A Collection of Poems on Various Subjects :: :: University of Virginia Library

The Introduction. The Proposition. The Variety of Vegetables and Animals in various Climates. Great and wise Men not the Production of the Torrid Zone, and the Reason why. This Observation exemplify'd in the Regions of Africa, the Kingdoms and Islands of the East and West-Indies that lie beneath the Ecliptick Line. The cold Regions near the Poles no less hurtful to Humane Nature. Instances of the Stupidity of those Nations near the Arctick Circle: Their Strength of Body: Their long Life. The Advantages of the temperate Climates for Courage, Sense, Wit and Politeness. Those too Cold or too Hot, not more receptive of Religion than fertile of Sense. The various Kinds of Idolatry in those barbarous Countries.

178

Superior Bards, the Pride of ancient Days,
Tuneful have honour'd with immortal Lays
The lowing Grazer, and the fleecy Flock;
The Goat, that brouzes on the shrubby Rock,
And generous Steed, that flying leaves behind
The panting Storm, and mocks the lagging Wind,
With Ears erect springs ardent to the War,
Or, proud in Triumph, draws the Hero's Car;
The feather'd Clans, that soar amidst the Clouds
Sublime, or perching sing in shady Woods;
And all the swift-finn'd Nations of the Floods:
Ev'n Infects too they rais'd, which artful form.
Their waxen Caves; and the Silk-Weaver Worm.

Mean Time Heav'n's Viceroy, Man, whose wide Command
Controuls the spacious Realms of Sea and Land,
Is left unsung: Then, Muse, extend thy Wing
For unattempted Flight, and Humane Nature sing.

179

Tell, what distinguish'd Regions chief abound
With Wit and Sense, what Soil is most renown'd
For Strength athletic, what with Valour crown'd.
What different Virtues, and as different Crimes
Owe their Production to peculiar Climes.
Tell, whence a worthy Race does long endure,
And what Defects its Ruin will procure.

In various Countries, we with Wonder find
Birds, Beasts, and verdant Plants of various Kind:
The Golden Orange-Grove, and spreading Vine
Ask a hot Soil, a cold the Fir and Pine.
The Amaranth and odoriferous Rose
Abhor Arabia's Sands, and Scythia's Snows.
Few Realms, like that of fertile Britain, breed
The fair-horn'd Bullock, and the swift-heel Steed.

Bright Humane Nature does no less demand
An Air adapted, and peculiar Land.

180

In vain you hope Illustrious Youth will shine
Beneath th' Æquator, or th' Ecliptick Line;
Where Sun-burnt Nations, of a swarthy Skin,
Are fully'd o'er with blacker Clouds within.
Their Spirits suffer by too hot a Ray,
And their dry Brain grows dark with too much Day.
For while the Solar Orb, with Heat intense,
Concocts their Gold, it dissipates their Sense:
So much his Beam the Nerves of Moisture drains,
So draws transpiring Vapours from the Veins
Thro' gaping Pores, the Channels can't diffuse
O'er the parcht Head, sufficient gentle Dews.
Their Spirits burning with too fierce a Fire
Unqualify'd by proper Flegme, acquire
A Disposition so inept for Thought,
Few just Perceptions in their Minds are wrought.
The scorcht and pathless Desarts of the Brain,
Want proper Caves and Cells to entertain
A Crowd of airy Forms and long Ideal Train.

181

Observe the Realms from Congo's Lands to those
Which Æthiopia'a Southern Seas inclose:
The Inland Tracts, that various Kings obey,
Which the white Mountains of the Moon survey;
Where, fabulous Atlas, thy vast Shoulders rise,
And constant Winter wear in Summer Skies:
Where Niger, wanton with his Silver Pride,
Rolls thro' the burning Land his fruitful Tide;
Benin's and Zara's unfrequented Plains,
Unblest with cooling Winds and genial Rains.

Each India's spacious Monarchies survey,
Those at the Spring, these at the Ebb of Day,
O'er which the Sun describes his Spiral Way.
The various Realms disperst in Orient Seas,
The wild Philippine Isles, and barbarous Celebees:
Java, Sumatra, and Borneo's Land,
And that which rude Golconda's Kings command:

182

The Climes, where Siam's Lords the Scepter sway,
And which Malacca's Potentates obey.

