Infpir'd; where moral wisdom mildly shone Without the toll of art; and virtue glow'd, In all her fmiles, without forbidden pride. But, Oh thou beft of parents! wipe thy tears; Or rather to parental Nature pay
The tears of grateful joy, who for a while Lent thee this younger felf, this opening bloom, Of thy enlighten'd mind and gentle worth. 580 Believe the Mufe; the wintry blaft of death Kills not the buds of virtue; no, they spread, Beneath the heavenly beams of brighter funs, Through endless ages, into higher powers.
Thus up the mount, in aëry viñon wrapt, 585 Iftray, regardless whither, till the found Of a near fall of water, every fenfe Wakes from the charm of thought; fwift fhrink- ing back,
At first, an azure sheet, it rushes broad; Then whit'ning by degrees, as prone it falls, 595 And from the loud-refounding rocks below Dath'd in a cloud of foam, it fends aloft A hoary mift, and forms a ceafelefs shower, Nor can the tortur'd wave here find repofe; But, raging ftill amid the fhaggy rocks, Now flashes o'er the fcatter'd fragments, now Aflant the hollow channel rapid darts; And, falling faft from gradual flope to flope, With wild infracted courfe, and leffen'd roar, It gains a fafer bed, and fteals, at laft, Along the mazes of the quiet vale.
Iffuing from out the portals of the morn, The general Breeze, to mitigate his fire, And breathe refreshment on a fainting world. Great are the scenes, with dreadful beauty crown'd
And barbarous wealth, that fee each circling year, Returning funs and double seasons pass; 645
Rocks rich in gems, and mountains big with mines,
That on the high equator ridgy rife, Whence many a bursting stream auriferous plays; Majettic woods, of every vigorous green, Stage above ftage, high waving o'er the hills; 650 Or to the far horizon wide diffus'd, A boundlefs deep immenfity of fhade. Here lofty trees, to ancient fong unknown, The noble fons of potent heat and flood's Prone rushing from the clouds, rear high to hea-
Their lighter glories blend. Lay me reclin'd Beneath the fpreading tamarind, that shakes, Fann'd by the breeze, its fever-cooling fruit. Deep in the night the maffy locuit sheds Quench my hot limbs or lead me through the
Invited from the cliff, to whofe dark brow He clings, the ftecp-afcending eagle foars With upward pinions through the flood of day; And, giving full his bofom to the blaze, Gains on the fun; while all the tuneful race, Smit by afflictive noon, diforder'd droop, Deep in the thicket; or, from bower to bower Refponive, force an interrupted ftrain. The ftock-dove only through the foreft coos, 615 Mournfully hoarfe; oft ceafing from his plaint, Short interval of weary woe! again The fad idea of his murder'd mate, Struck from his fide by favage fowler's guile, Acrofs his fancy comes; and then refounds 620 A louder fong of forrow through the grove. Befide the dewy border let nie fit, All in the frefhnefs of the bumid air; There in that hollow'd rock, grotefque and wild, An ample chair, mofs-lin❜d, and over head 625 By flowering umbrage fhaded, where the bee Strays diligent, and with th' extracted balm Of fragrant-woodbine loads his little thigh.
