright,
In slow and stately grandeur, trod the scene,
And the dread cavern smil'd, a Heaven within.
Fair stars his wondrous crown, his strange attire
The lucid rainbow's many-colour'd fire;
Like threads of burnish'd silver, round his head,
His twinkling locks in solemn glory play'd;
In pomp divine above his shoulders borne,
And dipt in roseate beams of rising morn,
His long wings waving, fell: beneath his feet,
The unnumber'd streams of springing light'nings meet.
Full on the friends he beam'd a sun-bright smile,
Transcendent meed of all their faith and toil!
[Page 53]Complacence pure, all thoughts, all minds above,
That op'd the yearnings of redeeming love.
Such smiles salute th' unbodied soul forgiven;
Such smiles improve the sainted race of Heaven;
Such smiles serene, with unextinguish'd ray,
Purpled the opening morn of endless day.
At once soft sounds of gratulation rung;
Strange music play'd, unseen musicians sung;
The solemn sounds with more than mortal fire,
Wav'd with mild warblings, o'er th' etherial lyre:
Marbled, on earth the prostrate monarch lay,
And swoon'd his vanquish'd sense and soul away.
At length resummon'd from the gloomy
[...],
His opening eyes beheld the vision sled.
With strong, but plaintive voice, amaz'd he cried,
Sons of the sky and earth's transcendent pride!
Forth from those dreary flames triumphant come,
And quit the mansions of the destin'd tomb.
Forth came the youths; unsing'd their fair attire,
Their limbs unconscious of the potent fire;
The king, the nobles mark'd with solemn ga
[...]e,
And sighs and silence own'd their deep amaze
Round the wide plain the
[...] pomp decay'd;
The music died, the vast assembly sled;
The knee unbent, the image ceas'd to adore,
The extinguish'd altars shed perfumes no more;
The golden form apart forsaken stood,
And not a suppliant hail'd the sligh
[...]d god:
Round the wide circuit brooding silence lay,
And clouds of deepest gloom o'ercast the day.
[Page 54]
Then through his boundless empire Heaven's great name,
The humbl'd monarch bade his criers proclaim.
To Heaven
[...]s great God, they cried, your honors pay,
Let kings and nations own his sovereign sway;
With power divine to earth his angel came,
And sav'd his prophets from the sevenfold flame.
To Babel's walls return'd the royal train:
Their wonted honors cloth'd the youths again.
With transport, Daniel heard his friends relate
Their glorious triumph o'er the destin'd fate;
The flames by heavenly power innoxious made;
The solemn glories on the angel shed;
In dreams the labor'd pomp forever gone;
The tyrant vanquish'd and his god o'erthrown.
Belov'd, rever'd, the sons of virtue shin'd,
Heirs of the skies, and patrons of mankind.
Through all th' Assyrian world their bounty spread;
All Judah triumph'd; all oppression fled;
Their glad approach, instinctive homage bless'd;
Crouds bent before them, lords and kings caress'd;
To them the songs of every realm were given,
And ceaseless round them glow'd the light of heaven.
[Page 55]
ADDRESS OF THE GENIUS OF COLUMBIA, TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CONTINENTAL CONVENTION. BY THE SAME.
FROM western skies, a cloud of glory came,
A small, dim spot, a torch of lambent flame;
Ascending, widening, slow the skirts unroll'd,
Rainbow'd with fire, and warm'd with glowing gold.
There, borne by summon'd winds, in pomp sublime,
His look far-piercing down the vast of time,
Where the long, narrowing vale deserts the eye,
Unbosom'd dimly on the eternal sky,
The Genius sate. He saw, when faction spent,
No more with war his darling kingdom rent,
The stream of kindred blood forbore to flow,
And morn faint trembled o'er the night of woe,
Call'd from each sister realm, the wise and great,
In Penn's fair walls, and awful council sate;
Pois'd in their hands, Columbia's mighty sway,
And tottering laws, and rights, and freedom, lay.
He saw, when fairer than the glow of even,
And bright as visions of disclosing heaven,
Full in his face a sacred splendor shone,
And the west kindled with another sun.
[Page 56]"All hail, my sons," he cried, "my voice attend,
Your country's genius, guardian, guide, and friend:
The counsels mark, that faithful friend supplies,
Attend, and learn the dictates of the skies.
Before you, lo! what scenes of glory spread,
The fairest, brightest, noblest, heaven has made:
Their home, where freedom, science, virtue, find,
The last recesses of oppress'd mankind.
The immense of empire here, amaz'd, descry,
Where realms are lost, and hidden oceans lie;
Where Persia's vast would sink in shades conceal'd,
And Rome's proud world diminish to a field.
See, from the pole, where frozen fountains rise,
And pour their waters under torrid skies,
Where Rhines and Danubes, rills and streamlets play,
To swell the pomp of Missisippi's sea;
Where a zone's breadth majestic woods extend,
And other Andes o'er the storms ascend;
Where meadows bound the morn and evening rays;
Where plains are kingdom
[...], and where lakes are seas.
See thro all climes the unmeasur'd empire run,
And drink each influence from the lingering sun;
Pure skies unbosom'd, days serenest roll,
And gales of health, from Darien fan the pole.
In each bless'd clime, to crown industrious toil,
See every product spring from every soil,
Here the fur whitens in the frozen shade;
Here flocks unnumber'd crowd the pastur'd glade;
Here threatening famine double harvests scorn—
Europe's rich grains, and India's useful corn—
[Page 57]Virginia's fragrant pride, huge fleets convey,
And fields of rice float cumbrous o'er the sea,
While all its wealth, the world of waters yeilds,
And treasures fill the subterranean fields.
These goods to waft where'er expands the wind,
To bless and to sustain the human kind,
See, stretch'd immense from Cancer to the pole,
On either side contending oceans roll;
O'er this, all Europe wings her haughty sails;
O'er that, all India wafts on spicy gales;
While bays, and streams, and lakes, her realms explore,
And land each product at each happy door.
To fill these realms, a generous race behold,
Of happiest genius, and of firmest mould;
In thoughts, in arts, in life, in language join'd,
One faith, one worship, one politic mind,
Patient, serene, in toils and dangers dire,
Their nerves of iron, and their souls of fire:
Call'd from all realms, these chosen sons have join'd
Expansive manners, and a genial mind,
The liberal sentiment, the adventurous thought,
With greatness teeming, and with goodness fraught;
Chain'd to no party; by no system bound;
Confining merit to no speck of ground;
Nor Britons, Frenchmen, Germans, Swiss, or Huns,
Of earth the natives, and of heaven the sons,
Regarding, loving, all the great and good,
Of every rank, clime, party, sect, and blood.
[Page 58]
The swain, with bliss to Europe's climes unknown,
His wife, his house, his lands, his flock, his own,
Treads, independent, on the subject soil,
Prepar'd for every danger, every toil;
Prepar'd to see antarctic oceans roll,
To circle earth, and search the lonely pole;
Or thro the immense of science wind his way;
Or lift poetic wings beyond the day;
The ridgy front of death for freedom dare,
Or, round all regions, hush the voice of war.
Heaven from all climes this happy realm conceal'd,
While wolves and Indians roam'd the bloody field,
Till human rule a soft'ning aspect wore,
Till war's black chariot ceas'd to roll in gore,
Till bigot zeal resign'd his scarlet sway,
And his dread thunders puff'd in smoke away.
Thus oh how bless'd the era of her fate,
How bright the morning, and how long the date!
For now each fair improvement of the mind,
Each nobler effort lifts the human kind;
Vast means of bliss mechanic arts combine;
All liberal arts the rugged soul refine;
Freedom, and right, and law, their reign assume,
Stern Power re
[...]st, and cheer the world's sad doom;
On nature's ocean, science lifts her sails,
Finds other stars, and catches nobler gales;
While dawning virtue beams from yonder sky,
And brighter suns arise on human joy.
Such scenes of bliss, ye sages, bless your eyes:
For men, for realms like these, your plans devise
[Page 59]Be then your counsels, as your subject, great,
A world their sphere, and time's long reign their date.
Each party-view, each private good, disclaim,
Each petty maxim, each colonial aim;
Let all Columbia's weal your views expand,
A mighty system rule a mighty land;
Yourselves her genuine sons let Europe own,
Not the small agents of a paltry town.
Learn, cautious, what to alter, where to mend;
See to what close projected measures tend.
From pressing wants the mind averting still,
Thinks good remotest from the present ill:
From feuds anarchial to oppression's throne,
Misguided nations hence for safety run;
And through the miseries of a thousand years,
Their fatal folly mourn in bloody tears.
Ten thousand follies thro Columbia spread;
Ten thousand wars her darling realms invade.
The private interest of each jealous state;
Of rule the impatience, and of law the hate.
But ah! from narrow springs these evils flow,
A few base wretches mingle general woe.
Still the same mind her manly race pervades,
Still the same virtues haunt the hallow'd shades.
But when the peals of war her center shook,
All private aims the anxious mind forsook.
In danger's iron-bond her race was one:
Each separate good, each little view unknown.
Now rule, unsystem'd, drives the mind astray;
Now private interest points the downward way:
[Page 60]Hence civil discord pours her muddy stream,
And fools and villains sloat upon the brim;
O'er all, the sad spectator casts his eye,
And wonders where the gems and minerals lie.
But ne'er of freedom, glory, bliss, despond▪
Uplift your eyes those little clouds beyond;
See there returning suns, with gladdening ray,
Roll on fair spring to chase this wintry day.
Tis yours to bid those days of Eden shine:
First, then, and last, the federal bands entwine:
To this your every aim and effort bend:
Let all your efforts here commence and end.
O'er state concerns, let every state preside;
Its private tax controul; its justice guide;
Religion aid; the morals to secure;
And bid each private right thro time endure.
Columbia's interests public sway demand,
Her commerce, impost, unlocated land;
Her war, her peace, her military power;
Treaties to seal with every distant shore;
To bid contending states their discord cease;
To send thro all the calumet of peace;
Science to wing thro every noble flight;
And lift desponding genius into light.
Thro every state to spread each public law,
Interest must animate, and force must awe.
Persuasive dictates realms will ne'er obey;
Sway, uncoercive, is the shade of sway.
[Page 61]
Be then your task to alter, aid, amend;
The weak to strengthen, and the rigid bend;
The prurient lop; what's wanted to supply;
And graft new scions from each friendly sky.
Slow, by degrees, politic systems rise;
Age still refines them, and experience tries.
This, this alone consolidates, improves;
Their sinews strengthens; their defects removes;
Gives that consistence time alone can give;
Habituates men by law and right to live;
To gray-hair'd rules increasing reverence draws;
And wins the slave to love e'en tyrant laws.
But should Columbia, with distracted eyes,
See o'er her ruins one proud monarch rise;
Should vain partitions her fair realms divide,
And rival empires float on faction's tide;
Lo fix'd opinions 'gainst the fabric rage!
What wars, fierce passions with fierce passions wage!
From Cancer's glowing wilds, to Brunswick's shore,
Hark, how the alarms of civil discord roar!
"To arms," the trump of kindled warfare cries,
And kindred blood smokes upward to the skies.
As Persia, Greece, so Europe bids her flame,
And smiles with eye malignant, o'er her shame.
Seize then, oh! seize Columbia's golden hour;
Perfect her federal system, public power;
For this stupendous realm, this chosen race,
With all the improvements of all lands its base,
The glorious structure build; its breadth extend;
Its columns lift, its mighty arches bend!
[Page 62]Or freedom, science, arts, its stories shine,
Unshaken pillars of a frame divine;
Far o'er the Atlantic wild its beams aspire,
The world approves it, and the heavens admire;
O'er clouds, and suns, and stars, its splendors rise,
Till the bright top-stone vanish in the skies."
[Page 70]
THE CRITICS.
* A FABLE. Written
September 1785. 'To every general rule there are exceptions.'—
Common Sense. BY THE SAME.
'TIS said of every dog that's found,
Of mongrel, spaniel, cur, and hound;
That each sustains a doggish mind,
And hates the new, sublime, refin'd.
'Tis hence the wretches bay the moon,
In beauty throned at highest noon;
Hence every nobler brute they bite.
And hunt the stranger-dog
[...] ▪
And hence, the nose's dictates parrying,
They fly from meat to feed on carrion.
'Tis also said, the currish soul
The critic race possesses whole;
As near they come, in tho'ts and natures,
As two legg'd can, to four legg'd creatures;
Alike the things they love and blame,
Their voice, and language, much the same.
[Page 71]
The Muse this subject made her theme,
And told me in a morning dream.
Such dreams you sages may decry;
But Muses know they never lie.
Then hear, from me, in grave narration,
Of these strange facts, the strange occasion.
In Greece Cynethe's village-lay,
Well known to all, who went that way,
For dogs of every kindred famed,
And from true doggish manners named.
One morn, a greyhound pass'd the street;
At once the foul-mouth'd conclave met,
Huddling around the stranger ran,
And thus their smart
review began.
"What tramper" with a grinning sneer,
Bark'd out the clumsy cur, "is here?
No native of the town, I see;
Some foreign whelp of base degree.
I'd shew, but that the record's torn,
We true Welsh curs are better born.
His coat is smooth; but longer hair
Would more become a dog by far.
His slender ear, how strait and sloping!
While ours is much improved by
cropping."
"Right," cried the blood-hound, "that strait ear
Seems made for nothing, but to hear;
'Tis long agreed, thro' all the town,
That handsome ears, like mine, hang down;
And tho' his body's gaunt, and round,
'Tis no true rawboned gaunt of hound.
[Page 72]How high his nose the creature carries!
As if on bugs, and flies, his fare is;
I'll teach this strutting, stupid log,
To smell's the business of a dog."
"Baugh-waugh!" the shaggy spaniel cried,
"What wretched covering on his hide!
I wonder where he lives in winter;
His strait, sleek legs too, out of joint are;
I hope the vagrant will not dare
His fledging with my fleece compare.
He never plung'd in pond or river,
To search for wounded duck and diver;
By kicks would soon be set a skipping,
Nor take, one half so well a whipping."
"Rat me," the lap-dog yelp'd, "thro' nature,
Was ever seen so coarse a creature?
I hope no lady's sad mishap
E'er led the booby to her lap;
He'd fright PRIMRILLA into fits,
And rob FOOLERIA of her wits;
A mere barbarian, Indian whelp!
How clownish, countryish, sounds his yelp!
He never tasted bread and butter,
Nor play'd the petty squirm and flutter;
Nor e'er, like me, has learn'd to fatten,
On kisses sweet, and softest patting."
"Some parson's dog, I vow," whined puppy;
"His rusty coat how sun-burnt! stop ye!"
The beagle call'd him to the wood.
The bull-dog bellowed, "Zounds! and blood!"
[Page 73]The wolf-dog and the mastiff were,
The Muse says, an exception here;
Superior both to such soul play,
They wish'd the stranger well away.
From
spleen the
strictures rose to
fury,
"Villain," growl'd one, "I can't endure you."
"Let's seize the truant," snarl'd another,
Encored by every soul-mouth'd brother.
"'Tis done," bark'd all, "we'll mob the creature,
And sacrifice him to ill-nature."
The greyhound, who despised their breath,
Still tho
[...]t it best to shun their teeth.
Easy he wing'd his rapid flight,
And left the scoundrels out of sight.
Good JUNO, by the ancients holden,
The genuine
notre-dame of scolding,
Sate pleased, because there'd such a fuss been,
And in the hound's place wish'd her husband;
For here, even pleasure bade her own,
Her ladyship was once out-done.
"Hail dogs," she cried, "of every kind!
Retain ye still this snarling mind,
Hate all that's good, and fair, and new,
And I'll a goddess be to you.
Nor this the only good you prove;
Learn what the fruits of JUNO's love.
Your souls, from forms, that creep all four on,
I'll raise, by system Pythagorean,
[Page 74]To animate the human frame,
And gain my favorite tribe a name.
Be ye henceforth (so I ordain)
Critics, the genuine curs of men.
To snarl be still your highest bliss,
And all your criticism like this.
Whate'er is great, or just, in nature,
Of graceful form, or lovely feature;
Whate'er adorns the ennobled mind,
Sublime, inventive, and refin'd;
With spleen, and spite, forever blame,
And load with every dirty name.
All things of noblest kind and use,
To your own standard vile reduce,
And all in wild confusion blend,
Nor
heed the
subject, scope, or
end.
But chief, when
modest young beginners,
'Gainst
critic laws, by
nature sinners,
Peep out in verse, and dare to run,
Thro' towns and villages your own,
Hunt them, as when yon stranger dog
Set all your growling crew agog;
Till stunn'd, and scared, they hide from view,
And leave the country clear for you."
This said, the goddess kind caressing,
Gave every cur a double blessing.
E
[...]ch doggish mind, tho' grown no bigger,
Henceforth assumed the human figure,
The body walk'd on two; the mind
To four, still chose to be confin'd;
[Page 75]Still creeps on earth, still scents out foes,
Is still led onward by the nose;
Hates all the good, it used to hate,
The lofty, beauteous, new, and great;
The stranger hunts with spite quintessent,
And snarls, from that day to the present.