Regard the Western-Indies, long unknown,
Controul'd by Europe's Kings, or by their own.
The Kingdoms neighbour to the sandy Shores,
Where fam'd Hondura's Gulph resisted roars.
The wealthy Regions of the Southern Soil,
Where Foreign Lords enjoy the Natives Toil,
And to Iberia's Ports convey the precious Spoil.
And where the famous Amazonian Tide
Do's thro' the Sands, like their own Serpents, glide.

The various Nations of these various Lands,
Opprest with scorching Heats, and Desart-Lands,
Are, for the most, so ignorant and blind,
So unreflecting, and so dull of Mind,
They cast Reproach and Shame on Humane Kind.
So void of Sense the Hotentot is found,
Whose Speech is scarce articulated Sound,

183

That 'tis disputed, if his doubtful Soul
Augment the Humane or the Brutal Roll:
Nor do's the Cafres barb'rous Race express
More Marks of Wisdom, or of Dullness less.

Ye Frontier Kingdoms, stretch'd on Guinea's Shore,
Enrich'd with Ivory Wealth, and golden Oar;
Ye Spicy-Isles, lav'd by the Indian Main,
Count what your Losses are, and what your Gain:
And will your Gold and Spices recompence
Your Want of Thought, your Penury of Sense?
Will ye your cruel Benefactor own,
And bless th' immoderate Bounty of the Sun?

As Rays direct are hurtful to the Mind,
So by their Heat our Nature is inclin'd
To various Passions, of destructive Kind.
The vital Ferments they exalt so high,
Their Dews exhal'd, the Channels grow so dry,

184

That fiery Spirits rising from the Blood,
Adust Extraction of the boiling Flood,
Thro' all their fib'rous Paths malignant dart,
Furious extend the Limbs, and fierce impel the Heart.
The Fire, untemper'd with proportion'd Flegme,
Scorches their Veins, and burns the Meagre Frame.
These Spirits rais'd from Choler to the Brain,
Like those extracted from the basest Grain,
Impure and crude, produce unnatural Heat,
And an ignoble Flame of Life create.
The Natives hence no tender Motions find,
No generous Passions agitate their Mind.
Fierce is their Rage, and all the Savage Beast
Reigns in their Soul, and haunts their desart Breast;
Where Hate, Revenge, and Jealousy are bred,
And livid Envy hides her spleenful Head.

The Brute and Humane Animals acquire
From these hot Skies alike intemperate Fire.

185

The swarthy Nations near the Sun partake
Of the fierce Viper, pois'nous Rattle-Snake,
And Dragon, Bird obscene, which dreadful flies,
Shoots forth his forked Tongue, and licks the Skies.

Such was the Plague, that in Arabia's Sand,
Stung Hebrews rescu'd from proud Pharoah's Hand;
And round their Limbs in turgid Volumes clung,
While with their Noise rehissing Mountains rung.
Yet not Arabia's Sands, nor Lybia's Soil,
Not Zara's Desart, nor the Banks of Nile,
Fruitful of Terrors, yield a Savage Race,
Which Ægypt's King in Cruelty surpass.

See where the Sun wastes his intenser Ray,
The Cannibal, a Humane Beast of Prey,
With more than brutal Fierceness drinks the Blood
Of his own Kind, and makes their Limbs his Food.
Th' Æthiopian, and the Inland Moor,
From Zanguebar's to Africk's adverse Shore,

186

Merchants of Humane Nature still maintain
Detested Trade, and sell their Race for Gain:
Send their own Offspring Slaves to Foreign Soil,
To sweat in Mines, or with incessant Toil
To plant for British Lords some Indian Isle.

Nor is the Glebe to Humane Nature kind,
Between the Circles and the Poles confin'd.
Nor the North Regions of the temperate Zone,
Nor Southern Lands presumptive, tho' unknown.
Where while th' unfriendly Sun do's Visits pay,
So cold and short, he saves his precious Ray,
And parsimonious makes the least Expence of Day.
Mean Time in dark Abodes the Natives mourn
His quick Departure, and his slow Return.

See Nova Zembla's unfrequented Shores,
Whence Scythia's Main reverberated roars:
Iseland, a wild inhospitable Place,
Which the North Sea's circumfluent Waves embrace.