Now, while I tafte the fweetnefs of the fhade, While Nature lies around deep-lull'd in Noon, 630 Now come, bold Fancy, fpread a daring flight, And view the wonders of the torrid Zone: Chimes unrelenting! with whofe rage compar'd, Yon blaze is feeble, and yon fkies are cool,
Embowering endlefs, of the Indian fig; Or, thrown at gayer cafe, on fome fair brow, Let me behold, by breezy murmurs cool'd, Broad o'er my head the verdant cedar wave, And high palmetos lift their graceful fhade. 675 Or, ftretch'd a:nid thefe orchards of the fun, Give me to drain the cocoa's milky bowl, And from the palm to draw its frening wine! More bounteous far than all the frantic juice Which Bacchus pours. Nor, on its flender twigs Low-bending, be the full pomegranate fcorn'd; Nor, creeping through the woods, the gelid race Of berries. Oft in humble ftation dwells. Unboafted worth, above faftidious pomp. Witnefs, thou beit anana, thou the pride Of vegetable life, beyond whate'er The poets imag'd in the golden age! Quick let me trip thee of thy tufty coat, Spread thy ambrofial ftores, and feaft with Jove! From thefe the profpect varies. Plains im- menfe
Lie ftretch'd below, interminable meads
Exuberant fpring; for oft thefe valleys shift Their green-embroider'd robe to fiery brown, And fwift to green again, as fcorching funs, Or ftreaming dews and torrent rains, prevail, 700 Along thefe lonely regions, where, retir'd From little scenes of art, great Nature dwells In awful folitude, and nought is feen But the wild herds that own no master's ftall, Prodigious rivers roll their fattening feas: On whofe luxurious herbage, hal conceal'd, Like a falla cedar, far diffus'd his train, Cas'd in green fcales, the crocodile extends. The flood difparts: behold! in plaited mail, Behemoth rears his head. Glanc'd from his fide, The darted fteel in idle fhivers flies: 711 He fearlet's walks the plain, or feeks the hills; Where, as he crops his varied fare, the herds," In widening circle round, forget their food, And at the harmlefs ftranger wondering gaze. 715 Peaceful, beneath primeval trees, that caft Their ample i ade o'er Niger's yellow ftream, And where the Ganges rolls his facred wave, Or mid the central depth of blackening woods, High-rais'd in folemn theatre around, Leans the huge elephant, wifeit of brutes! O truly wife! with gentle might endow'd; Though powerful, not deftructive! Here he fees Revolving ages fweep the changeful earth, And empires rife and fall; regardless he Of what the never-refting race of men Project thrice happy! could he 'fcape their guile,
Wide o'er the winding umbrage of the floods, Like vivid blooms glowing from afar,
Thick fwarm the brighter birds. For Nature's hand,
That with a fportive vanity has deck'd The plumy nations, there her gayeft hues Frofufely pours. But, if the bids them fine, Array'd in all the beauteous beams of day, Yet, frugal fill, the humbles them in fong. Nor envy we the gaudy robes they lent Proud Montezuma's realm, whofe legions caít A boundless radiance waving on the fun, While Philomel is ours; while in our fhades, Through the foft flence of the liftening night, The fober-fuited fongftrefs thrills her lay.
But come, my Mufe, the defart-barrier burst, A wild expanfe of lifelefs fand and sky;
And, fwifter than the toiling caravan,
Shoot o'er the vale of Sennar; ardent climb 750 The Nubian mountains, and the fecret bounds Of jealous Abyffinia boldly pierce.
Thou art no ruffian, who, beneath the mafk
Of focial commerce, com'ft to rob their wealth; No holy Fury thou, blafpheming Heaven, 755 With confecrated fteel to ftab their peace, And through the land, yet red from civil wounds,
To fpread the purple tyranny of Rome. Thou, like the harmless bee, may'ft freely range, From mead to mead, bright with exalted flow-
Securely tray; a world within itself, Difdening all affault: there let me draw Ethereal foul, there drink reviving gales, Profufely breathing from the fpicy groves, And vales of fragrance; there at difiance hear The roaring floods and cataracts, that fweep From difembowel'd carth the virgin gold; And o'er the varied landkip, refilefs, rove, Fervent with life of every fairer kind; A land of wonders! which the fun ftill eyes With ray direct, as of the lovely realm Enamour'd, and delighting there to dwell. How chang'd the fcene! In blazing height of
The fun, opprefs'd, is plung'd in thickeft gloom. Still horror reigns, a dreary twilight round, 786 Of frugling night and day malignant mix'd. For to the hot equator crowding faft, Where, highly rarefy'd, the yielding air Admits their fiream, inceffant vapours roll, 79@ Amazing clouds on clouds continual heap'd! Or whirl'd tempestuous by the gufty wind, Or flent borne along, heavy and flow, With the big stores of fteaming oceans charg'd. Meantime, amid the fe upper feas, condens'd 795 Around the cold aërial mountain's brow, And by conflicting winds together dash'd, The Thunder holds his black tremendous throne:
From cloud to cloud the rending Lightnings
*The Hippopotamus, or river-herfe. In all the regions of the torrid zone, the birds, though mare beautiful in their plumage, are ob¦ Of ferved to be lefs melodious than ours.