EPISTLE TO COL. HUMPHRYES. GREENFIELD,
1785. BY THE SAME.
FROM realms, where nature sports in youthful prime,
Where Hesper lingers o'er his darling clime,
Where sunny genius lights his sacred flame,
Where rising science casts her morning beam,
Where empire's final throne in pomp ascends,
Where pilgrim freedom finds her vanish'd friends,
The world renews, and man from eastern fires,
Phoenix divine, again to Heaven aspires,
Health to my friend this happy verse conveys,
His fond attendant o'er the Atlantic seas.
Health to my friend let every wish prolong;
Be this the burden of each artless song;
This in the prayer of every morn arise;
Thou angel guardian, waft it to the skies!
[Page 76]His devious course let fostering Heaven survey;
Nor ills betide, nor foes arrest his way.
Nor health alone—may bliss thy path attend;
May truth direct thee, and may
[...] befriend;
From virtue's fount thy taintless actio
[...] flow;
The shield of conscience blunt the dart of woe;
To rising bliss refin'd above alloy,
Where budding wishes blossom into joy,
Where glory dwells, where saints and seraphs sing,
Let Heaven, in prospect, tempt thy listed wing.
Me t
[...]e same views, the same soft tide of cares,
Bear gently onward down the stream of years,
Still the same duties call my course along;
Still grows, at times, the pain-deluding song;
Still scenes domestic earthly joys refine,
Where blest Maria mingles cares with mine;
The same fond circle still my life endears,
Where Fairfield's elms, or Stamford
[...]s groupe appears;
Or where, in rural guise, around me smile
Mansions of peace, and Greenfield's beauteous hill;
Still to my cot the friend delighted h
[...]es,
And one lov'd parent waits beneath the skies.
To thee, far summon'd from each native scene,
With half the breadth of this wide world between,
How bless'd the news my happy verse conveys,
Of friends, divided by interfluent seas?
Health, peace, and competence, their walks surround,
On the bright margin of yon beauteous Sound;
Where Hartford sees the first of waters glide,
Or where thy Avon winds his silver tide.
[Page 77]
Yet thou must mourn a friend,
* a brother dear,
And o'er departed merit drop a tear.
Him sense illum'd, the hero's warmth inspir'd,
Grace taught to please, and patriot virtue fir'd;
Alike in peace, in war, at home, abroad,
Worth gain'd him honor, where his footsteps trode;
Yet all in vain: his laurel'd garlands bloom;
But waste their beauty on the untimely tomb.
Meantime, invited o'er the Atlantic tide,
Where arts refin'd allure thy feet aside,
May'st thou, unmov'd by splendor's painted charms,
And steel'd, when pleasure smiling spreads her arms,
The great simplicity of soul retain,
The humble fear of Heaven, and love of man.
When round thy course temptations sweetly throng,
When warbling sirens chant the luscious song,
When wealth's fair bubble beams its hues afar,
When grandeur calls thee to her golden car,
When pleasure opes the bosom bright of joy,
And the dy'd serpent gazes to destroy;
Oh! may the heavenly Guide thy passions warm▪
Up virtue's hills thy feet resistless charm,
Shew thee what crowns reward the glorious strife,
And quicken fainting duty into life.
Oft has thine eyes, with glance indignant seen
Columbia's youths, unfolding into men,
[Page 78]Their minds to improve, their manners to adorn,
To Europe's climes by fond indulgence borne;
Oft hast thou seen those youths, at custom's shrine,
Victims to pride, to folly and to sin,
Of worth bereft, of real sense forlorn▪
Their land forget, their friends, their freedom spurn;
Each noble cause, each solid good desert,
For splendor happiness, and truth for art;
The plain, frank manners of their race despise,
Fair without fraud, and great without disguise;
Where, thro the life the heart uncover'd ran,
And spoke the native dignity of man.
For these, the gain let Virtue blush to hear,
And each sad parent drop the plaintive tear!
Train'd in foul stews, impoison'd by the stage,
Hoyl'd into gaming, Keyser'd into age,
To smooth hypocrisy by Stanhope led,
To truth an alien, and to virtue dead,
Swoln with an English butcher's sour disdain,
Or to a Fribble dwindled from a man,
Homeward again behold the jackdaw run,
And yield his fire the ruins of a son!
What tho' his mind no thought has e'er perplex'd,
Converse illum'd, or observations vex'd;
Yet here, in each debate, a judge he shines,
Of all, that man enlarges, or refines;
Religion, science, politics, and song;
A prodigy his parts; an oracle his tongue.
Hist! hist! ye mere Americans, attend;
Ope wide your months; your knees in homage bend;
[Page 79]While Curl discloses to the raptur'd view
What Peter, Paul, and Moses, never knew▪
The light of new-born wisdom sheds abroad,
And adds a
* leanto to the word of God.
What Creole wretch shall dare, with home-made foils,
Attack opinions, brought three thousand miles;
Sense, in no common way to mortals given,
But on Atlantic travellers breath'd by Heaven;
A head,
en queue, by Monsieur Frizzle dress'd;
Manners, a Paris Taylor's arts invest;
Pure criticism, form'd from
acted plays;
And graces, that would even a Stanhope grace?
Commercial wisdom, merchants here inhale
From him, whose eye hath seen the unfinish'd bale;
Whose feet have pass'd the shop, where pins were sold,
The wire was silver'd, and the heads were roll'd!
Conven'd, ye lawyers, make your humblest leg!
Here stands the man has seen Lord Mansfield's wig!
Physicians hush'd, hear Galen's lips distil,
From Buchan's contents, all the Art to heal!
Divines, with reverence cease your scripture whims,
And learn this male Minerva's moral schemes;
Schemes theologic found in Drury-lane,
That prove the bible false, and virtue vain!
Heavens! shall a child in learning, and in wit,
O'er Europe's climes, a bird of passage slit;
[Page 80]There, as at home, his stripling self unknown,
By novel wonders stupified to stone,
Shut from the wise, and by no converse taught,
No well-read day, nor hour of serious thought,
His head by pleasure, vice, and hurry, turn'd,
All prudence trampled, all improvements spurn'd;
Shall he, with less of Europe in his cap,
Than satchell'd school-boy guesses from the map,
On every subject struttingly decree,
Ken the far shore, and search the unfathom'd sea,
Where learning has her lamp for ages oil'd,
Where Newton ponders, and where Berkeley toil'd?
Of all the plagues, that rise in human shape,
Good Heaven, preserve us from the travell'd Ape!
* "Peace to all such:" but were there one, whose mind
Bold genius wing'd, and converse pure, refin'd,
By nature promp
[...]ed science' realms to roam,
And both her Indies bring with rapture home;
Who men, and manners, search'd with eagle eye,
Exact to weigh, and curious to descry;
Himself who burnish'd with the hand of care,
Till kings might boast so bright a gem to wear;
Should he, deep plung'd in Circe's sensual bowl,
Imbrue his native manliness of soul,
With eye estrang'd, from fair Columbia turn,
Her youth, her innocence, and beauty scorn;
To that soul harlot, Europe, yield his mind,
Witch'd by her smiles, and to her snares resign'd;
[Page 81]To nature's bloom prefer the rouge of art,
A tinsell'd outside to a golden heart,
Show, to the bliss by simple freedom given,
To virtue, Stanhope, and Voltaire to Heaven;
Who but must wish, the apostate youth to see?
Who but must agonize, were Humphreys he?
But all thy soul shall 'scape, the escape to aid,
Fair to thy view be every motive spread.
Of each gay cause the dire effects survey,
And bring the painted tomb disclos'd to day.
Tho' there proud pomp uprears his throne on high;
Tho' there the golden palace lights the sky;
Tho' wealth unfolds her gay, Edenian seats,
Her walk of grandeur, and her wild of sweets;
The stage, the park, the ring, the dance, the feast,
Charm the pall'd eye, and lure the loathing taste;
Yet there fierce war unceasing sounds alarms;
Pride blows the trump, and millions rush to arms;
See steel and fire extinguish human good!
See realms manur'd with corses, and with blood!
At slaughter's shrine expires the new-born-joy,
And all Jehovah's bounty fiends destroy.
See the huge jail in gloomy grandeur rise,
Low'r o'er mankind, and mock the tempted skies!
Hear the chain clank! the bursting groan attend!
And mark the neighboring gibbet's pride ascend.
See earth's fair face insatiate luxury spoils!
For one poor tyrant, lo, a province toils!
To brothels, half the female world is driven,
Lost to themselves, and reprobates of heaven.
[Page 82]There too refinement glances o'er the mind;
And nought but vice, and outside, is refin'd;
To vice auspicious, brilliant manners blend,
The waxen saint, and sinner, foe and friend,
Melt from the soul each virtue, as they shine,
And warm the impoison'd blossom into sin.
In fair Columbia's realms, how chang'd the plan;
Where all things bloom, but, first of all things, man!
Lord of himself, the independent swain,
Sees no superior stalk the happy plain:
His house, his herd, his harvest, all his own,
His farm a kingdom, and his chair a throne.
Unblench'd by foul hypocrisy, the soul
Speaks in her face, and bids his accents roll;
(Her wings un
[...]lipp'd) with fire instinctive warms,
Strong pulses seals, and bold conceptions forms;
At noblest objects aims her slight supreme,
The purpose vast, and enterprize extreme.
Hence round the pole her sons exalt the sail,
Search southern seas, and rouse the Falkland whale;
Or on bold pinions hail the Asian skies,
And bid new stars in spicy oceans rise.
Hence in bright arms her chiefs superior flame,
Even now triumphant on the steep of fame,
Where Vernon's Hero mounts the throne sublime,
And sees no rival grace the reign of time.
Hence countless honours rising Med'cine claims;
Hence Law presents her constellated names;
The Sacred Science sees her concave bright
Instarr'd, and
[...]ous, with the sons of light:
[Page 83]Hence Edwards cheer'd the world with moral day,
And Franklin walk'd, unhurt, the realms where lightnings play.
Mechanic genius hence exalts his eye,
All powers to measure, and all scenes descry,
Bids Rittenhouse the heavenly system feign,
And Bushnell search the chambers of the main.
Hence too, where Trumbull leads the ardent throng,
Ascending bards begin the immortal song:
Let glowing friendship wake the cheerful lyre,
Blest to commend, and pleas'd to catch the fire.
Be theirs the fame, to bards how rarely given!
To fill with worth the part assign'd by Heaven;
Distinguish'd actors on life's busy stage,
Lov'd by mankind, and useful to the age;
While science round them twines her vernal bays,
And sense directs, and genius fires their lays.
While this fair land commands thy feet to roam,
And, all Columbian, still thou plan'st for home,
From those bright sages, with whose mission join'd,
Thou seek'st to build the interests of mankind,
Experience, wisdom, honour, may'st thou gain,
The zeal for country, and the love of man.
There thro' the civil science may'st thou run;
There learn how empires are preserv'd, or won;
How arts politic wide dominions sway;
How well-train'd navies bid the world obey;
How war's imperial car commands the plain,
Or rolls majestic o'er the subject main;
Thro' earth, how commerce spreads a softer sway,
And Gal
[...]a's sons negociate realms away.
[Page 84]
Then, crown'd with every gift, and grace, return,
To add new glories to the western morn;
With sages, heroes, bards, her charms display,
Her arts, arms, virtues, and her happy sway;
Bid o'er the world her constellation rise,
The brightest splendor in the unmeasur'd skies,
Her genial influence thro' all nations roll,
And hush the sound of war from pole to pole.
And oh, may he, who still'd the stormy main,
And lightly wing'd thee o'er the glassy plain,
Thro' life's rough-billow'd sea, with kinder gales,
With skies ferener, and with happier sails,
Each shoal escap'd, afar each tempest driven,
And nought but raptures round the enchanted Heaven,
To bliss, fair shore, thy prosperous course convey,
And join my peaceful bark, companion of thy way.
[Page 85]
THE PROSPECT OF PEACE.
*
BY JOEL BARLOW, ESQUIRE.
THE closing scenes of Tyrants' fruitless rage,
The opening prospects of a golden age,
The dread events that crown th' important year,
Wake the glad song, and claim th' attentive ear.
Long has Columbia rung with dire alarms,
While Freedom call'd her injur'd sons to arms;
While various fortune fir'd th' embattled field,
Conquest delay'd, and victory stood conceal'd;
While closing legions mark'd their dreadful way,
And millions trembled for the dubious day.
In this grand conflict heaven's Eternal Sire,
At whose dread frown the sons of guilt expire,
Bade vengeance rise, with sacred fury driven,
On those who war with Innocence and Heaven.
Behold, where late the trembling squadrons fled,
Hosts bow'd in chains, and hapless numbers bled,
In different fields our numerous heroes rouse,
To crop the wreath from Britain's impious brows.
[Page 86]
Age following age shall these events relate
'Till Time's old empire yield to destin'd Fate;
Historic truth our guardian chiefs proclaim,
Their worth, their actions, and their deathless fame;
Admiring crouds their life-touch'd forms behold
In breathing canvass, or in sculptur'd gold,
And hail the Leader of the favorite throng,
The rapt'rous theme of some heroic song.
And soon, emerging from the orient skies,
The blissful morn in glorious pomp shall rise,
Wafting fair Peace from Europe's fated coast;
Where wand'ring long, in mazy factions lost,
From realm to realm, by rage and discord driven,
She se
[...]med resolv'd to reascend her heaven.
This LEWIS view'd, and reach'd a friendly hand,
Pointing her flight to this far-distant land;
Bade her extend her empire o'er the West,
And Europe's balance tremble on her crest!
Now, see the Goddess mounting on the day,
To these fair climes direct her circling way,
Willing to seek, once more, an earthly throne,
To cheer the globe, and emulate the sun.
With placid look she eyes the blissful shore,
Bids the loud-thundering cannon cease to roar;
Bids British navies from these ports be tost,
And hostile keels no more insult the coast:
Bids private feuds her sacred vengeance feel,
And bow submissive to the public weal;
Bids long, calm years adorn the happy clime,
And roll down blessings to remotest time.
[Page 87]
Hail! heaven-born Peace, fair Nurse of Virtue hail!
Here, fix thy sceptre and exalt thy scale;
Hence, thro' the earth extend thy late domain,
'Till Heaven's own splendor shall absorb thy reign!
What scenes arise! what glories we behold!
See a broad realm its various charms unfold;
See crouds of patriots bless the happy land,
A godlike senate and a warlike band;
One friendly Genius fires the numerous whole,
From glowing Georgia to the frozen pole.
Along these shores, amid these flowery vales,
The woodland shout the joyous ear assails;
Industrious crouds in different labours toil,
Those ply the arts, and these improve the soil.
Here the fond merchant counts his rising gain,
There strides the rustic o'er the furrow'd plain,
Here walks the statesman, pensive and serene,
And there the school boys gambol round the green.
See ripening harvests gild the smiling plains,
Kind Nature's bounty and the pride of swains;
Luxuriant vines their curling tendrils shoot,
And bow their heads to drop the clustering fruit;
In the gay fields, with rich profusion strow'd,
The orchard bends beneath its yellow load,
The lofty boughs their annual burden pour,
And juicy harvests swell th' autumnal store.
These are the blessings of impartial heaven,
To each fond heart in just proportion given.
No grasping lord shall grind the neighbouring poor,
Starve numerous vassals to increase his store;
[Page 88]No cringing slave shall at his presence bend,
Shrink at his frown, and at his nod attend;
Afric's unhappy children, now no more
Shall feel the cruel chains they felt before,
But every State in this just mean agree,
To bless mankind, and set th' oppressed free.
Then, rapt in transport, each exulting slave
Shall taste that Boon which God and nature gave,
And, fir'd with virtue, join the common cause,
Protect our freedom and enjoy our laws.
At this calm period, see, in pleasing view,
Art vies with Art, and Nature smiles anew:
On the long, winding strand that meets the tide,
Unnumber'd cities lift their spiry pride;
Gay, slowery walks salute th' inraptur'd eyes,
Tall, beauteous domes in dazzling prospect rise;
There thronging navies stretch their wanton sails,
Tempt the broad main and catch the driving gales;
There commerce swells from each remotest shore,
And wafts in plenty to the smiling store.
To these throng'd seats the country wide resorts,
And rolls her treasures to the op'ning ports;
While, far remote, gay health and pleasure slow,
And calm retirement cheers the laboring brow.
No din of arms the peaceful patriot hears,
No parting sigh the tender matron fears,
No field of fame invites the youth to rove,
No
[...] virgins know a harsher sound than love.
[Page 89]
Fair Science then her laurel'd beauty rears,
And soars with Genius to the radiant stars.
Her glimmering dawn from Gothic darkness rose,
And nations saw her shadowy veil disclose;
She cheer'd fair Europe with her rising smiles,
Beam'd a bright morning o'er the British isles,
Now soaring reaches her meridian height,
And blest Columbia hails the dazzling light!
Here, rapt in tho't, the philosophic soul
Shall look thro' Nature's parts and grasp the whole.
See Genius kindling at a FRANKLIN's fame,
See unborn sages catch th' electric flame,
Bid hovering clouds the threatening blast expire,
Curb the fierce stream and hold th' imprison'd fire!