187

Greenland survey, on whose unfaithful Coast,
Oft fixt in Ice th' advent'rous Ship is lost:
Where the vast Lord of the Mute Clans, the Pride,
As well as Terror, of the Ocean's Tide,
Rolls in the troubled Deep, or wanton lies,
Spouting the missive Seas against the Skies.
Tartaria's Eastern Regions, and the Land
Which far and wide Muscovia's Kings command;
Where in unlightsome Caves the Nations pray
For the short Comfort of returning Day;
And Norway's Hills, whose Pines arise sublime,
Which when transplanted to Britannia's Clime,
Wing'd in her Fleets o'er all the Ocean roam,
Export her Growth, and fetch the Indies Home.

In all these Regions, from the Source of Light
Remote and doom'd to long prevailing Night,
See, Cold extream clasps in its rigid Arms
Dishonour'd Nature, of their Strength disarms
Her wither'd Limbs, and blasts her blooming Charms.

188

See how she sickens by the chill Embrace,
Behold her squallid Looks and ruin'd Face!
While all her genial Ferments are detain'd
With Ice coercive, and in Frost-work chain'd.
Here Hyperborean Winds, that constant blow
From crystal Caves, and Hoards immense of Snow,
Tempestuous range the dreary Plains, and sweep
The glaz'd Apartments of th' unactive Deep:
Where cutting Sleet, bleak Gales, and beating Rain,
Drive thro' the Air, and sweep along the Plain.
This fruitless Soil, opprest with Cold intense,
Is barren too of Wit, and void of Sense.
Th' unsprightly, coarse, and unfermented Blood,
Form'd of base Juices and unwholsome Food,
Flows thick and lazy in the Venal Road.
From this impure and unsubacted Mass,
By a weak Fire sublim'd the Spirits pass
Thro' the trajected Strainers of the Brain,
And sluggish to the Nerves their Passage gain.

189

Unlabour'd, unrefin'd, and slow of Course,
They act the brawny Limbs, and give athletick Force.
While thro' the nervous tough and subborn Thread
Of larger Size and Bore they are convey'd,
Vig'rous they move the lab'ring Heart, and warm,
The winding Veins, with Strength the Muscles arm.
Hence the hard Natives of the frozen Soil
Robust of Sinew, and prepar'd for Toil,
Patient of Pains, can unexhausted bear
The Soldier's Buckler, or the Huntsman's Spear.

These Spirits too, Guests of a torpid Brain,
Will ling'ring Life prolong, and Health maintain.
For with its hard constringent Grasp the Cold
Shuts up the Pores, and do's their Flight with-hold;
Which else expanded with a warmer Ray,
Thro' larger Meshes soon would wing their Way,
Defraud the Limbs, and lost in Æther stray.
Fed sparingly with Oyl, and dim with Fumes,
The Vital Lamp by slow Expence consumes:

190

While in hot Climes, unthrifty of its Fires,
It blazes high, and wasting swift expires.
But then these Spirits gross and unrefin'd,
Slow Ministers, and Envoys of the Mind,
Can ne'er on Vital Messages proceed,
Or for Reports return with proper Speed;
Swift thro' their nervous Channels cannot dart,
No Touches bold or delicate impart:
With no bright Figures furnish Fancy's Train,
Nor grace with curious Imag'ry the Brain.
The noble Functions of the Soul require
A brighter Flame, and more exalted Fire.

Mean Time the Realms, where Beams indulgent shine
From the North Circle to the Tropic Line,
Exempt from each Extream of Cold and Heat,
To Human Nature prove a kinder Seat.

The Sun here darts an oblique gentle Ray,
Nor prodigal of Glory do's display
Immoderate Splendor, or destructive Day.

191

Here from the tepid Glebe sweet Vapours rise;
Mild is the Air, and clement are the Skies.
Soft Winds their balmy Burden here unload,
And scatter genial Juices all Abroad.
Prolifick Heat fermenting Nature warms,
Gladdens her Face, and calls forth all her Charms.
By this her teeming Bosom is supply'd
With gay Abundance, and with verdant Pride.
Flocks cloath'd with Fleeces crown the Mountain's Brow,
And Herds beneath with Duggs distended low.
In these propitious Climes th' embody'd Mind
Do's happy Instruments, of various Kind,
For all her noble Operations find.