The treafures thefe hid from the bounded fearch
ancient knowledge; whence, with annual
Rich king of floods! o'erflows the fwelling Nile. From his two fprings, in Gojam's funny realm, Pure-fwelling out, he through the lucid lake Of fair Dambea rolls his infant ftream. There, by the Naiads nurs'd, he sports away His playful youth, amid the fragrant ifles, That with unfading verdure fmile around. Ambitious, thence the manly river breaks; And, gathering many a flood, and copious fed With all the mellow'd treafures of the fky, Winds in progreffive majefty along : Through fplendid kingdoms now devolves his
At once his dome, his robe, his food, and arms. Swell'd by a thoufand ftreams, impetuous hurl'd From all the roaring Andes, huge defcends The mighty Orellana. Scarce the Mufe Dares ftretch her wing o'er this enormous mafs Of rufhing water; fcarce fhe dares attempt The fea-like Plata; to whofe dread expanfe, Continuous depth, and wondrous length of courfe,
Our floods are rills. With unabated force, 845 In filent dignity they fweep along, And traverfe realms unknown, and blooming wilds,
And fruitful defarts, worlds of folitude, Where the fun fmiles, and feafons teem in vain, Unfeen, and unenjoy'd. Foriaking thefe, O'er peopled plains they fair diffufive flow, And many a nation feed, and circle fafe, In their foft bofom, many a happy ifle; The feat of blameless Pan, yet undisturb'd By Chriftian crimes and Europe's cruel fons. 855 Thus pouring on they proudly feek the deep, Whofe vanquish'd tide, recoiling from the fhock, Yields to the liquid weight of half the globe; And Ocean trembles for his green domain.
But avails this wondrous waite of wealth?
*The river that runs through Siam; on whofe banks a vaft multitude of those infects, called fireBies, make a beautiful appearance in the night. †The river of the Amazons.
This gay profufion of luxurious blifs? This pomp of Nature? what their balmy meads. Their powerful herbs, and Ceres void of pain? By vagrant birds difpers'd, and wafting winds, What their unplanted fruits? what the coel draughts,
Th' ambrofial food, rich gums and spicy health, Their forefts yield? their toiling infects, what Their filky pride, and vegetable robes ? Ah! what avail their fatal treasures, hid Deep in the bowels of the pitying earth, Golconda's gems, and fad Poto's mines, Where dwelt the gentleft children of the fun? What all that Afric's golden rivers roll, Her odorous woods, and fhining ivory ftores? Ill-fated race! the foft'ning arts of Peace, Whate'er the humanizing Mufes teach; The god-like wifdom of the temper'd breast; Progreffive truth, the patient force of thought; Investigation calm, whofe filent powers Command the world; the Light that leads to
Kind equal rule, the government of laws, And all-protecting Freedom, which alone Suftains the name and dignity of man: These are not theirs. The parent-fun himself Seem o'er this world of flaves to tyrannize; 885 And, with oppreffive ray, the rofeat bloom Of beauty blafting, gives the gloomy hue, And feature grofs or worfe; to ruthlefs deeds, Mad jealoufy, blind rage, and fell revenge, Their fervid fpirit fires. Love dwells not there, The foft regards, the tenderness of life, The heart-fhed tear, th' ineffable delight Of fweet humanity; thefe court the beam Of milder climes; in felfifh fierce defire, And the wild fury of voluptuous fenfe, There loft. The very brute creation there This rage partakes, and burns with horrid fire. Lo! the green ferpent, from his dark abode, Which e'en imagination fears to tread, At noon forth-iffuing, gathers up his train In orbs immenfe, then, darting out anew, Seeks the refreing fount; by which diffus'd, He throws his folds; and while, with threat'ning tongue,
And deathful jaws erect, the monfter curls His flaming creft, all other thirst appall'd, Or-fhivering flies, or check'd at diftance ftands, Nor dares approach. But ftill more direful he, The fmall ciofe-lurking minister of fate, Whofe high-concocted venom through the veins A rapid lightning darts, arresting swift The vital current. Form'd to humble man, This child of vengeful Nature! There, fublim'd To fearless luft of blood, the favage race Roam, licens'd by the fhading hour of guilt, And foul mifdeed, when the pure day has shut His facred eye. The tiger darting fierce. Impetuous on the prey his glance has doom'd; The lively-fhining leopard, fpeckled o'er With many a fpot, the beauty of the wafte; And, fcorning all the taming arts of Man, The keen hyena, felleft of the fell. Thefe, ruching from th' inhospitable woods Of Mauritania, or the tafty ifles
That verdant rife amid the Libyan wild, Innumerous glare around their faggy king, 923 Majeftic, ftalking o'er the printed fand; And, with imperious and repeated roars, Demand their fated food. The fearful flocks Crowd near the guardian fwain; the nobler herds, Where round their lordly bull, in rural eafe, 930 They ruminating lie, with horror hear
The coming rage. Th' awakened village starts, And to her fluttering breaft the mother trains Her thoughtless infant. From the pirate's den, Or ftern Morocco's tyrant-fang efcap'd, The wretch half-withes for his bonds again; While, uproar all, the wildernefs refounds, From Atlas eaftward to the frighted Nife. Unhappy he! who from the frft of joys, Society, cut off, is left alone Amid this world of death. Day, after day, Sad on the jutting eminence he fits, And views the main that ever toils below, Still fondly forming in the fartheft verge, Where the round ather mixes with the wave, 945 Ships, dim-difcover'd, dropping from the
At evening, to the setting fun he turns A mournful eye, and down his dying heart Sinks helpless, while the wonted roar is up, And hifs continual thro' the tedious night. Yet here, e'en here, into thefe black abodes Of monfters, unappall'd, from flooping Rome, And guilty Cæfar, Liberty retir'd, Her Cato following thro' Numidian wilds, Difdainful of Campania's gentle plains, And all the green delights Aufonia pours, When for then the muft bend the fervile knee, And fawning take the splendid robber's boon.