See the pleas'd youth, with anxious study, rove,
In orbs excentric thro' the realms above,
No more perplex'd, while RITTENHOUSE appears
To grace the museum with the rolling spheres.
See that young Genius, that inventive soul,
Whose laws the jarring elements control:
Who guides the vengeance of mechanic power,
To blast the watery world and guard the peaceful shore.
And where's the rising Sage, the unknown name,
That new advent'rer in the lists of fame,
To find the cause, in secret nature bound,
The unknown cause, and various charms of so
[...]d?
What subtil medium leads the devious way:
Why different tensions different sounds convey;
[Page 90]Why harsh, rough tones in grating discord roll,
Or mingling concert charms th' enraptur'd soul.
And tell the cause why sluggish vapors rise,
And wave, exalted, thro' the genial skies;
What strange contrivance nature forms to bear
The
[...]derous burden thro' the lighter air.
These last Displays the curious mind engage,
And sire t
[...]e genius of the rising age;
While mor
[...] tho'ts the pleas'd attention claim,
Swell the w
[...]rm soul, and wake the virtuous flame;
While Metaphysics soar a boundless height,
And launch with EDWARDS to the realms of light.
See the blest Muses hail their roseate bowers,
Their mansions blooming with poetic flowers;
See listening Seraphs join the epic throng,
And unborn JOSHUAS rise in future song.
Satire attends at Virtue's wakening call,
And Pride and Coquetry and Dulness fall.
Unnumber'd bards shall string the heavenly lyre,
To those blest strains which heavenly themes inspire;
Sing the rich Grace on mortal Man bestow'd,
The Virgin's Offspring and the
filial God;
What love descends from heaven when JESUS dies!
What shouts attend him rising thro' the skies!
See Science now in lovelier charms appear,
Grac'd with new garlands from the blooming Fair.
See laurel'd nymphs in polish'd pages shine,
And S
[...]pphic sweetness glow in every line.
[Page 91]No more the rougher Muse shall dare disgrace
The radiant charms that deck the blushing face;
But rising Beauties scorn the tinsel show,
The powder'd coxcomb and the flaunting beau;
While humble Merit, void of flattering wiles,
Claims the soft glance, and wakes th' enlivening smiles.
The opening lustre of an angel-mind,
Beauty's bright charms with sense superior join'd,
Bid Virtue shine, bid Truth and Goodness rise,
Melt from the voice, and sparkle from the eyes;
While the pleas'd Muse the gentle bosom warms,
The first in genius, as the first in charms.
Thus age and youth a smiling aspect wear,
Aw'd into virtue by the leading Fair;
While the bright offspring, rising to the stage,
Conveys the blessings to the future age.
THESE are the views that Freedom's cause attend;
THESE shall endure 'till Time and Nature end.
With Science crown'd, shall Peace and Virtue shine,
And blest Religion beam a light divine.
Here the pure Church, descending from her God,
Shall fix on earth her long and last abode;
Zion arise, in radiant splendors dress'd,
By Saints admir'd, by Infidels confess'd;
Her opening courts, in dazzling glory, blaze,
Her walls salvation, and her portals praise.
From each far corner of th' extended earth,
Her gathering sons shall claim their promis'd birth.
Thro' the drear wastes, beneath the setting day,
Where prowling natives haunt the wood for prey,
[Page 92]The swarthy Millions lift their wond'ring eyes,
And smile to see the Gospel morning rise:
Those who, thro' time, in savage darkness lay,
Wake to new light, and hail the glorious day!
In those dark regions, those uncultur'd wilds,
Fresh blooms the rose, the peaceful lilly smiles;
On the tall cliffs unnumber'd
Carmels rise,
And in each vale some beauteous
Sharon lies.
From this fair Mount th' excinded stone shall roll,
Reach the far East and spread from pole to pole;
From one small Stock shall countless nations rise,
The world replenish and adorn the skies.
Earth's blood-stain'd empires, with their Guide the Sun,
From orient climes their gradual progress run;
And circling far, reach every western shore,
'Till earth-born empires rise and fall no more.
But see th' imperial GUIDE from heaven descend,
Whose beams are Peace, whose kingdom knows no end;
From calm Vesperia, thro' th' etherial way,
Back sweep the shades before th' effulgent day;
Thro' the broad East, the brightening splendor driven,
Reverses Nature and illumines heaven;
Astonish'd regions bless the gladdening sight,
And Suns and Systems own superior light.
As when th' asterial blaze o'er Bethl'em stood,
Which mark'd the birth-place of th' incarnate God;
When eastern priests the heavenly splendor view'd,
And numerous crouds the wonderous sign pursu'd;
So eastern kings shall view th' unclouded day
Rise in the West and streak its golden way:
[Page 93]
That signal spoke a Savior's humble birth,
This speaks his long and glorious reign on earth!
THEN Love shall rule, and Innocence adore,
Discord shall cease, and Tyrants be no more;
'Till yon bright orb, and those celestial spheres,
In radiant circles, mark a thousand years;
'Till the grand
fiat burst th' etherial frames,
Worlds crush on worlds, and Nature sink in flames!
The Church elect, from smouldering ruins, rise,
And sail triumphant thro' the yielding skies,
Hail'd by the Bridegroom! to the Father given,
The Joy of Angels, and the Queen of Heaven!
[Page 94]
A POEM,
* Spoken at the PUBLIC COMMENCEMENT at YALE-COLLEGE, in NEW-HAVEN,
Sept. 12, 1781. BY THE SAME.
ONCE more, thou sacred Seat, the changing year
Hath circled heaven and bid the day appear,
That opes thy portals, gilds thy spiry dome,
And calls thy children from their joyous home.
[Page 95]
Thro' seven long years hath war's terrific power
Rang'd every town and crimson'd every shore,
Pursu'd fair Science from each happy seat,
Rav'd in her domes and forc'd her last retreat,
And oft, Yalensia, doom'd thy final fall,
While thy sad Genius trembled for thy wall.
Now see, at last, the venerable train,
Thine elder sons ascend thy courts again!
We joy the reverend, happy throng to see,
We wake thy own blest Muse, and bid her sing to thee.
Long have we liv'd beneath thy nurturing care,
And joy and friendship crown'd our labors there;
No more within those blissful haunts we dwell,
To all thy train we bid a long farewel;
One gentle grasp, one silent, sorrowing tear,
And joys and friends forever disappear;
Fate calls us hence the world's broad stage to tread,
Act a short part, and mingle with the dead.
We go—but may thy glory still ascend,
Thy fame, thy virtues thro' the world extend;
Thy future sons, a calm, delightful throng,
As following years shall lead their steps along,
To peace, to happiness, to glory rise,
Shine thro' the earth and brighten in the skies.
No ruffian force that treads the distant shore,
Shall dare invade thy peaceful labors more;
While the proud foes beneath our standards yield,
And our brave brethren claim the crimson field,
Within thy courts shall pride and slaughter cease,
And genius dignify the wal
[...]s of peace.
[Page 96]
And oh! may some blest hand regard thy cries,
Some great, some liberal benefactor rise,
Whose soul awakes at thy inspiring call,
To lift thy spires, enlarge thy scanty wall,
Who joys to aid the Muse's feeble voice,
And bid bright learning in her sons rejoice,
Bid wealth and dignity thy steps attend,
And rival arts and rival virtues blend,
O'er all the happy land thy beauties shine,
And every joy, and every wish be thine.
Ye patriot worthies, whom these strains assail,
Ye Reverend Sires, and all ye Sons of Yale,
Behold our seat, by former bounty given,
Pride of our land and favorite child of heaven,
Whence liberal arts and liberal thoughts ye drew,
When sew her children and her wants were few;
Now see, the narrow bounds can scarce contain
Half the throng'd numbers of her joyous train,
While every friend averts the unconscious eye,
And power, and interest, pass unheeding by.
As late, when war's grim terrors sought repose,
And evening mists and distant sires arose,
Far in a gloomy grove I pensive stray'd,
Where death's pale phantoms walk'd the midnight shade,
Thin clouds of sickening damps, o'er ether driven,
Obscur'd the stars and shut the eye from heaven;
Unwonted sighs within my bosom rose,
Cities o'erturn'd and all my country's woes
Pour'd on my heart; but chief thy feeble cries,
Neglected Science, bade my griefs arise.
[Page 97]I saw, from Briton's Isle, thy genius flown,
In these fair climes to fix a nobler throne,
While here thy sons the peaceful myrtle yield,
To pluck the crimson laurel of the field.
I saw thy seats to scenes of slaughter turn'd,
Thy walls defac'd, thy fairest labours burn'd;
E'en Yale, thy lovliest handmaid, now no more,
Knew the gay smiles of youth she knew before,
Her funds decreas'd, her strength, her int'rest fled,
Her friends neglected, and her HOSMER dead.
Now a calm splendor burst the saddening gloom,
And gales etherial breath'd a glad perfume,
Mild in the midst a form celestial shone,
Rob'd in the vestments of the rising sun;
Tall rose his stature, dignity and grace
Mov'd in his limbs and wanton'd in his face,
His folding mantle flow'd in easy pride,
His harp divine lay useless by his side,
His locks in curls from myrtle chaplets hung,
And sounds melodious melted from his tongue.
"Mortal, attend, behold before thee stand
Learning's bright Genius, guardian of the land;
Let grief no more awake the piteous strain,
Nor think fair Science left her heaven in vain.
Awhile my skill must guide the wild affray,
Range the red field and sweep thy foes away,
Soon shall this arm a milder sceptre bear,
And blest Yalensia prove my favorite care.
Mean time her friends her glory shall attend,
Enlarge her stores and bid her walls ascend;
[Page 98]Bid every art from that pure fountain flow,
All that the Muse can sing or man can know;
The various branches various teachers claim,
And universal knowledge lift her fame.
And see! ere long in that delightful seat,
Her sons and friends, a numerous concourse, meet;
Once more to view her, greet her youthful train,
And hear her feeble, saddening voice complain.
Go thou, in pride of youth attend them there,
And these commands in strains melodious bear.
Say 'tis for them to stretch the liberal hand,
While war's dread tumults yet involve the land,
Sustain her drooping, rear her radiant eyes,
And bid her future fame begin to rise.
Tell them the wild commotions soon shall cease,
And blest Columbia hail the charms of peace,
Where rest the future deeds on earth design'd
To raise, to dignify and bless mankind.
While Europe's numerous courts my cause attend,
And mutual interest fix the mutual friend,
Behold, from each far realm, what glories shine!
Their power, their commerce and their science mine.
And here, what roving views before them spread!
Where this new empire lifts her daring head!
What wide extent her waving ensigns claim!
Lands yet unknown and streams without a name.
Where the deep gulph unfolds Floridia's shore,
To where Ontario bids hoarse Laurence roar;
Where Missisippi's waves their sources boast,
Where gr
[...]ves and floods and realms and climes are lost,
[Page 99]To where the mild Atlantic's length'ning tide,
Laves numerous towns, and swells their naval pride.
And see! by nature's hand o'er all bestow'd,
The last pure polish of the forming God.
What various grandeur strikes the gladdening eyes!
Bays stretch their arms and mountains li
[...] the skies;
The lakes, unfolding, point the streams their way,
The plains, the hills their lengthening skirts display,
The vales draw forth, fair wave the glimmering wilds,
And all the majesty of nature smiles.
On this broad theatre, unbounded spread,
In different scenes, what countless throngs must tread!
Soon as the new form'd empire, rising fair,
Calms her brave sons now breathing from the war,
Unfolds her harbours, spreads the genial soil,
And welcomes freemen to the chearful toil.
Wh
[...] numerous sages must exalt her name!
What numerous bards must tell the world her fame!
What numerous chiefs beneath my forming care,
Must blaze in arms and ward the waste of war!
While every art and all the graces meet,
To form her thousands to the cares of State,
To heal pale sickness, bid diseases cease,
And sound the tidings of eternal peace.
Those must arise the present age to lead,
And following millions hail the paths they tread.
Such gladdening views will ope the bounteous store,
The grasp of interest and the pride of power,
Yalensia's friends shall thus attend her call,
And youths unnumber'd bless the favorite wall.
[Page 100]
And tho' thou seest the rage of slaughter roll,
And different views thy wayward race controul,
Tho' still oppos'd their interest, and their laws,
And every sceptre leads a different cause,
Yet thro' the whole the same progressive plan,
Which draws, for mutual succour, man to man,
From men to tribes, from tribes to nations spreads,
And private ties to public compact leads,
Shall rise by slow degrees, and still extend,
Their power, their interest, and their passions, blend;
Their wars grow milder, policies enlarge,
Increasing nations feel the general charge,
Form broad alliances for mutual aid,
Mingle their manners and extend their trade,
Till each remotest realm, by friendship join'd,
Link in the chain and harmonize mankind,
The union'd banner be at last unfurl'd,
And wave triumphant round the accordant world.
Already now commencing glories rise,
The work begins beneath yon northern skies;
The Russian forests to the deep advance,
The ports unfold, the glimmering navies dance,
For commerce arm'd, the different powers combine,
And heaven approving aids the blest design.
Tho' rival regions still the combat wage,
And hold in bickering strife the unsettled age,
Yet no rude war, that sweeps the crimson plain,
Shall dare disturb the labors of the main;
For heaven, impartial to the earth born race,
Bade one broad circling deep their shores embrace,
[Page 101]Spread to all realms the same wide, watry way,
Liberal as air and unconfin'd as day,
That every distant land the wealth might share,
Exchange their wants and fill their treasures there,
Their speech assimilate, their empires blend,
And laws and mildness thro' the world extend.
Raise now thine eye, the hastening years shall roll,
A
[...]d these glad scenes delight thy rising soul."
We th
[...]n be
[...]ld, 'till where
[...]o lonely pr
[...]de,
The far, blue Bal
[...]ic pours his laboring tide;
At once in gathering squadrons, from the north,
The mingling streamers lead the nations forth;
From different shores unnumber'd masts arise,
And wave their peaceful curtains to the skies;
Broader and broader still the wings unfold,
All Europe's coasts the streaming pomp behold,
From Gallia's ports, from Albion's hoary height,
United flags are pointed into sight;
Where broad Hispania's strand two oceans lave,
And the rich Tagus mingles with the wave,
The countless navies lift their banners wide,
And stream their glories o'er the foamy tide;
While thro' the glimmering Strait, in long array,
Pour'd from the fleets that croud the midland sea,
The sails look forth and swell their beauteous pride,
With wider waves and bolder barks to glide;
While far, far distant, where the watry way
Spreads the blue borders of descending day,
The misty sails advance in lengthening sweep,
Pride of the western world and daughters of the deep.
[Page 102]From all the bounds that meet the Atlantic wave,
While to our view the crouded squadrons heave,
In sign of union, each advancing line,
Leads a calm nation, bids their banners join,
Till far as pole from pole, the cloudlike train
Skirts the dim heavens and shades the whitening main.
We saw, in other seas and other skies,
With equal pomp unnumber'd streamers rise;
Where Asia's isles and utmost shores extend.
Like rising suns the sheeted masts ascend,
Sw
[...]ep from all ports tha
[...] cle
[...]ve the orient strand,
Load every ocean, compass every land,
For peaceful commerce join the friendly train,
No more to combat on the watry plain.
We saw new barks to new discoveries roll,
Where unknown waves salute each distant pole;
Far in the north, where seas Pacific pour,
And ope Columbia from the Asian shore,
The daring sails th' unmeasur'd flight pursue,
And isles and countless nations rise to view.
While some bold Sage, Columbus like, design'd
By other stars and waves to lead mankind,
With conscious pride and philosophic eye,
Treads the lone borders of the southern sky,
With persevering toil the deeps explores,
Till there a new found world extends her length'ning shores.
We saw, from each new realm, new arts ascend,
New manners rise, new wealth and power extend,
Allure the hero, feed the enquiring sage,
Enlarge the genius, dignify the age,
[Page 103]Till laws and empires swell their rising reign,
And their own navies whiten on the main.
Such views around us spread, when thus the guide,
"These are my works that load the sweeping tide;
Nor less my power the walks of science claim,
In this fair land to raise her noblest name.
No more shall war disturb her peaceful reign,
And call to fields of death her youthful train,
No more her views by wealth and power immur'd,
To rage alone and scenes of blood inur'd,
To teach the lance to thirst for human gore,
To teach pale Avarice to swell the store,
To teach the milder arts the prize to yield,
Teach her own muse the clangor of the field,
From ruin'd regions fill the voice of fame,
And call celestial fire to blaze a tyrant's name.
No more in bolder breasts, to dwell confin'd,
And hold her seat in half the human mind,
O'er gentler passions s
[...]read a harsh controul,
And light the glare o
[...] g
[...]ndeur in the soul;
But softer virtues now demand her care,
And her own laurels grace the rising fair.
Each rival sex to rival arts aspires,
Each aids alike the universal quires;
This bids bold comme
[...]ce load the laboring main,
Or rear the peaceful harvest of the plain;
That leads the hours of calm domestic toil,
And cheers the houshold with an evening smile,
To each fond heart an equal task assign'd,
And equal virtues raise the mutual mind.
[Page 104]While daring thoughts and deeper tracts of truth
Thro' philosophic mazes lead the youth,
The softer arts demand a softer care,
And loves and graces dignify the fair.
While states and empires, policies and laws,
Lure the firm patriot in the bolder cause,
To stem the tide of power or ward the war,
Like me to suffer and like me to dare.
Behold, with equal dignity and grace,
The matron virtues guide her peaceful race;
A pleasing task her tender bosom warms,
The infant care now smiling in her arms,
Now ripening features, as the form improves,
Speak the dear image of the man she loves;
She lures the rising wish to thoughts refin'd,
And her own virtues swell the opening mind,
The prattling throng to lisping reason grown,
To ape her loveliness improve their own;
The sire beholds the living beauties bloom,
Pride of his life and hope of years to come,
Aids every virtue taught by her to rise,
Joins the delightful task, and trains them for the skies.
Thus different arts their kindred cares employ,
In fields of action or domestic joy,
Then, rising from the useful to the fine,
Their mingling souls with rival glory shine.
From each pure taste consenting graces blend,
When the tall pillars of the dome ascend,
The walls heave stately, arches bend on high,
And full proportion meets the roving eye.
[Page 105]
Or when the garden to the impassion'd heart,
Unfinish'd lies and asks the rural art,
With just design their equal fancies play,
From each alike the rambling beauties stray,
Till thro' the whole the different scenes prevail,
Here flows the fountain and there draws the dale,
The laughing lawn, the frowning footless grove,
And all the seats of innocence and love.
Nor less their power the living canvas warms,
And breathes the pencil'd passion into charms;
Heroes and beauties hear the wakening call,
And distant ages fill the storied wall.
Two kindred arts the swelling statue heave,
Wake the dead wax and teach the stone to live;
The daring chissel claims the bolder strife,
To rouse the sceptred marble into life,
While fairer hands the livelier fire controul,
And into softer figures shed the soul.
In hearts attun'd the voice of music dwells,
Steals o'er the lip and into passion swells,
Swept by th' alternate hand the living lyre,
To mutual rapture wakes the floating fire,
Till all the magic melody of sound,
Pours in delightful harmony around.
And when the breath of heaven from Angel quires,
With life divine the joyous Muse inspires,
In rival bosoms, see the Goddess glow!
And bind her bays on each consenting brow.
[Page 106]The soaring bard awakes the trembling string,
Virtues and loves and heavenly themes to sing;
No more of vengeful chiefs and bickering Gods,
Where ocean crimsons and Olympus nods,
Or heavens, convulsing rend the dark profound,
To chain fierce Titans to the groaning ground,
But, fir'd by milder themes, and charms refin'd,
Beam'd from the beauties of the fair one's mind,
His soul awakes the peace inspiring song,
And life and happiness the strain prolong;
To moral beauties bids the world attend,
And jarring realms in social compact blend;
Bids laws extend and commerce stretch the wing,
Far distant shores their barter'd tributes bring;
He sees the nations join, their bliss increase,
(Leagu'd in his lays) and sings them into peace.
While pleas'd, the Muse divides her equal care,
And the same ardor warms the listening fair;
From his pure breath she lights a bolder flame,
The same her genius and her flight the same,
In mutual smiles the borrow'd graces play,
In mutual sweetness slide the hours away,
In mutual aid the borrow'd numbers roll,
And swell'd to rapture breathes the mutual soul.
From their own loves, thus soften'd and refin'd,
The general wish extends to all mankind,
The neighbour's cares, the family, the friend
Pour on the heart, and in the bosom blend;
The poor, the stranger find a welcome home,
The vagrant foot is pointed where to roam,
[Page 107]The eye of anguish, when no help is near,
Looks the fond wish and finds the mingling tear;
E'en to their foes their equal goodness bends,
And hostile minds are soften'd into friends.
And when their lays have pour'd the bounteous mind,
In warm benevolence, to all their kind,
They lift the bolder note, the raptures glow,
To loves pure source whence all her streamlets flow.
Rapt into vision of the bright abode,
From angel harps they catch th' inspiring God;
Thro' heavens, o'er-canopy'd by heavens, they soar,
Where floods of light in boundless beauty pour,
Seraphs and system'd worlds innumerous move,
Link'd in the chain of harmonizing love;
Thence following down▪ th' effulgent glory trace,
Which brought salvation to their kindred race.
Thus, on the stream of life, with gentle sweep,
They roll delightful to the welcome deep,
Where, unconfin'd, their spirits gently sail,
View happier climes and taste a purer gale;
Thro' ether's boundless realms together rise,
And claim their kindred mansions in the skies;
There fill the rapture of th' adoring throng,
Whose lays on earth prelude the heavenly song."
[Page 108]
AN ELEGY On the late honorable TITUS HOSMER, Esq. one of the Counsellors of the State of Connecticut, a Member of Congress, and a Judge of the Maritime Court of Appeals for the United States of America. INSCRIBED TO MRS. LYDIA HOSMER, Relict of the late honorable
TITUS HOSMER, Esq. As a testimony of the Author's veneration for the many amiable virtues which rendered her the delight and ornament of so worthy a Consort, and still render her an honour to a very numerous and respectable acquaintance. BY THE SAME.
COME to my soul, O shade of HOSMER, come,
Tho' doubting senates ask thy aid in vain;
Attend the drooping virtues round thy tomb,
And hear a while the orphan'd Muse complain.
The Muse which thy indulgence bade aspire,
And dare pursue thy distant steps to fame▪
At thy command she first assum'd the lyre,
And hop'd a future laurel from thy name.
How did thy smiles awake her infant song!
How did thy virtues animate the lay!
Still shall thy sate the dying strain prolong,
And bear her voice with thy lost form away.
[Page 109]
Come to my soul thou venerable Sage,
In all the sheeted majesty of night,
Snatch the bold quill, control the noble rage,
And seize the raptur'd fancy in her flight.
Come in the form that shadowy spirits dress,
When death's dim veil hath shrouded all their pride,
While yon tall cloud but emulates thy face,
Where the lone moon-beam trembles thro' its side.
Come on the gale that listening midnight heaves,
When glare-ey'd phantoms, bending with a bier,
Stalk thro' the mist, ascend the sounding graves,
And wake wild wonders in the startled ear.
In this dread scene no more the wonted fires
Kindle my breast, or ope a wish within,
The soul, distracted, from herself retires,
And sighs to mingle and to soar with thine.
And where, thou blest immortal, art thou flown!
Can these deep shades detain thy willing ear?
Canst thou from loaded breezes hear a groan?
Or stain thy spotless mantle with a tear!
Can ought on earth thy flight hath left behind,
Borne in the music of a once lov'd strain,
Approach the unbody'd mansion of the mind?
Or bend one pitying look to earth again?
Can thence no thought to that fair seat descend?
The seat once joyous in thy joys below,
Where robes of sable sadness now depend,
And all the still solemnities of woe.
[Page 110]
Can the dear partner of thy tender years,
Sad as the misty fading face of even,
With all the wasted treasure of her tears,
Avert no smile nor bribe a care from heaven?
While that young throng, that dear deserted train,
Where thy lov'd image soften'd sweetness wears,
Swell with new tenderness each following pain,
And add unnumber'd, undivided cares.
Around the fair one see their beauties bloom,
(Or wilt thou not the moving fair one heed?)
How their keen anguish points the distant tomb,
Where all their joys and every hope is fled!
So lonely Cynthia, on her evening throne,
And all her young-ey'd planetary train,
In languid lustre seek their sire the sun,
Down the still chambers of the western main.
Yet that broad splendor from his nightly race,
With rising radiance shall the day restore;
Another spring renews fair nature's face,
And years and ages die to waken more.
But thou, alas! no more on earth wilt tread,
Nor one short hour thy blest employments leave,
Tho' the sad knell, that hail'd thee to the dead,
Had doom'd thy helpless country to her grave.
Thy country, whose still supplicating moan,
Implores thy counsels with an infant cry;
And loads the same stern Angel with a groan,
Which bore thy kindling spirit to the sky.
[Page 111]
Wilt thou (since nothing here can bribe thy stay,
And nothing here can tempt thee from on high,
Since tears of innocence must idly stray,
And grateful millions breathe the fruitless sigh;
Since every tender tie that mortals prize,
And all that fame's immortal children gain,
Yield to the untimely mandate of the skies,
And ask thy kind continuance still in vain:)
Wilt thou in seats of blessedness above,
Where cares of empire claim the eternal ear,
Among thy country's guardian seraphs prove
The hand to cherish and the heart to hear?
There, while the dread sublimity of soul
O'er all the star-ey'd heaven exalts thy throne,
While worlds beneath immeasurably roll,
And shew the well-known circuit of thine own,
Wilt thou remark the bluely-bending shore?
Where hills and champaigns stretch abroad their pride,
Where opening streams their lengthiest currents pour,
And heaps of heroes swell the crimson tide.
Wilt thou recognize that confus'd uproar?
Towns curl'd in smoaky columns mounting high,
Mix'd with the clarion's desolating roar;
Rending and purpling all the nether sky.
Amid the tumult, wilt thou see afar
Our laurel'd heroes striving for the day?
While clouds, unfolding, ope the wings of war,
Where the grim legions sweep the foes away.
[Page 112]
And while their deeds thy blest approvance claim,
While crouds of rival chiefs thy guidance share,
Behold that first, that finish'd heir of fame,
And be the best of heroes still thy care.
That hero whose illuminating sword
Lights death and victory through the darken'd field,
Bids realms and ages waken at his word,
Their sire, their soul, their saviour and their shield.
Behold that Senate, whose delightful ear
With thy bold eloquence hath often rung,
Where trembling realms, for many a doubtful year,
Have learnt their sure salvation from thy tongue.
While cares of empires sit upon their brow,
And all th' increasing counsels of an age,
Demand, alike, bold virtue's warmest glow,
And the wide walks of science in the sage;
Let thy own wisdom's ever beaming light
Illume their well-known dignity of soul,
Let thy benevolence their hearts unite,
And every voice, and every wish controul.
Lift the deep curtain from the vale of time,
Where unborn years their future circles wind,
Where the broad interests of a growing clime
Spread to all realms and regulate mankind.
Unfold to their keen penetrating view,
What to the infant empire should be known,
That worlds' and ages' happiness or woe,
Hang on th' important issue of their own.
[Page 113]
And sure thou wilt that honor'd realm revere,
Where first thine early steps began their fame,
Where thy lov'd memory, ever doubly dear,
Awakes a tenderer tribute to thy name.
Canst thou forget, when youthful years began,
Where opening
[...]ence kindled every grace,
And smil'd to see, ascending in the man,
The friend, the pride, the glory, of his race?
Where civil rights, the dignity of men,
And all the extensive privilege of laws,
Roll'd from thy voice or brighten'd from thy pen,
Compel'd attention and secur'd applause.
Where rising worth thine early name enroll'd
Among the first fam'd fathers of the age,
And bade the untarnish'd characters of gold
Flame in the front of glory's deathless page.
Attentive still to virtue's noble aim,
And greatly strenuous to advance her cause,
Lead thou her counsels, animate her flame,
Sire of her sons, and guardian of her laws.
And see! aloft in that sublime retreat,
Where injur'd rights obtain their last appeal,
How pensive justice o'er thy vacant seat,
With faltering hand suspends her turning scale.
If chance some Hosmer, with an even eye,
And skill'd like thee to poize the trembling weight,
Should chear the nymph, thine honor'd place supply,
And bless the nations with a longer date;
[Page 114]
When from all bounds of this extensive land,
Or where wide oceans spread their coasts abroad,
Dark causes rise, demanding from his hand,
Th' impartial deep discernment of a god;
Then in his breast may all thy virtues rise,
And all thy dignity around him shine,
Then drop thy own blest mantle from the skies,
And make the person as the place divine.
He will, my friends—th' unbodied life above,
With every virtue brighten'd and refin'd,
That glow'd below, with patriotic love,
The love of happiness and human kind,
Will burn serener in a purer sky,
Where broader views and bolder thoughts unroll,
Where universal Being fills the eye,
And swells the unbounded wishes of the soul.
No tender thought by heaven's own breath inspir'd,
Which taught the gentle bosom here to glow,
Which the warm breast with patriot ardor fir'd,
Or stole the secret tear for silent woe;
No tender thought by heaven's own will approv'd,
Can e'er forsake the mansion first assign'd;
But reaches still the object once belov'd,
And lives immortal in th' immortal mind.
Fix'd in a brighter sphere, with surer aim,
Tho' greater scenes his growing views employ,
Yet Hosmer kindles with an Hosmer's flame,
And his dear country feeds his noblest joy.
[Page 115]
He sees our rising, all-involving cause,
Spread like the morn to every distant clime,
Awake the mild magnificence of laws,
And roll down blessings on the stream of time.
Nor think, O hapless fair one, tho' awhile,
From thy fond arms his happier spirit rove,
That soaring innocence can cease to smile,
Or his Seraphic bosom cease to love.
In Heaven's own breast the self-existent fires,
E'er time began, illum'd th' eternal flame,
Lit from the beam, the Archangellic quires
Preserve th' unchanging ardor still the same.
And shall the heaven-born spirit after death,
Robb'd of its virtues from its nature fly,
Or lose in climes of bliss the aspiring breath,
Which wing'd its passage to its kindred sky?
Think, in the chambers of eternal morn,
Where beauty blooms along the vernal vale,
Where loves and virtues every smile adorn,
And hymns of Angels swell the floating gale;
Think how his well-known sympathy of soul
Views every pain thy tenderness can know;
Counts the full tears in silence as they roll,
And learns the tale of every speaking woe.
Thou know'st, while here, he joy'd to give relief,
To call dark merit to the eye of day,
To rob the silent orphan of her grief,
And breathe the sigh from innocence away.
[Page 116]
How did the trembling visage of the poor,
With grateful glow embolden at his smile!
And learn, well pleas'd, within his wonted door,
Its joys to cherish, and its cares beguile.
Thou know'st his early wish began to prize
The bliss that wayward mortals seldom find,
That lists the frequent suppliant to the skies,
While answering blessings fill the raptur'd mind.
Know then, fair mourner, from the climes of day,
(While these drear shades of solitude you tread)
His unseen hand companion of thy way,
Thro' the dark paths thy wandering steps shall lead.
While all thy virtues rise before the throne,
And all thy griefs be number'd in his sight,
Those shall refine and ripen with his own,
And these be hush'd in everlasting night.
Thy children too, his images below,
Fair as young plants, and smiling as the morn,
With thy own loveliness shall learn to glow,
And all thy graces brighten and adorn.
Short is the date that virtue from its home,
In these deep shades, can suffer and refine;
And when kind heaven relieves it from the doom,
Ours be the choice to tremble and resign.
Vain were the task, the daring thought were vain,
To check the sun's bold circuit as he flies;
Nor think the cling of fondness can detain
The soaring seraph from his kindred skies.
[Page 117]
Then cease, fond partner of his earthly joys,
And leave behind each unavailing care;
Think what a scene his happier flight employs,
And haste to meet him and to mingle there.
[Page 129]
AN EPISTLE TO DR. DWIGHT.
* On board the Courier de l'Europe,
July 30, 1784. BY THE SAME.
FROM the wide watry waste, where nought but skies
And mingling w
[...]es salute the aching eyes;
Where the same moving circle bounds the view,
And paints with vap'ry tints the billows blue;
To thee, my early friend! to thee, dear Dwight!
Fond recollection turns, while thus I write;
Wh
[...]le I reflect, no change of time or place,
The impressions of our friendship can efface;
Nor peace, nor war, tho' chang'd for us the scene,
Tho' mountains rise, or oceans roll between;
Too deep that sacred passion was imprest
On my young heart, too deep it mark'd your breast;
Your breast which asks the feelings of your friend,
What chance betides him, or what toils attend?
Then hear the muse, in sea-born numbers tell
In mind how cheerful, and in health how well;
And ev'n that muse will deign to let you know,
What things concur to make and keep him so.
[Page 130]
[...] go, protected by supernal care,
[...] loudless skies, and suns serenely fair;
[...] o'er the unruffled main the gentle gale
[...] breathes, and fills each swelling sail;
[...] of safety in the self-same hand,
[...] guides us on the ocean or the land.
Of thee, fair bark! the muse prophetic sings,
[...]rope's swift Messenger! expand thy wings,
[...]ar thy tall masts, extend thine ample arms,
Catch the light breeze, nor dread impending harms.
[...] oft shalt thou, if aught the muse avails,
[...] the broad deep with such delightful gales;
[...] oft to either world announce glad news,
Of allied realms promote the friendly views;
So shall each distant age assert thy claim,
And
Europe's Messenger be known to same!"
What tho' this plain so uniform and vast,
[...] spreads its dreary waste;
[...] tho' no isles, nor vales, nor hills, nor groves,
[...] the tired eye that round the horizon roves;
[...], still collected in a narrow bound,
[...] thousand little pleasures may be found.
Here we enjoy accommodations good,
[...] pleasant liquors, and well-flavor'd food,
[...] nicely fatten'd in Columbian fields,
And luscious wines, that Gallia's vintage yields,
[...] which you bards ('twas so in former days)
[...] feast your wit, and lavish all your praise.