Nor ftop the terrors of thefe regions here. Commiflion'd demons oft', angels of wrath, Let loofe the raging elements. Breath'd hot From all the boundlefs furnace of the fky, And the wide-glittering waste of burning fand, A fuffocating wind the pilgrim fmites With infant death. Patient of thirft and toil, 965 Son of the defert! e'en the camel feels, Shot thro' his wither'd heart, the fiery blaft: Or from the black-red æther, bursting broad, Sallies the fadden whirlwind, Straight the fands,
Commov'd around, in gathering eddies play : 970 Nearer and nearer ftill they darkning come, Till with the general all-involving ftorm Swept up, the whole continuous wilds arife, And by their noon-day fount dejected thrown, Or funk at night in fad difaftrous fleep, Beneath defcending hills the caravan Is buried deep. In Cairo's crowded fircets Th' impatient merchant, wondering,, waits in
And Mecca faddens at the long delay.
The circling Typhon, whiri'd from point to point, 983
Exhaufting all the rage of all the fky,
And dire Eenephia reign. Amid the heavens, Falfely ferene, deep in a cloudy fpuck + Compref'd, the mighty tempeft brooding dwells, Of no regard fave to the filful eye: Fiery and foul, the final' prognoftic hangs Aloft, or on the promontory's brow Mufters its force: a faint deceitful calm, A fluttering gale, the 'demon fends before, To tempt the freading fail; then down at once, Precipitant, defcends a mingled mafs 995
Of roaring winds, and flaine, and rushing floods. In wild amazement fix'd the failor ftands. Art is too flow: by rapid Fate opprefs'd,
His broad-wing'd veffel drinks the 'whelming
Of fteaming crowds, of rank difeafe, and death,
Behold! he rufhing cuts the briny flood, Swift as the gale can bear the ship along, And from the partners of that cruel trade, Which fpoils unhappy Guinea of her fons, rozo Demands his fhare of prey; demands them- felves.
The formy Fates defcend: one death involves Tyrants and flaves; when ftraight their mangled limbs
Crafting at once, he dyes the purple feas With gore, and riots in the vengeful meal. 1025
When o'er this world, by equinoctial rains Flooded immenfe, locks out the joyless fun, And draws the copious fteam from fwampy fens, Where putrefaction into life ferments, And breathes deftruative myriads; woods,
Impenetrable shades, reccffes foul,
Typhon and Ecret hia, rames of particular florms or furricanes, kuazon only between the tropics. Called by failers the Ox-eye, being in appearance, at fir, no bigger.
Dufoo de Gama, the firfi who failed round Africa,
But chief at fea, whofe every flexile wave 980 by the Cape of Good Hope, to the Eaft-Indies.
Obeys the blaft, the aerial tumult fwells.
In the dread ocean, undulating wide,
Beneath the radiant line that girds the globe,
Don Henry, third fan to John I. king of Portugal. His prong genius to the discovery of newD countries was the chief fource of all the modern improvements in navigation.
In vapours rank and blue, corruption wrapt, Whofe glomy horrors yet no defperate foot Has ever dar'd to pierce, then, wafteful, forth Walks the dire Power of peftilent difeafe. 1035 A thoufand hideous fiends her courfe attend, Sick Nature blafting, and to heartless woe, And feeble defolation, cafting down The towering hopes and all the pride of Man: Such as, of late, at Carthagena quench'd The British fire, You, gallant Vernon! faw The miferable feene; you, pitying, faw To infant-weaknefs funk the warrior's arm; Saw the deep-racking pang, the ghaftly form, The lip pale-quivering, and the bean lefs eye, No more with ardour bright; you heard the groans 1046
Of agonizing hips from fhore to fhore ; Heard nightly plung'd amid the fullen waves The frequent corfe, while on each other fix'd, In fad prefage, the blank afifiants feem'd, 1050 Silent, to alk whom Fate would next demand.