Within our ship, well-furnish'd, roomy, clean,
[...] see the uses of each different scene.
[Page 131]Far in the prow, for culinary use,
Fires, not poetic, much good cheer produce;
The ovens there our daily bread afford,
And thence the viands load our plenteous board.
See various landscapes shade our dining hall,
Where mimic nature wantons round the wall,
There no vain pomp appears, there all is heat,
And there cool zephyrs fanning, as we eat,
Avert the fervors of the noon-tide ray,
And give the mildness of the vernal day.
See the great cabin nigh, its doors unfold,
Shew fleeting forms from mirrors fix'd in gold!
O'er painted ceilings brighter prospects rise,
And rural scenes again delight our eyes:
There oft from converse or from social sports,
We drink delight less dash'd than that of courts.
But when more sober cares the hour requires,
Each to his cell of solitude retires;
His bed, his books, his paper, pen and ink,
Present the choice, to rest, to read, or think.
Yet what would all avail to prompt the smile,
Cheer the sad breast, or the dull hour beguile;
If well-bred passengers, discreet and free,
Were not at hand to mix in social glee?
Such my companions,—such the muse shall tell,
Him first, whom once you knew in war so well,
Our Polish friend,
* whose name still sounds so
[...],
To make it rhyme would puzzle any bard;
[Page 132]That youth, whom bays and laurels early crown'd,
For virtue, science, arts, and arms, renown'd.
Next him, behold, to grace our watry scene,
An honest German lifts his generous mien;
Him Carolina sends to Europe's shore,
Canals and inland waters to explore;
From thence return'd, she hopes to see her tide,
In commerce rich, thro' ampler channels glide.
Next comes the bleak Quebec's well-natured son;
And last our naval chief, the friend of fun;
Whose plain, frank manners, form'd on fickle seas,
Are cheerful still, and always aim to please:
Nor less the other chiefs their zeal display,
To make us happy as themselves are gay.
Sever'd from all society but this,
Half way from either world we plough the abyss:
Save the small sea-bird and the fish that flies,
On yon blue waves no object meets my eyes.
Nor has the insidious hook, with lures, beguil'd
Of peopled ocean scarce a single child.
Yet luckless Dolphin, erst to Arion
† true,
Nought could avail thy beauteous, transient hue;
As o'er the deck, in dying pang you roll'd,
Wrapt in gay rain-bows and pellucid gold.
Now
[...] bird, fatigued with flight
O'er many a watry league, is forc'd to light
[Page 133]High on the mast,—the bird our seamen take,
Tho'
[...]ar'd, too tir'd its refuge to forsake:
Fear not sweet bird, nor judge our motives ill,
No barb'rous man, now means thy blood to spill,
Or hold thee cag'd; soon as we reach the shore,
Free shalt t
[...]ou fly, and gaily sing and soar!
Another grateful sight now cheers the eye,
At first a snow-white spot in yon clear sky;
Then thro' the optic tube a ship appears,
And now distinct athwart the billows veers:
Daughter of ocean, made to bless mankind!
Go, range wide waters on the wings of wind;
With friendly intercourse far climes explore,
Their produce barter, and increase their store;
Ne'er saw my eye so fair a pageant swim,
As thou appear'st, in all thy gallant trim!
Amus'd with trivial things, reclin'd at ease,
While the swift bark divides the summer seas;
Your b
[...]rd (for past neglect to make amends)
Now writes to you, anon to other friends.
Anon the scene, in Europe's polish'd climes,
Will give new themes for philosophic rhymes,
Ope broader fields for reason to explore,
Improvements vast of scientific lore!
Thro' nations blest with peace, but strong in arms,
Refin'd in arts, and apt for social charms,
Your friend will stray, and strive, with studious care,
To mark whate'er is useful, great, or rare;
[Page 134]Search the small shades of manners in their lives,
What policy prevails, how commerce thrives;
How morals form of happiness the base,
How others differ from Columbia's ra
[...]e;
And, gleaning knowlege from the realms he rov'd,
Bring home a patriot heart, enlarg'd, improv'd.
[Page 143]
AN ORATION, Which might have been delivered to the Students in Anatomy, on the late Rupture between the two Schools in this city.
*
THE ARGUMENT.
ADDRESS—the folly and danger of dissention—the Orator enumerates the enemies of the fraternity—reminds them of a late unseasonable interruption—a night scene in the Potter's Field—he laments the want of true zeal in the brotherhood —and boasts of his own—the force of a ruling passion—the earth considered as a great animal—the passion of love not the same in a true son of Esculapius as in other men—his own amour—a picture of his mistress in high taste—shews his learning in the description of her mouth, arm and hand—his mistress dies—his grief—and extraordinary consolation—his unparallel'd fidelity—he apologizes for giving this history of his amour—the great difficulties Anatomists have to encounter in the present times, arising from false delicacy, prejudice and ignorance—a strong instance in proof that it was not so formerly—curious argument to prove the inconsistency of the present opinions respecting the practice—he mentions many obstacles in the road to science—and reproaches them for their intestine broils, at a time when not only popular clamour is loud, but even the powers of government are exerted against them—he then encourages his brethren with hopes of better times, founded on the establishment of the College of Physicians—is inspired with the idea of the future glory of that institution—and prophesies great things.
FRIENDS and associates! lend a patient ear,
Suspend intestine broils and reason hear.
Ye followers of F— your wrath forbear—
Ye sons of S— your invectives spare;
[Page 144]The fierce dissention your high minds pursue
Is sport for others—ruinous to you.
Surely some fatal influenza reigns,
Some epidemic
rabies turns your brains—
Is this a time for brethren to engage
In public contest and in party rage?
Fell discord triumphs in your doubtful strife
And, smiling, whets her anatomic knife;
Prepar'd to cut our precious limbs away
And leave the bleeding body to decay.—
Seek ye for foes!—alas, my friends, look round,
In ev'ry street, see num'rous foes abound!
Methinks I hear them cry, in varied tones,
"Give us our father's,—brother's,—sister's bones."
Methinks I see a mob of sailor's rise—
Revenge!—Revenge! they cry—and damn their eyes—
[Page 145]Revenge for comrade Jack, whose flesh, they say,
You minc'd to morsels and then threw away.
Methinks I see a black infernal train—
The genuine offspring of accursed
Cain—
Fiercely on you their angry looks are bent,
They grin and gibber dangerous discontent,
And seem to say,—"Is there not meat enough?
"Ah! massa cannibal, why eat poor CUFF?"
Ev'n hostile watchmen stand in strong array
And o'er our heads their threat'ning staves display;
Howl hideous discord thro' the noon of night,
And shake their dreadful lanthorns in our sight.
Say, are not these sufficient to engage
Your high wrought souls eternal war to wage?
Combine your strength these monsters to subdue
No friends of science, and sworn foes to you;
On these,—on these your wordy vengeance pour,
And strive our fading glory to restore.
Ah! think how, late, our mutilated rites
And midnight orgies, were by sudden frights
And loud alarms profan'd—the sacrifice,
Stretch'd on a board before our eager eyes,
All naked lay—ev'n when our chieftain stood
Like a high priest, prepar'd for shedding blood;
Prepar'd, with wondrous skill, to cut or slash
The gentle sliver or the deep drawn gash;
Prepar'd to plunge ev'n elbow deep in gore
Nature and nature's secrets to explore—
Then a tumultuous cry—a sudden fear—
Proclaim'd the foe—the enraged foe is near—
[Page 146]In some dark hole the hard got corse was laid,
And we, in wild confusion; fled dismay'd.
Think how, like brethren, we have shar'd the toil,
When in the Potter's Field
* we sought for spoil;
Did midnight ghosts, and death, and horror, brave,
To delve for science in the dreary grave.
Shall I remind you of that awful night
When our compacted band maintain'd the fight
Against an armed host?—fierce was the fray,
And yet we bore our sheeted prize away.
Firm on a horse's back the corse was laid,
High blowing winds the winding sheet display'd;
Swift flew the steed—but still his burthen bore—
Fear made him fleet, who ne'er was fleet before;
O'er tombs and sunken graves he cours'd around,
Nor ought respected consecrated ground.
Mean time the battle rag'd—so loud the strife,
The dead were almost frighten'd into life;
Tho' not victorious, yet we scorn'd to yield,
Retook our prize, and left the doubtful field.
In this degen'rate age, alas! how few
The paths of science with true zeal pursue?
Some trifling contest, some delusive joy,
Too oft the unsteady minds of youth employ.
For me—whom ESCULAPIUS hath inspir'd—
I boast a soul with love of science fir'd;
By one great object is my heart possest;
One ruling passion quite absorbs the rest;
[Page 147]In this bright point my hopes and fears unite,
And one pursuit alone can give delight.
To me things are not as to vulgar eyes,
I would all nature's works anatomize:
This world a living monster seems, to me,
Rolling and sporting in the aerial sea;
The soil encompasses her rocks and stones
As flesh in animals encircles bones.
I see vast ocean, like a heart in play,
Pant
systole and
diasttole ev'ry day,
And by unnumber'd
venus streams supply'd
Up her broad rivers force the
arterial tide.
The world's great lungs, monsoons and trade-winds shew
From east to west, from west to east they blow
Alternate respiration—
The hills are pimples which earth's face defile,
And burning
Aetna, an eruptive boil:
On her high mountains
hairy forests grow,
And
downy grass o'erspreads the vales below;
From her vast body perspirations rise,
Condense in clouds and float beneath the skies.
Thus fancy, faithful servant of the heart,
Transforms all nature by her magic art.
Ev'n mighty LOVE, whose power all power controuls,
Is not, in me, like love in other souls;
Yet I have lov'd—and CUPID's subtle dart
Hath thro' my
pericardium pierc'd my heart.
Brown CADAVERA did my soul ensnare,
Was all my thought by night, and daily care;
I long'd to clasp, in her transcendent charms,
A living skeleton within my arms.
[Page 148]
Long, lank and lean, my CADAVERA stood,
Like the tall pine, the glory of the wood;
Ofttimes I gaz'd, with learned skill to trace
The sharp edg'd beauties of her bony face:
There rose
Os frontis prominent and bold,
In deep sunk
orbits two large eye-balls roll'd,
Beneath those eye-balls, two arch'd bones were seen
Whereon two flabby cheeks hung loose and lean;
Between those cheeks, protuberant arose,
In form triangular, her lovely nose,
Like EGYPT's pyramid it seem'd to rise,
Scorn earth, and bid defiance to the skies;
Thin were her lips, and of a sallow hue,
Her open mouth expos'd her teeth to view;
Projecting strong, protuberant and wide
Stood
incisores—and on either side
The
canine rang'd, with many a beauteous flaw,
And last the
grinders, to fill up the jaw;
All in their
alveoli fix'd secure,
Articulated by
gomphosis sure.
Around her mouth perpetual smiles had made
Wrinkles wherein the loves and graces play'd;
There, stretch'd and rigid by continual strain,
Appear'd the
zygomatic muscles plain,
And broad
montanus o'er her peeked chin
Extended, to support the heavenly grin.
In amorous dalliance oft I stroak'd her arm,
Each rising muscle was a rising charm.
O'er the
flexores my fond fingers play'd,
I found instruction with delight convey'd;
[Page 149]There
carpus, cubitus and
radius too
Were plainly felt and manifest to view.
No muscles on her lovely hand were seen,
But only bones envelop'd by a skin.
Long were her fingers and her knuckles bare,
Much like the claw-foot of a walnut chair.
So plain was complex
matacarpus shewn,
It might be fairly counted bone by bone.
Her slender
phalanxes were well defin'd,
And each with each by
ginglymus combin'd.
Such were the charms that did my fancy fire,
And love—chaste scientific love inspire.
At length my CADAVERA fell beneath
The fatal stroke of all subduing death:
Three days in grief—three nights in tears I spent,
And sighs incessant gave my sorrows vent.
Few are the examples of a love so true—
Ev'n from her death I consolation drew,
And in a secret hour approach'd her grave,
Resolv'd her precious corse from worms to save;
With active haste remov'd the incumbent clay,
Seiz'd the rich prize and bore my love away.
Her naked charms now lay before my sight,
I gaz'd with rapture and supreme delight,
Nor could forbear, in extasy, to cry—
Beneath that shrivell'd skin what treasures lie!
Then feasted to the full my amorous soul,
And skinn'd, and cut, and slash'd without controul.
'Twas then I saw, what long I'd wish'd to see,
That heart which panted oft for love and me—
[Page 150]In detail view'd the form I once ador'd,
And nature's hidden mysteries explor'd.
Alas! too truly did the wise man say
That flesh is grass, and subject to decay:
Not so the bones; of substance firm and hard,
Long they remain the Anatomist's reward.
Wise nature, in her providential care,
Did, kindly, bones from vile corruption spare,
That sons their fathers' skeletons might have,
And heaven-born science triumph o'er the grave.
My true love's bones I boil'd—from fat and lean
These hands industrious scrap'd them fair and clean,
And ev'ry bone did to its place restore,
As Nature's hand had plac'd them long before:
These fingers twisted ev'ry pliant wire
With patient skill, urg'd on by strong desire.
Now what remains of CADAVERA's mine,
Securely hanging in a case of pine.
Ofttimes I sit and contemplate her charms,
Her nodding skull and her long dangling arms,
'Till quite inflam'd with passion for the dead,
I take her beauteous skeleton to bed;
There stretch'd, at length, close to my faithful side
She lies all night,—a lovely, grinning bride.—
Excuse, my friends, this detail of my love,
You must the intent, if not the tale, approve;
By facts exemplary I meant to shew
To what extent a genuine zeal will go.
[Page 151]A mind, so fix'd, will not be drawn aside
By vain dissentions or a partial pride;
But ev'ry hostile sentiment subdue,
And keep the ruling passion still in view.
False delicacy—prejudices strong,
Which no distinctions know 'twixt right and wrong,
Against our noble science spend their rage,
And mark the ignorance of this vulgar age.
Time was, when men their living flesh would spare,
And to the knife their quiv'ring
nates bare,
That skilful surgeons
* noses might obtain
For noses lost—and cut and come again;—
But now the
living churlishly refuse
To give their dead relations to our use;
Talk of decorum—and a thousand whims—
Whene'er we hack their wives' or daughters' limbs
And yet their tables daily they supply
With the rich fruits of sa
[...] mortality;
Will pick, and gut, and cook
[...] ch
[...]cken's corse,
Dissect and eat it up, without remorse;
Devouring fish, flesh, fowl, whatever comes,
Nor fear the ghosts of murder'd hecatombs.
Now where's the difference?—to the impartial eye
A leg of mutton and a human thigh
Are just the same: for surely all must own
Flesh is but flesh, and bone is only bone;
And tho' indeed, some flesh and bone may grow
To make a monkey—some to make a beau,
Still the materials are the same, we know.
[Page 152]Nor can our anatomic knowledge trace
Internal marks distinctive of our race—
Whence, then, these loud complaints—these hosts of foes
Combin'd, our useful labours to oppose?
How long shall foolish prejudices reign?
And when shall reason her just empire gain?
Ah! full of danger is the up-hill road,
That leads the youth to learning's high abode:
His way thick mists of vulgar errors blind,
And sneering satire follows close behind;
Sour envy strews the rugged path with thorns,
And lazy ignorance his labour scorns.
Is this a time, ye brethren of the knife,
For civil contest and internal strife?
When loud against
[...]s gen'ral clamours cry,
And persecution lift her lash on high?
When government—that
[...] headed b
[...]st—
Against our practice
[...]ears her horrid crest,
And, our
[...]oct
[...]ral access to oppose,
A
[...]ound the dead
[...] penal barrier
* throws?
To crush our schools her awful pow'r applies,
And ev'n
[...]orbids the gibbet's just supplies.
†
Yet in this night of darkness, storms and fears,
Behold one bright benignant star
‡ appears—
[Page 153]Long may it shine, and, e'er it's course is run,
Increase, in size and splendour, to a sun!—
Methinks I see this sun of future days▪
Spread far abroad his
diplomatic rays—
See life and health submit to his controul,
And, like a planet,
death around him roll.
Methinks I see a stately fabric rise,
Rear'd on the skulls of these our enemies;
I see the bones of our invet'rate foes
Hang round it's walls in scientific rows.
There solemn sit the learned of the day
Dispensing death with uncontrouled sway,
And by
prescription regulate with ease
The sudden crisis or the
[...]low disease.
Then shall physicians their millennium find,
And reign the real sov'reigns of mankind:
Then shall the face of this vile world be chang'd,
And nature's healthful laws all new arrang'd—
In min'ral powders all her dust shall rise,
And all her insects shall be Spanish flies:
In medicated potions streams shall flow,
Pills fall in hail-storms, and sharp salts in snow;
In ev'ry quagmire bolusses be found,
And slimy cataplasms spread the ground—
Nature herself assume the chymist's part,
And furnish poisons unsublim'd by art.
Then to our schools
[...] wealth in currents flow,
Our theatres
[...] want of subjects know;
Nor laws nor:
[...] th' Anatomist shall dread,
For graves shall freely render up their dead.
[Page 254]
PHILOSOPHIC SOLITUDE.
BY WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, ESQ. Late Governor of the State of New-Jersey, &c. &c.
LET ardent heroes seek renown in arms,
Pant after fame, and rush to war's alarms;
To shining palaces let fools resort,
And dunces cringe, to be esteem'd at court:
Mine be the pleasure of a rural life,
From noise remote, and ignorant of strife;
Far from the painted belle, and white-glov'd beau,
The lawless masquerade, and midnight show:
From ladies, lap-dogs, courtiers, garters, stars,
Fops, fidlers, tyrants, emperors, and czars.
Full in the centre of some shady grove,
By nature form'd for solitude and love;
On banks array'd with ever-blooming flowers,
Near beauteous landscapes, or by roseate bowers,
My neat, but simple mansion I would raise,
Unlike the sumptuous domes of modern days;
Devoid of pomp, with rural plainness form'd,
With savage game, and glossy shells adorn'd.
No costly furniture should grace my hall;
But curling vines ascend against the wall,
Whose pliant branches should luxuriant twine,
While purple clusters swell'd with future wine:
To sl
[...]ke my thirst a liquid lapse distil
From craggy rocks, and spread a limpid rill.
[Page 155]Along my mansion, spiry firs should grow,
And gloomy yews extend the shady row:
The cedars flourish, and the poplars rise,
Sublimely tall, and shoot into the skies:
Among the leaves, refreshing zephyrs play,
And crouding trees exclude the noon-tide ray;
Whereon the birds their downy nests should form,
Securely shelter'd from the battering storm;
And to melodious notes their choir apply,
Soon as Aurora blush'd along the sky:
While all around th' enchanting music rings,
And ev'ry vocal grove responsive sings.
Me to sequester'd scenes ye muses guide,
Where nature wantons in her virgin pride;
To mossy banks, edg'd round with op'ning flowers,
Elysian fields and amaranthine bowers,
To ambrosial founts, and sleep-inspiring rills,
To herbag'd vales, gay lawns, and sunny hills.
Welcome, ye shades! all hail, ye vernal blooms!
Ye bow'ry thickets, and prophetic glooms!
Ye forests, hail! ye solitary woods!
Love-whispering groves, and silver-streaming floods:
Ye meads, that aromatic sweets exhale!
Ye birds, and all ye sylvan beauties, hail!
Oh how I long with you to spend my days,
Invoke the muse, and try the rural lays!
No trumpets there with martial clangor sound,
No prostrate heroes strew the crimson ground;
No groves of lances glitter in the air,
Nor thund'ring drums provoke the sanguine war:
[Page 156]But white-rob'd Peace, and universal Love
Smile in the field, and brighten ev'ry grove:
There all the beauties of the circling year,
In native ornamental pride appear.
Gay, rosy-bosom'd Spring, and April show'rs,
Wake, from the womb of earth, the rising flow'rs:
In deeper verdure, Summer clothes the plain,
And Autumn bends beneath the golden grain;
The trees weep amber; and the whispering gales
Breeze o'er the lawn, or murmur through the vales:
The flow'ry tribes in gay confusion bloom,
Profuse with sweets, and fragrant with perfume;
On blossoms blossoms, fruits on fruits arise,
And varied prospects glad the wand'ring eyes.
In these fair seats, I'd pass the joyous day,
Where meadows flourish, and where fields look gay;
From bliss to bliss with endless pleasure rove,
Seek crystal streams, or haunt the vernal grove,
Woods, fountains, lakes, the fertile fields, or shades,
Aerial mountains, or subjacent glades.
There from the polish'd fetters of the great,
Triumphal piles, and gilded rooms of state—
Prime ministers, and sycophantic knaves,
Ill se
[...]ious villains, and illustrious slaves,
From all the vain formality of fools,
And odious task of arbitrary rules;
The ruffling cares, which the vex'd soul annoy,
The wealth the rich possess, but not enjoy,
The visionary bliss the world can lend,
Th' insidious foe, and false, designing friend,
The seven-fold fury of Xantippe's soul,
And S—'s rage, that burns without controul:
[Page 157]I'd live retir'd, contented, and serene,
Forgot, unknown, unenvied, and unseen.
Yet not a real hermitage I'd choose,
Nor wish to live from all the world recluse;
But with a friend sometimes unbend the soul,
In social converse, o'er the sprightly bowl.
With cheerful W—, serene and wisely gay,
I'd often pass the dancing hours away:
He, skill'd alike to profit and to please,
Politely talks with unaffected ease;
Sage in debate, and faithful to his trust,
Mature in science, and severely just;
Of soul diffusive, vast and unconfin'd,
Breathing benevolence to all mankind;
Cautious to censure, ready to commend,
A firm, unshaken, uncorrupted friend▪
In early youth, fair wisdom's paths he trod,
In early youth, a minister of God,
Each pupil lov'd him, when at Yale he shone,
And ev'ry bleeding bosom weeps him gone.
Dear A— too, should grace my rural seat,
Forever welcome to the green retreat:
Heav'n for the cause of righteousness design'd
His florid genius, and capacious mind:
Oft have I heard, amidst th' adorning throng,
Celestial truths devolving from his tongue:
High o'er the list'ning audience seen him stand,
Divinely speak, and graceful stretch his hand;
With such becoming grace and pompous sound,
With long-rob'd senators encircled round,
[Page 158]Before the Roman bar, while Rome was free,
Nor bow'd to Caesar's throne the servile knee,
Immortal Tulley plead the patriot cause,
While ev'ry tongue resounded his applause.
Next round my board should candid S— appear,
Of manners gentle, and a friend sincere,
Averse to discord, party-rage and strife,
He sails serenely down the stream of life.
With these three friends, beneath a spreading shade,
Where silver fountains murmur thro' the glade;
Or in cool grots, perfum'd with native flow'rs,
In harmless mirth, I'd spend the circling hours;
Or gravely talk, or innocently sing,
Or, in harmonious concert, strike the trembling string.
Amid sequester'd bow'rs, near gliding streams,
Druids and bards enjoy'd serenest dreams.
Such was the seat where courtly Horace sung,
And his bold harp immortal Maro strung:
Where tuneful Orpheus' unresisted lay
Made rapid tigers bear their rage away:
While groves, attentive to th' extatic sound,
Burst from their roots, and, raptur'd, danc'd around.
Such seats the venerable seers of old
(When blissful years in golden circles roll'd)
Chose and admir'd: e'en goddesses and gods
(As poets feign) were fond of such abodes:
Th' imperial consort of fictitious Jove
For fount-full Ide forsook the realms above.
Oft to Idalia, on a golden cloud,
Veil'd in a mist of fragrance, Venus rode:
[Page 159]There num'rous altars to the queen were rear'd,
And love-sick youths their am'rous vows prefer'd,
While fair-hair'd damsels (a lascivious train)
With wanton rites ador'd her gentle reign.
The silver-shafted huntress of the woods,
Sought pendant shades, and bath'd in cooling floods.
In palmy Delos by Scamander's side,
Or where Cajister roll'd his silver tide,
Melodious Phoebus sang; the muses round
Alternate warbling to the heavenly sound.
E'en the feign'd monarch of heav'n's bright abode,
High thron'd in gold, of gods the sov'reign god,
Oft' time prefer'd the shade of Ida's grove
To all th' ambrosial feasts, and nectar'd cups above.
Behold, the rosy-finger'd morning dawn,
In saffron rob'd, and blushing o'er the lawn!
Reflected from the clouds, a radiant stream
Tips with etherial dew the mountain's brim.
Th' unfolding roses, and the op'ning flow'rs
Imbibe the dew, and strew the varied bow'rs,
Diffuse nectareous sweets around, and glow
With all the colours of the show'ry bow.
Th' industrious bees their balmy toil renew,
Buz o'er the field, and sip the rosy dew.
But yonder comes th' illustrious god of day,
Invests the east, and gilds th' etherial way;
The groves rejoice, the feather'd nations sing,
Echo the mountains, and the vallies ring.
Hail, orb! array'd with majesty and fire,
That bids each sable shade of night retire!
[Page 160]Fountain of light! with burning glory crown'd,
Darting a deluge of effulgence round!
Wak'd by thy genial and prolific ray,
Nature resumes her verdure, and looks gay:
Fresh blooms the rose, the drooping plants revive,
The groves reflourish, and the forests live.
Deep in the teeming earth, the rip'ning ore
Confesses thy consolidating pow'r;
Hence Labour draws her tools, and artists mould
The fusile silver and the ductile gold;
Hence war is furnish'd; and the regal shield
Like light'ning flashes o'er th' illumin'd field.
If thou so fair with delegated light,
Th
[...] all heav'n's splendors vanish at thy sight;
With what effulgence must the ocean glow,
From which thy borrow'd beams incessant flow!
Th' exhaustless source whose single smile supplies
Th' unnumber'd orbs that gild the spangled skies!
Oft' would I view, in admiration lost,
Heav'n's sumptuous canopy, and starry host;
With level'd tube, and astronomic eye,
Pursue the planets whirling thro' the sky:
Immeasurable vault! where thunders roll,
And forky lightnings flash from pole to pole.
Say, railing infidel! canst thou survey
Yon globe of fire, that gives the golden day,
The harmonious structure of this vast machine,
And not confess its architect divine!
Then go, vain wretch! tho' deathless be thy soul,
Go, swell the riot, and exhaust the bowl;
[Page 161]Plunge into vice—humanity resign—
Go fill the stie—and bristle into swine!
None but a pow'r omnipotent and wise
Could frame this earth, or spread the boundless skies:
He made the whole; at his omnific call,
From formless chaos rose this spacious ball,
And one Almighty God is seen in all.
By him our cup is crown'd, our table spread
With luscious wine, and life-sustaining bread.
What countless wonders doth the earth contain!
What countless wonders the unfathom'd main!
Bedrop'd with gold, there scaly nations shine,
Haunt coral groves, or lash the foaming brine▪
Jehovah's glories blaze all nature round,
In heaven, on earth, and in the deeps profound;
Ambitious of his name, the wa
[...]hlers sing,
And praise their maker, while they hail the spring;
The zephyrs breathe it; and the thunders roar▪
While surge to surge, and shore resounds to shore.
But man, endu'd with an immortal mind,
His Maker's image, and for heaven design'd,
To loftier notes his raptur'd voice should raise,
And chaunt sublimer hymns to his Creator's praise.
When rising Phoebus ushers in the morn,
And golden beams th' impurpled skies adorn:
Wak'd by the gentle murmur of the floods,
Or the soft music of the waving woods;
Rising from sleep with the melodious quire,
To solemn sounds I'd tune the hallow'd lyre.
[Page 162]Thy name, O God! should tremble on my tongue,
Till ev'ry grove prov'd vocal to my song:
(Delightful task! with dawning light to sing
Triumphant hymns to heav'n's eternal king.)
Some courteous angel should my breast inspire,
Attune my lips, and guide the warbled wire,
While sportive echoes catch the sacred sound,
Swell ev'ry note, and bear the music round;
While mazy streams meand'ring to the main,
Hang in suspence to hear the heav'nly strain,
And, hush'd to silence, all the feather'd throng
Attentive listen to the tuneful song.
Father of light! exahustless source of good!
Supreme, eternal, self-existent God!
Before the beamy sun dispens'd a ray,
Flam'd in the azure vault, and gave the day;
Before the glimm'ring moon, with borrow'd light,
Shone queen amid the silver host of night;
High in the heav'ns, thou reign'dst superior Lord,
By suppliant angels worship'd and ador'd.
With the celestial choir then let me join
In cheerful praises to the pow'r divine.
To sing thy praise, do thou, O God! inspire
A mortal breast with more than mortal fire:
In dreadful majesty thou sit'st enthron'd,
With light encircled, and with glory crown'd;
Thro' all infinitude extends thy reign,
For thee, nor heav'n, nor heav'n of heav'ns contain;
But tho' thy throne is fix'd above the sky,
Thy omnipresence fills immensity.
[Page 163]Saints, rob'd in white, to thee their anthems bring,
And radiant martyrs hallelujahs sing:
Heaven's universal host their voices raise
In one eternal chorus, to thy praise;
And, round thy awful throne, with one accord,
Sing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord.
At thy creative voice, from ancient night,
Sprang smiling beauty, and yon worlds of light:
Thou spak'st—the planetary chorus roll'd,
And all th' expanse was starr'd with beamy gold;
Let there be light, said God—light instant shone,
And from the orient, burst the golden sun;
Heav'n's gazing hierarchs, with glad surprise,
Saw the first morn invest the recent skies,
And strait th' exulting troops thy throne surround
With thousand thousand harps of heav'nly sound:
Thrones, powers, dominions, (ever shining trains!)
Shouted thy praises in triumphant strains:
Great are thy works, they sing; and, all around,
Great are thy works, the echoing heav'ns resound.
The effulgent sun, insufferably bright,
Is but a beam of thy o'erflowing light;
The tempest is thy breath: the thunder hurl'd,
Tremendous roars thy vengeance o'er the world;
Thou bow'st the heav'ns, the smoking mountains nod,
Rocks fall to dust, and nature owns her God;
Pale tyrants shrink, the atheist stands aghast,
And impious kings in horror breathe their last.
To this great God alternately I'd pay
The ev'ning anthem, and the morning lay.
[Page 164]
For sov'reign gold I never would repine,
Nor wish the glitt'ring dust of monarchs mine.
What tho' high columns heave into the skies,
[...]y cielings shine, and vaulted arches rise?
Tho' fretted gold the sculptur'd roof adorn,
The rubies redden, and the jaspers burn!
O what, alas! avails the gay attire
To wretched man, who breathes but to expire!
Oft' on the vilest, riches are bestow'd,
To show their meanness in the sight of God.
High from a dunghill, see a Dives rise,
And, Titan-like, insult th' avenging skies:
The crowd, in adulation, calls him Lord,
By thousands courted, flatter'd and ador'd:
In riot plung'd, and drunk with earthly joys,
No higher thought his grov'ling soul employs:
The poor he scourges with an iron rod,
And from his bosom banishes his God.
But oft' in height of wealth and beauty's bloom▪
Deluded man is fated to the tomb!
For, lo! he sickens; swift his colour flies,
And rising mists obscure his swimming eyes:
Around his bed his weeping friends bemoan,
Extort the unwilling tear, and wish him gone;
His sorrowing heir augments the
[...]ender show'r,
Deplores his death—yet hails the dying hour.
Ah bitter comfort! Sad relief! to die,
Tho' sunk in down, beneath the canopy!
His eyes no more shall see the cheerful light,
Weigh'd down by death in everlasting night,
And now the great, the rich, the proud, the gay
Lie breathless, cold—unanimated clay!
[Page 165]He, that just now was flatter'd by the crowd
With high applause, and acclamations loud—
That steel'd his bosom to the orphan's cries,
And drew down torrents from the widow's eyes—
Whom, like a God, the rabble did adore—
Regard him now—and, lo! he is no more.
My eyes no dazzling vestments should behold,
With gems instarr'd, and stiff with woven gold;
But the tall ram his downy fleece afford,
To clothe, in modest garb, his frugal lord.
Thus the great Father of mankind was drest,
When shaggy hides compos'd his flowing vest;
Doom'd to the cumb'rous load, for his offence,
When clothes supply'd the want of innocence:
But now his sons (forgetful whence they came)
Glitter in gems, and glory in their shame.
Oft' would I wander thro' the dewy field,
Where clust'ring roses balmy fragrance yield:
Or in lone grots, for contemplation made,
Converse with angels and the mighty dead;
For all around unnumber'd spirits fly,
Waft on the breeze, or walk the liquid sky,
Inspire the poet with repeated dreams,
Who gives his hallow'd muse to sacred themes,
Protect the just, serene their gloomy hours,
Becalm their slumbers, and refresh their pow'rs.
Methinks I see th' immortal beings fly,
And swiftly shoot athwart the streaming sky:
Hark! a melodious voice I seem to hear,
And heav'nly sounds invade my list'ning ear!
[Page 166]"Be not afraid of us, innoxious band,
"Thy cell surrounding by divine command;
"Ere while, like thee, we led our lives below,
"(Sad lives of pain, of misery, and woe!)
"Long by affliction's boist'rous tempests tost,
"We reach'd at length the ever blissful coast:
"Now in th' embow'ring groves, and lawns above,
"We taste the raptures of immortal love,
"Attune the golden harp in roseate bow'rs,
"Or bind our temples with unfading flow'rs.
"Oft' on kind errands bent, we cut the air,
"To guard the righteous, heav'n's peculiar care!
"Avert impending harms, their minds compose,
"Inspire gay dreams, and prompt their soft repose.
"When from thy tongue divine hosannas roll,
"And sacred raptures swell thy rising soul,
"To heav'n we bear thy pray'rs, like rich perfumes;
"Where, by the throne, the golden censer fumes;
"And when with age thy head is silver'd o'er,
"And, cold in death, thy bosom beats no more,
"Thy soul, exulting, shall desert its clay,
"And mount, triumphant, to eternal day."