What need I mention thofe inclement skies, Where, frequent o'er the fickening city, Plague, The fierceft child of Nemefis divine, Defcends? From Ethiopia's poifon'd woods, From ftifled Cairo's filth, and fetid fields. With locuft-armies putrefying heap'd, This great defroyer Iprung. Her awful rage The brutes efcape; man is her deftin'd prey, Intemperate man! and o'er his guilty domes She draws a close incumbent cloud of death, 1960 Uninterrupted by the living winds,.
Forbid to blow a whole fome breeze, and fain'd With many a mixture by the fun, fuffus'd, Of angry afpea. Princely Wifdom, then, 1965 Dejects his watchful eye; and from the hand Of feeble Juftice, ineffectual, drop The fword and balance: mute the voice of Joy, And hufh'd the clamour of the busy werkl: Empty the freets, with uncouth verdure clad; Into the worst of deferts fudden turn'd The chearful haunt of men; unless escap'd From the doom'd house where matchlefs Horror reigns,
Shut up by barbarous Fear, the fmitten wretch, With phrenfy wild, breaks loofe, and, loud to heaven 1075
Screaming, the dreadful policy arraigns, Inhuman, and unwife. The fullen door, Yet uninfected, on its cautious hinge Fearing to turn, abhors fociety.
Dependents, friends, relations, Love himfelf. Savag'd by woe, forget the tender tie, The fweet engagement of the feeling heart. But vain their felfifh care; the circling fky. The wide enlivening air, is full of fate; And, ftruck by turns, in folitary pangs They fall, unbleft, untended, and unmourn'd, Thus o'er the proftrate city black Defpair Extends her raven wing, while, to complete The fcene of defolation, ftretch'd around The grim guards ftand, denying all retreat, 1090
*Thefe are the causes fuppofed to be the firf origin of the plague, in Dr. "Mead's elegant book on that fubject.
Fir'd by the torch of Noon to tenfold rage, 1095 The infuriate hill, that shoots the pillar'd flame;
And, rous'd within the fubterranean world, Th' expanding earthquake, that refiftlefs fakes Afpiring cities from their folid bafe,
And buries mountains in the flaming gulph, 1100 But 'tis enough; return, my vagrant Mufe; A nearer fcene of horror calls three home.
Behold! flow-fettling o'er the lurid grove, Unufual darkness broods, and, growing, galus The full poffeffion of the fky, furcharg'd 1105 With wrathful vapout, from the fecret beds Where fleep the mineral gencrations drawn. Thence nitre, fulphur, and the fiery fpume Of fat bitumen, ficaming on the day, With various-tinctur'd trains of latent flame 1110 Pollute the fky; and in yon' baleful cloud A reddening gloom, a magazine of fate, Ferment, till by the touch ethereal rous'd, The dafn of clouds, or irritating war
Of fighting winds, while all is calm below, 1115 They furious fpring. A boding filence reigns. Dread thro' the dun expanfe, fave the dull found That from the mountain, previous to the form, Rolls o'er the muttering earth, disturbs the flood,
And shakes the foreft-leaf without a breath. 1120 Prone to the loweft vale the aerial tribes Defcend: the tempeft-loving raven fearce Dares wing the dubious dusk. In rueful gaze The cattle fand, and on the fcowling heavens Cat a deploring eye, by man forfook, Who to the crowded cottage bies him faft, Or feeks the fhelter of the downward cave, 'Tis lif'ning fear and dumb amazement all: When to the ftartled eye the fudden glance Appears far fouth, eruptive thro' the cloud, 1130 And following fower, in explosion vaft, The thunder raifes his tremendous voice. At first, heard folemn o'er the verge of heaven, The tempeft growls; but as it nearer comes, And rolls its awful burden on the wind, The lightnings flafh a larger curve, and more The noife aftounds, till over-head a fheet Of livid flame difclofes wide, then fruts, And opens wider; futs and opens ftill Expanfive, wrapping ather in a blaze : Follows the loofen'd aggravated roar, Enlarging, deepening, mingling; peal on peal Crush'd horrible, convuling heaven and earth. Down comes a deluge of fonorous hail, Or prone-defcending rain. Wide-rent, the
« EelmineJätka » |