But to improve the intellectual mind,
Reading should be to contemplation join'd.
First I'd collect from the Parnassian spring▪
What muses dictate, and what poets sing.—
Virgil, as prince, shou'd wear the laurel'd crown,
And other bards pay homage to his throne;
The blood of heroes now effus'd so long,
Will run forever purple thro' his song,
[Page 167]See! how he mounts toward the blest abodes,
On planets rides, and talks with demigods!
How do our ravish'd spirits melt away,
When in his song Sicilian shepherds play!
But what a splendor strikes the dazzled eye,
When Dido shines in awful majesty!
Embroidered purple clad the Tyrian queen,
Her motion graceful, and august her mien;
A golden zone her royal limbs embrac'd,
A golden quiver rattled by her waist.
See her proud steed majestically prance,
Contemn the trumpet, and deride the launce!
In crimson trappings, glorious to behold,
Confus'dly gay with interwoven gold!
He champs the bit, and throws the foam around,
Impatient paws, and tea
[...]
[...]he solid ground.
How stern Aeneas thund
[...] thro' the field!
With tow'ring helmet, and refulgent shield!
Coursers o'erturn'd, and mighty warriors slain,
Deform'd with gore, lie welt'ring on the plain,
Struck through with wounds, ill-fated chieftains lie,
Frown e'en in death, and threaten as they die.
Thro' the thick squadrons see the hero bound!
(His helmet flashes, and his arms resound!)
All grim with rage, he frowns o'er Turnus' head,
(Re-kindled ire! for blooming Pallas dead)
Then in his bosom plung'd the shining blade—
The soul indignant sought the Stygian shade!
The far-fam'd bards that grac'd Britannia's isle,
Should next compose the venerable pile.
[Page 168]Great Milton first, for tow'ring thought renown'd,
Parent of song, and fam'd the world around!
His glowing breast divine Urania fir'd,
Or God himself th' immortal bard inspir'd,
Borne on triumphant wings he takes his flight,
Explores all heaven, and treads the realms of light:
In martial pomp he clothes th' angelic train,
While warring myriads shake the etherial plain.
First Michael stalks, high tow'ring o'er the rest,
With heav'nly plumage nodding on his crest;
Impenetrable arms his limbs infold,
Eternal adamant, and burning gold!
Sparkling in fiery mail, with dire delight,
Rebellious Satan animates the fight:
Armipotent they sink in rolling smoke,
All heav'n resounding, to its centre shook.
To crush his foes, and quell the dire alarms,
Messiah sparkled in refulgent arms:
In radiant panoply divinely bright,
His limbs incas'd, he flash'd devouring light:
On burning wheels, o'er heav'n's crystalline road
Thunder'd the chariot of the filial God;
The burning wheels on golden axles turn'd,
With flaming gems the golden axles burn'd.
Lo! the apostate host, with terror struck,
Roll back by millions! Th' empyrean shook!
Sceptres, and orbed shields, and crowns of gold,
Cherubs and seraphs in confusion roll'd;
Till from his hand the triple thunder hurl'd,
Compell'd them, head-long, to th' infernal world.
[Page 169]
Then tuneful Pope, whom all the nine inspire,
With sapphic sweetness, and pindaric fire,
Father of verse! melodious and divine!
Next peerless Milton should distinguish'd shine.
Smooth flow his numbers, when he paints the grove,
Th' enraptur'd virgins list'ning into love.
But when the night, and hoarse-resounding storm
Rush on the deep, and Neptune's face deform,
Roagh runs the verse, the son'rous numbers roar,
Like the hoarse surge that thunders on the shore.
But when he sings th' exhilirated swains,
Th' embow'ring groves, and Windsor's blissful plains,
Our eyes are ravish'd with the sylvan scene,
Embroider'd fields, and groves in living green:
His lays the verdure of the meads prolong,
And wither'd forests blossom in his song.
Thames' silver streams his flowing verse admire,
And cease to murmur while he tunes his lyre.
Next should appear great Dryden's lofty muse,
For who would Dryden's polish'd verse refuse?
His lips were moisten'd in Parnassus' spring,
And Phoebus taught his laureat son to sing.
How long did Virgil untranslated moan,
His beauties fading, and his flights unknown;
Till Dryden rose, and, in exalted strain.
Re-sang the fortune of the god-like man!
Again the Trojan prince, with dire delight,
Dreadful in arms, demands the ling'ring fight:
Again Camilla glows with martial sire,
Drives armies back, and makes all Troy retire.
[Page 170]With more than native lustre, Virgil shines,
And gains sublimer heights in Dryden's lines.
The gentle Watts, who strings his silver lyre
To sacred odes, and heav'n's all-ruling Sire;
Who scorns th' applause of the licentious stage,
And mounts yon sparkling worlds with hallow'd rage,
Compels my thoughts to wing th' heav'nly road,
And wafts my soul, exulting, to my God:
No fabled nine, harmonious bard! inspire
Thy raptur'd breast with such scraphic fire;
But prompting angels warm thy boundless rage,
Direct thy thoughts, and animate thy page.
Blest man! for spotless sanctity rever'd,
Lov'd by the good, and by the guilty fear'd:
Blest man! from gay, delusive scenes remov'd,
Thy Maker loving, by thy Maker lov'd,
To God thou tun'st thy consecrated lays,
Nor meanly blush to sing Jehovah's praise.
Oh! did, like thee, each laurel'd bard delight
To paint Religion in her native light,
Not then with plays the lab'ring press would groan,
Nor Vice defy the pulpit and the throne;
No impious rhymers charm a vicious age,
Nor prostrate Virtue
[...] beneath their rage:
But themes divine in lofty numbers rise,
Fill the wide earth, and echo thro' the skies.
These for delight. For profit I would read
The labour'd volumes of the learned dead.
Sagacious Looke, by Providence design'd,
To exalt, instruct, and rectify the mind.
[Page 171]The unconquerable sage
* whom virtue fir'd,
And from the tyrant's lawless rage retir'd,
When victor Caesar freed unhappy Rome
From Rompey's chains, to substitute his own.
Longinus, Livy, fam'd Thucydides,
Quintilian, Plato, and Demosthenes,
Persuasive Tully, and Corduba's sage,
†
Who fell by Nero's unrelenting rage;
Him
‡ whom ungrateful Athens doom'd to bleed,
Despis'd when living, and deplor'd when dead.
Raleigh I'd read with ever fresh delight,
While ages past rise present to my sight:
Ah man unblest! he foreign realms explor'd,
Then fell a victim to his country's sword!
Nor should great Derham pass neglected by,
Observant sage! to whose deep-piercing eye,
Nature's stupendous works expanded lie.
Nor he, Britannia, thy unmatch'd renown!
(Adjudg'd to wear the philosophic crown)
Who on the solar orb uplifted rode,
And scann'd the unfathomable works of God!
Who bound the silver planets to their spheres,
And trac'd the elliptic curve of blazing stars!
Immortal Newton; whose illustrious name
Will shine on records of eternal fame.
By love directed, I would choose a wise,
To improve my bliss, and ease the load of life.
[Page 172]Hail, wedlock! hail, inviolable tye!
Perpetual fountain of domestic joy!
Love, friendship, honour, truth, and pure delight
Harmonious mingle in the nuptial rite.
In Eden, first the holy state began,
When perfect innocence distinguish'd man;
The human pair, the Almighty pontiff led,
Gay as the morning, to the bridal bed;
A dread solemnity the espousals grac'd,
Angels the witnesses, and God the priest!
All earth exulted on the nuptial hour,
And voluntary roses deck'd the bow'r;
The joyous birds on every blossom'd spray,
Sung hymeneans to the important day,
While Philomela swell'd the spousal song,
And Paradise with gratulation rung.
Relate, inspiring muse! where shall I find
A blooming virgin with an angel mind?
Unblemish'd as the white-rob'd virgin quire
That fed, O Rome! thy consecrated sire?
By reason aw'd, ambitious to be good,
Averse to vice, and zealous for her God?
Relate, in what blest region can I find
Such bright perfections in a female mind?
What phoenix-woman breathes the vital air
So greatly good, and so divinely fair?
Sure not the gay and fashionable train,
Licentious, proud, immoral, and profane;
Who spend their golden hours in antic dress,
Malicious whispers, and inglorious ease.
[Page 173]
Lo! round the board a shining train appears
In rosy beauty, and in prime of years!
This hates a flounce, and this a flounce approves,
This shows the trophies of her former loves;
Polly avers, that Sylvia drest in green,
When last at church the gaudy nymph was seen;
Chloe condemns her optics; and will lay
'Twas azure sattin, interstreak'd with grey;
Lucy, invested with judicial power,
Awards 'twas neither,—and the strife is o'er.
Then parrots, lap dogs, monkeys, squirrels, beaux,
Fans, ribands, tuckers, patches, furbeloes,
In quick succession, thro' their fancies run,
And dance incessant, on the flippant tongue.
And when, fatigu'd with ev'ry other sport,
The belles prepare to grace the sacred court,
They marshal all their forces in array,
To kill with glances, and destroy in play.
Two skilful maids with reverential fear,
In wanton wreaths collect their silken hair;
Two paint their cheeks, and round their temples pour
The fragrant unguent, and the ambrosial shower;
One pulls the shape-creating stays; and one
Encircles round her waist the golden zone;
Not with more toil to improve immortal charms,
Strove Juno, Venus, and the queen of arms,
When Priam's son adjudg'd the golden prize,
To the resistless beauty of the skies.
At length, equip'd in Love's enticing arms,
With all that glitters, and with all that charms,
[Page 174]The ideal goddesses to church repair,
Peep thro' the fan, and mutter o'er a pray'r,
Or listen to the organ's pompous sound,
Or eye the gilded images around;
Or, deeply studied in coquettish rules,
Aim wily glances at unthinking fools;
Or show the lily hand with graceful air,
Or wound the fopling with a lock of hair:
And when the hated discipline is o'er,
And misses tortur'd with repent, no more,
They mount the pictur'd coach; and, to the play,
The celebrated idols hie away.
Not so the lass that should my joys improve,
With solid friendship, and connubial love:
A native bloom, with intermingled white,
Should set her features in a pleasing light;
Like Helen flushing with unrival'd charms,
When raptur'd Paris darted in her arms.
But what, alas! avails a ruby cheek,
A downy bosom, or a snowy neck!
Charms ill supply the want of innocence,
Nor beauty forms intrinsic excellence:
But in her breast let moral beauties shine,
Supernal grace and purity divine:
Sublime her reason, and her native wit
Unstrain'd with pedantry, and low conceit;
Her fancy lively, and her judgment free
From female prejudice and bigotry:
Averse to idol pomp, and outward show,
The flatt'ring coxcomb, and fantastic beau.
[Page 175]The fop's impertinence she should despise,
Tho' sorely wounded by her radiant eyes;
But pay due rev'rence to the exalted mind,
By learning polish'd, and by wit refin'd,
Who all her virtues, without guile, commends,
And all her faults as freely reprehends.
Soft Hymen's rites her passion should approve,
And in her bosom glow the flames of love:
To me her soul, by sacred friendship, turn,
And I, for her, with equal friendship burn:
In ev'ry stage of life afford relief,
Partake my joys, and sympathize my grief;
Unshaken, walk in Virtue's peaceful road,
Nor bribe her Reason to pursue the mode;
Mild as the saint whose errors are forgiv'n,
Calm as a vestal, and compos'd as heaven.
This be the partner, this the lovely wife,
That should embellish and prolong my life,
A nymph! who might a second fall inspire,
And fill a glowing cherub with desire!
With her I'd spend the pleasurable day,
While fleeting minutes gayly danc'd away:
With her I'd walk, delighted, o'er the green,
Thro' ev'ry blooming mead, and rural scene;
Or sit in open fields damask'd with flow'rs,
Or where cool shades imbrown the noon-tide bow'rs.
Imparadis'd within my eager arms,
I'd reign the happy monarch of her charms;
Oft' on her panting bosom would I lay,
And, in dissolving raptures melt away;
[Page 176]Then lull'd, by nightingales, to balmy rest,
My blooming fair should slumber at my breast.
And when decrepid age (frail mortals' doom)
Should bend my wither'd body to the tomb,
No warbling syrens should retard my flight
To heavenly mansions of unclouded light.
Tho Death, with his imperial horrors crown'd,
Terrific grinn'd,
[...] f
[...]midably frown'd,
Offences pardon'd and
[...]mitted sin,
Should form a calm serenity within:
Blessing my natal and my mortal hour,
(My soul commited to the eternal pow'r)
Inexorable Death should smile, for I
Who knew to live, would never fear to die.
[Page 193]
POEM, Written in Boston, at the commencement of the late Revolution.
BY JAMES ALLEN, OF BOSTON.
FROM realms of bondage and a tyrant's reign,
Our godlike fathers bore no slavish chain;
To Pharaoh's face the inspired patriarchs stood,
To seal their virtue, with a martyr's blood:
But lives so precious, such a sacred seed,
The source of empires, heaven's high will decreed:
He snatch'd the saints from Pharaoh's impious hand;
And bade his chosen seek this distant land:
Then to these climes the illustrious exiles sped,
'Twas freedom prompted, and the Godhead led.
Eternal woods the virgin soil defac'd,
A dreary desert, and an howling waste;
A haunt of tribes no pity taught to spare,
And they oppos'd them with remorseless war,
But heaven's right arm led forth the faithful trait.
The guardian Godhead swept the insidious plain,
Till the scour'd thicket amicable stood,
Nor dastard ambush trench'd the dusky wood:
Our sires then earn'd, no more, precarious bread,
Nor midst alarms their frugal meals were spread;
Fair boding hopes inur'd their hands to toil,
And patriot virtue nurs'd the thriving soil;
[Page 194]Nor scarce two ages have their periods run,
Since o'er their culture smil'd the genial sun;
And now what states extend their fair domains
O'er fleecy mountains and luxuriant plains!
Where happy millions their own fields possess,
No tyrant awes them, and no lords oppress;
The hand of rule, divine discretion guides,
And white-robed virtue o'er her paths presides,
Each polic'd order venerates the laws,
And each, ingenuous, speaks in freedom's cause;
The Spartan spirit, nor the Roman name,
The patriot's pride, shall rival these in fame;
Here all the sweets that social life can know,
From the full font of civil sapience flow;
Here golden Ceres clothes the autumnal plain,
And art's fair empress holds her new domain;
Here angel science spreads her lucid wing,
And hark, how sweet the new-born Muses sing!
Here generous commerce spreads her liberal hand,
And scatters foreign blessings round the land.
Shall meagre Mammon, or proud lust of sway,
Reverse these scenes? Will heaven permit the day?
Shall in this era all our hopes expire,
And weeping freedom from her fanes retire?
Here, shall the tyrant still our peace pursue,
From the pain'd eye-brow drink the vital dew?
Nor nature's barrier wards, our fathers' foe,
Seas roll in vain, and boundless oceans flow?
Stay, Pharaoh,
* stay: that impious hand forbear,
Nor tempt the genius of our souls too far;
[Page 195]How oft, ungracious, in thy thankless stead,
Mid scenes of death, our generous youth have bled!
When the proud Gaul thy mightiest powers repell'd,
And drove thy legions, trembling, from the field,
We rent the laurel from the victor's brow,
And round thy temples taught the wreath to grow.
†
Say, when thy slaughter
[...]d bands the desart dy'd,
Where lone Ohio rolls her gloomy tide,
Whose dreary banks their wasting bones inshrine,
What arm aveng'd them? thankless! was it thine?
‡
But generous valor scorns a boasting word,
And conscious virtue reaps her own reward:
Yet conscious virtue bids thee now to speak,
Tho' guilty blushes kindle o'er thy cheek:
If wasting wars and painful toils at length,
Had drain'd our veins, and wither'd all our strength,
How could'st thou, cruel, form the vile design,
And round our neck the wreath of bondage twine?
And if some lingering spirit rous'd to strife,
Bid ruffian murder drink the dregs of life?
Shall future ages e'er forget the deed?
And shan't, for this, impious Britain bleed?
[Page 196]When comes the period, heaven predestines must,
When Europe's glories shall be whelm'd in dust,
When our proud fleets the naval wreath shall wear,
And o'
[...]r her empires hurl the bolts of war,
Unnerv'd by fate, the boldest heart shall fail,
And, mid their guards, auxiliar kings grow pale;
In vain shall Britain lift her suppliant eye,
An alien'd offspring feels no filial tye,
Her tears in vain shall bathe the soldiers' feet,
Remember, ingrate, Boston's crimson'd street;
§
Whole hecatombs of lives the deed shall pay,
And purge the murders of that guilty day.
‖
But why to future periods look so far,
What for
[...]e e'er fac'd us, that we fear'd to dare?
Then can'st thou think, e'en on this early day,
Proud force shall bend us to a tyrant's sway?
A foreign foe oppos'd our sword in vain,
*
And thine own troops we've rallied on the plain.
†
If then our lives your lawless sword invade,
Think'st thou, enslav'd, we'll kiss the pointed blade?
Nay, let experience speak, be this the test,—
Tis from experience that we reason best,—
[Page 197]When first the mandate shew'd the shameless plan,
To rank our race beneath the class of man,
Low as the brute to sink the human line,
Our toil our portion, and the harvest thine,
Modest but firm, we plead the sacred cause,
On nature bas'd, and sanction'd by the laws;
But your deaf ear the conscious plea denied,
Some demon counsel'd, and the sword reply
[...]d;
Your navy then our haven cover'd o'er,
And arm'd battalions trespass'd on our shore,
Thro the prime streets, they march'd in war's array:
At noon's full blaze, and in the face of day:
With dumb contempt we pass'd the servile show,
While scorn's proud spirit scowl'd on every brow;
Day after day successive wrongs we bore,
Till patience, wearied, could support no more,
Till slaughter'd lives our native streets prophan'd,
And thy slaves' hand our hallow'd crimson stain'd;
No sudden rage the ruffian soldier tore,
Or drench'd the pavements with his vital gore,
Deliberate thought did all our souls compose,
Till, veil'd in glooms, the lowery morning rose;
No mob then furious urg'd the impassion'd fray,
Nor clamorous tumults dinn'd the solemn day;
In full convene the city
‡ senate sat,
Our fathers' spirit rul'd the firm debate:
The freeborn soul no reptile tyrant checks,
Tis heaven that dictates when the people speaks;
[Page 198]Loud from their tongues the awful mandate broke,
And thus, inspir'd, the sacred senate spoke;
Ye miscreant troops, be gone! our presence fly;
S
[...]ay, if ye dare, but if ye dare, ye die!
Ah, too severe, the fearful chief
§ replies,
Permit one half, the other, instant, flies.
No parle, avaunt, or by our fathers' shades,
Your reeking lives shall glut our vengeful blades.
Ere morning's light, begone,—or else we swear,
Each slaughter'd corse shall feed the birds of air!
Ere morning's light had streak'd the skies with red,
The chieftain yielded, and the soldier fled.
Tis thus experience speaks—the test forbear,
Nor shew these states your feeble front of war.
But still your navies lord it o'er the main,—
Their keels are natives of our o
[...]ken plain;
E'en the proud mast that bears your flag on high,
"Grow on our soil, and ripen'd in our sky:
"Know then thyself, presume not us to scan,
Your power precarious, and your isle a span.
Yet could our wrongs in just oblivion sleep,
And on each neck reviv'd affection weep,
The brave are generous, and the good forgive▪
Then say you've wrong'd us, and our parent live;
‖
But face not fate, oppose not heaven's decree,
Let not that curse our mother light on thee.
ELEGIAC ODE, Sacred to the Memory of General
GREENE.
BY GEORGE RICHARDS, OF BOSTON.
SAY, shall the bards of ancient Greece and Rome,
In all the pathos of impassion'd woe,
Mourn with their country, at the hero's tomb,
And fire a world to emulation's glow?
Shall weeping muses quit Pierian groves,
To deck the sod, where rest the good, the brave;
And shall the warrior, whom an empire loves
Repose, unsung, unhonor'd in the grave?
Forbid it, heaven! Columbia claims the song:
Touch'd with her griefs, I sweep the plaintive lyre,
To her, to Greene, immortal strains belong:
An angel's pencil, and a seraph's fire.
Whilst sacred Truth, from realms of light divine,
Shall pour the tide of intellectual day,
And lead my footsteps to the hero's shrine,
Where patriots guard, and freemen watch the clay.
[Page 202]
When first Britannia bath'd her sword in gore,
His soul, indignant, spurn'd the peaceful shade;
Instant he arm'd, to brave the Lion's roar,
And the keen terrors of the Highland blade.
Prompt at his call, to hostile fields he led
The hardy yeomen of his native isle;
*
True sons of liberty; whom virtue bred,
Strong for the labors of Herculean toil.
Mild of access, in him, no little pride
Obscur'd the greatness of a noble mind;
He felt for all; the soldier at his side
Brought down the sweetest "milk of hum
[...]n kind."
For council honor'd, in the camp belov'd,
Sagacious, cool, amid the storm serene;
Heroes rever'd, applauding States approv'd,
And Albion trembled at the name of GREENE.
Oft have his limbs the frozen earth compress'd,
Whilst round his head the watery torrent pour'd;
Thick clouds the curtains to his couch of rest,
Where the bleak wind and midnight hail-storm roar'd.
And oft, advancing with the solar ray,
His banners flam'd to meet the lightning's glare,
In torrid realms of more than burning day;
Sad haunts of death, and plagues, and putrid air.
There hallow'd truths, inscrib'd on glory's roll,
Written in blood on honor's purple vest,
Shall gallant warriors, born of kindred soul,
With conscious pride, and martial zeal attest.
[Page 203]Illustrious men! ye nerv'd his mighty hand,
To crush the savage on the warlike plain;
When to the south he wheel'd his conquering band,
And broke the iron of oppression's chain.
Around the shores which Hudson's billows lave,
His laurel wreaths shall ever verdant bloom;
And Trenton's cypress shade the hero's grave,
Whilst pensive Princeton mourns his early tomb.
August abodes! ye heard the trumpet's sound;
Which bade his columns range, his squadrons form;
Ye saw his coursers snuff the embattled ground,
And Greene, triumphant, rule the vengeful storm.
Array'd in tears and garb of sable hue,
See Brandywine the chieftain's hearse attend;
And Germantown
† lament—and Monmouth, rob'd in yew,
And Ashley's waters wail their god-like friend.
Immortal grounds! the theme of every age,
Your meanest dust shall speak the hero's praise;
Here bolted vengeance burst with tenfold rage,
And there he drove the lightning's rapid blaze.
Nor less illustrious are the banks of D
[...]n,
Or Guilford's fields, where feats of bold emprise,
Proclaim the genius of the mat
[...]ess man:
Though all the regions, mark'd by azure skies,
Ye saw his arms the vollied thunders deal.
Which check'd Cornwallis in his mid career;
With Tarleton's sword, and Rawdon's murderous steel,
And savage Balfour pal'd with guilty fear.
[Page 204]
Illustrious spots of earth's high favor'd mould!
What, tho no clarions swell to dire alarms,
And no proud chief, in pomp of burnish'd gold,
Leads on his troops in the bright glow of arms;
Yet shall the veteran there recount the tale
Of armies rais'd, uncloth'd, unfed, unpaid,
Who stood the summer's heat, the winter's gale,
Nor turn'd their bosoms from the tyrant's blade.
Such were the men, who own'd the power of GREENE,
When the shrill music, lengthening down the line,
Urg'd rank on rank, to try the dubious scene,
And combat hosts, by d
[...]spots thought divine.
Thrice honor'd chief! the work of death is past,
Thy task completed, smiling peace descends,
Hush'd is the din, and mute the trumpet's blast,
And ardent warrior's greet as ancient friends.
Mature in life, with endless honor crown'd,
Too bright for earth, and fit for purer skies,
Celestial bards his mighty deeds resound,
Whilst thus, aloud, a prince of angels cries.
"At God's decree, by heaven's high throne, I swear,
"Tis done! tis done! his time shall be no more▪
"Thou king of death descend, on wings of air,
"And wast the hero to his native shore."
The obedient monarch cleft the etherial way,
‡
His golden darts were tipp'd with sacred fire,
He rode the chariot of eternal day,
And, fleet as lightning, pass'd the applauding choir.
[Page 205]His radiant form the hero kenn'd afar,
Resolv'd in death to boast supernal fame,
He mounted swift, lash'd on the burning car,
And tower'd sublime in robes of solar flame.
According spirits tun'd the song of love,
From heavenly harps was heard triumphant praise,
Which breath'd thrice welcome to the climes above.
In the mild music of harmonious lays.
A pause ensued; the melting lyre was still,
And this the voice which trumpets roll'd around.
"Go, fix the hero's throne on glory's hill,
"And be the chief by mightiest warriors crown'd."
The laurel wreath was borne in Warren's hand,
The great Montgomery thron'd the immortal GREENE,
The gentle Mercer join'd the festive band,
And gallant Laurens graced the glorious scene.
Uncounted veterans throng'd the blest abodes;
Loud swell'd the notes to extacy divine;
And Spartan heroes, next in rank to Gods,
Proclaim'd, with Wol
[...]e, the palm of merit thine.
THE SPEECH OF HESPER.
†
YE sires of nations, call'd in high debate,
From kindred realms, to save the sinking state,
A boundless sway on one broad base to rear—
My voice pate
[...]n
[...]d claims your listening ear;
O'er the wide clime my fostering cares extend,
Your guardian genius and your deathless friend.
When splendid victory on her trophy'd car,
Swept from these shores the last remains of war,
[Page 210]Bade each glad state, that boasts Columbia's name,
Exult in freedom and ascend to fame,
To bliss unbounded stretch their ardent eyes,
And wealth and empire from their labour rise,
My raptur'd sons beheld the discord cease,
And sooth'd their sorrows in the songs of peace.
Shall these bright scenes, with happiest omens born,
Fade like the fleeting visions of the morn?
Shall this fair fabric from its base be hurl'd
And whelm in dust the glories of the world?
Will ye, who saw the heavens tempestuous lower,
Who felt the arm of irritated power,
Whose souls distending with the wasting flood,
Prepar'd the firm foundations, built in blood,
By discord siez'd, will ye desert the plan?
The unfinish'd Babel of the bliss of man?
Go search the field of death, where heroes, lost
In graves obscure, can tell what freedom cost.
Tho' conquest smil'd; there slain amid the croud,
And plung'd promiscuous with no winding shroud,
No friendly hand their gory wounds to lave,
The thousands moulder in a common grave.
Not so thy son, oh Laurens! gasping lies,
Too daring youth, war's latest sacrifice;
His snow-white bosom heaves with writhing pain,
The purple drops his snow-white bosom stain;
His cheek of rose is wan▪ a deadly hue
Sits on his face, that chills with lucid dew.—
There Warren, glorious with expiring breath,
A comely corse, that smiles in ghastly death:
[Page 211]See Mercer bleed—and o'er yon wintry wall,
Mid heaps of slain, see great Montgomery fall!
Behold those veterans worn with want and care,
Their sinews sti
[...]en'd, silver'd o'er their hair,
Weak in their steps of age, they move forlorn,
Their toils forgotten by the sons of scorn;
This hateful truth still aggravates their pain,
In vain they conquer'd and they bled in vain.
Go then, ye remnants of inglorious wars,
Disown your marks of merit, hide your scars,
Of lust, of power, of titled pride accus'd,
Steal to your graves dishonor'd and abus'd.
For see proud Faction waves her flaming brand,
And discord riots o'er the ungrateful land;
Lo, to the north a wild adventurous crew
In desperate mobs the savage state renew;
Each felon chief his maddening thousands draws,
And claims bold licence from the bond of laws;
In other States the chosen sires of shame,
Stamp their vile knaveries with a legal name;
In honor's seat the sons of meanness swarm,
And senates base the work of mobs perform,
To wealth, to power the foes of union rise,
While foes deride you and while friends despise.
Stand forth, ye traitors, at your country's bar,
Inglorious authors of intestine war;
What countless mischiefs from their labours rise!
Pens dipp'd in gall and lips inspir'd with lies!
Ye sires of ruin, prime detested cause
Of bankrupt faith, annihilated laws,
[Page 212]Of selfish systems, jealous, local schemes,
And union'd empire lost in empty dreams,
Your names ex
[...]anding with your growing crime
Shall float disgustful down the stream of time,
Each future age applaud the avenging song,
And outrag'd nature vindicate the wrong.
Yes there are men, who, touch'd with heavenly fire,
Beyond the con
[...]ines of these climes aspire,
Beyond the praises of a transient age,
To live immortal in the patriot page;
Who greatly dare, though warring worlds oppose,
To pour just vengeance on their country's foes.
And lo! the etherial worlds assert your cause,
Celestial aid the voice of virtue draws;
The curtains blue of yon expansion rend,
From opening skies heroic shades descend.
See, rob'd in light, the forms of heaven appear,
The warrior spirits of your friends are near;
Each on his steed of fire (his quiver stor'd
With shafts of vengeance) grasps his flaming sword,
The burning blade waves high, and, dipt in blood,
Hurls plagues and death on discord's faithless brood.
Yet what the hope? the dreams of Congress sade,
The federal union sinks in endless shade,
Each feeble call, that warns the realms around,
Seems the faint echo of a dying sound,
Each requisition wasts in fleeting air,
And not one state regards
[...]he powerless prayer.
Ye wanton States, by h
[...]ven's best blessings curst,
[...]ng on the lap of softening luxury
[...]urst,
[Page 213]What fickle frenzy raves, what visions strange?
Inspire your bosoms with the lust of change?
And frames the wish to fly from fancy'd ill,
And yield your freedom to a monarch's will?
Go, view the lands to lawless power a prey,
Where tyrants govern with unbounded sway;
See the long pomp in gorgeous state display'd,
The tinsel
[...]d guards, the squadron'd horse parade;
See heralds gay with emblems on their vest,
In tiss
[...]d robes tall beauteous pages
[...]est;
Where, moves the pageant, throng unn
[...]mber'd slaves,
Lords, Dukes, and
[...]nces, titulary knaves
Con
[...]us'dly shine, the purple gemm'd with stars,
Sceptres, and globes, and crowns, and ruby'd cars,
On gilded orbs the thundering chariots roll'd,
Steeds snorting fire, and champing bitts of gold,
Prance to the trumpet's voice—while each assumes
A loftier gait, and lifts his neck of plumes.
High on the moving throne, and near the van,
The tyrant rides, the chosen scourge of man;
Clarions, and slutes, and drums, his way prepare,
And shouting millions rend the conscious air;
Millions whose ceaseless toils the pomp sustain,
Whose hour of stupid joy repays an age of pain.
From years of darkness springs the regal line,
Hereditary kings by right divine;
'Tis theirs to riot on all nature's spoils,
For them with pangs unblest the peasant toils,
For them the earth prolific teems with grain,
Theirs, the dread labours of the devious main,
[Page 214]Annual for them the wasted land renews
The gifts oppressive, and extorted dues,
For them, when slaughter spreads the gory plains,
The life-blood gushes from a thousand veins,
While the dull herd, of earth-born pomp afraid,
Adore the power that coward meanness made.
Let Poland tell what woe returning springs,
Where right elective yields the crown to kings!
War guides the choice—each candidate abhorr'd
Founds his firm title on the wasting sword,
Wades to the throne amid the sanguine flood,
And dips his purple in a nation's blood.
Behold, where Venice rears her sea-girt towers,
O'er the vile croud proud oligarchy lowers;
While each Aristocrate affects a throne,
Beneath a thousand kings the poor plebeians groan.
Nor less abhor'd the certain woe that waits
The giddy rage of democratic states;
Whose pop'lar breath, high-blown in r
[...]stless tide,
No laws can temper and no reason guide;
An equal sway their mind indignant spurns,
To wanton change the bliss of freedom turns,
Led by wild demagogues the factious croud,
Mean, fierce, imperious, insolent and loud,
Nor fame nor wealth nor power nor system draws,
They see no object and perceive no cause,
But feel by turns, in one disasterous hour,
The extremes of licence and the extremes of power.
What madness prompts, or what ill-omen'd fates,
Your realm to parcel into petty states?
[Page 215]Shall lordly Hudson part contending powers?
And broad Potowmac lave two hostile shores?
Must Allegany
[...]s sacred summits bear
The impious bulwarks of perpetual war?
His hundred streams receive your heroes slain?
And bear your sons inglorious to the main?
Will states cement by feebler bonds allied?
Or join more closely as they more divide?
Will this vain scheme bid restless factions cease?
Check foreign wars or fix internal peace?
Call public credit from her grave to rise?
Or gain in grandeur what they loose in size?
In this weak realm can countless kingdoms start
Strong with new force in each divided part?
While empire's head dissected into four
Gains life by severance of diminish'd power?
So when the philosophic hand divides
The full grown polypus in genial tides,
Each sever'd part, inform'd with latent life,
Acquires new vigour from the friendly knife,
O'er peopled sands the puny insects creep,
Till the next wave absorbs them in the deep.
What then remains? must pilgrim Freedom fly
From these lov'd regions to her native sky?
When the fair fugitive the orient chaced,
She fixt her seat beyond the watry waste;
Her docile sons (enough of power resign'd,
And natural rights in social leagues combin'd)
In virtue firm, tho' jealous in her cause,
Gave senates force and energy to laws,
[Page 216]From ancient habit local powers obey,
Yet feel no reverence for one general sway,
For breach of faith no keen compulsion feel,
And find no interest in the foederal weal.
But know, ye favour'd race, one potent head,
Must rule your states, and strike your foes with dread,
The finance regulate, the trade controul,
Live thro' the empire, and accord the whole.
Ere death invades, and night's deep curtain falls,
Thro ruin'd realms the voice of Union calls;
Loud as the trump of heaven thro' darkness roars,
When gyral gusts entomb Caribbean towers,
When nature trembles thro' the deeps convulst,
And ocean foams from craggy cliffs repulst,
On you she calls! attend the warning cry,
"YE LIVE UNITED, OR DIVIDED DIE."
END OF SELECTED POETRY.