Here proper Ferments animate the Blood,
And give just Vigour to the bounding Flood.
The vital Streams with due impulsive Force
Spring from the Heart, and triumph in their Course;
Rarely a dull unagitated Mass
Do's lazy linger in its circling Race:

192

Nor do's a flaming rapid Torrent fry
The winding Tubes, and leave the Muscles dry;
While the mild Dews, forc'd with too great a Fire,
Desert the Limbs, and thro' the Pores perspire.
The Purple Streams, warm to a just Degree,
From Dregs and unconcocted Juices free,
As they pervade the Channels of the Brain,
Their purer Parts thro' the fine Meshes strain.
These active Liquors, which Admission find
Thro' the strait Paths, and leave the coarse behind,
Swift to the inmost Rooms their Passage beat,
And crowd around the Soul's Imperial Seat;
Of subtile Matter form'd, refin'd and bright,
As Light'ning sprightly, and serene as Light,
Watching their Soveraign's Nod, they ready stand
Apt to perform the Mind's supream Command.
Such noble Vital Instruments are fit
For Reason's Works, and beauteous Turns of Wit.
With finer Strokes they move the tender Strings
Tun'd in the Brain, whence clear Perception springs.

193

When Fancy makes superior Flight her Aim,
Wing'd with this vig'rous, clear seraphick Flame,
She ranges Nature's universal Frame;
Bright Seeds of Thought from various Objects takes,
Whence her fair Scenes and Images she makes:
Spirits so swift, so fine, so bold, so strong,
Gave Milton Genius fit for Milton's Song.

Others have Spirits volatile and gay,
Which in the Brain, like darting Meteors, play,
Or Atomes dancing in the solar Ray.
Tho' these with Strength Divine can never rise,
Nor stretch the daring Wing in upper Skies:
Yet sportive with their Wit, that flows with Ease,
And Humour, they the Taste in Fashion please.
In Raillry fine, in Conversation bright,
They now with Praises sooth, and now with Satyre bite.

As lighter Airs th' ignoble Audience charm,
Whom the Divine Scarlatti cannot warm,

194

So Sports of Fancy please the People's Ear,
Who cold the Epick Inspiration hear.
Of either Kind a Genius we should prize,
One makes us laugh, as One would make us wise.

For different Ends the busy Head is fill'd
With different Spirits from the Blood distill'd:
Behold in some, these Agents of the Mind
Mild, but exalted, active and refin'd;
And from the sharp and sullen Vapours freed,
Which from the Bile, and anxious Spleen proceed,
Dart to the Soul a pure, and easy Ray,
Serene as Morn, and sweet as Eden's Day:
Gentle and soft, as tepid, genial Rains,
Inspire a kindly Warmth thro' all the Veins:
Dispos'd around the Mind's High Judgment-Seat,
They give abundant Light, but moderate Heat.
When Spirits temper'd thus combine, we own
A Fleetwood sorm'd, a Lock, or Tillotson.

195

In some the Spirits their rich Store diffuse,
Drawn from a Mixture of digested Dews
And equal Fire, which purer Choler joyns,
And the high Ferment of the Spleen refines.
These plenteous rise, and with their radiant Train
Fill all th' Apartments of th' inlighten'd Brain.
They burn, without exhaling Vapours, bright,
And give a clear and comprehensive Sight,
Piercing Inspection, and attentive Thought,
Where Nature's Steps are trac'd, and Schemes of Science wrought.
From Spirits thus dispos'd expect to see
A Wren, a Newton, or a Gregory.

Those, which the able Statesman's Head inspire,
Approach yet nearer to Etherial Fire.
These by their frequent Sublimations pure,
Mellow by long Digestion, and mature;

196

Justly attemper'd with proportion'd Flegme,
And to a certain Height exalted, frame
A noble, generous, strong, and steddy Flame;
Which thro' the Brain Meridian Lustre spreads,
Mild as the Glory, which a Seraph sheds.
This Flame is vig'rous, lasting, clear, serene,
And darts not outward, while it shines within.
Hence Judgment flows, and Thoughts sagacious, hence
Come steddy Temper, and superior Sense.
This makes a Master to direct a State,
And forms the Man denominated Great.
Give to the Brain such Guests as these, and we
New Burleighs, and new Walsinghams shall see.

And may Britannia's Soil with Spirit stor'd,
And blest with Genius, still a Race afford
In Council able, and with Prudence crown'd,
Not less for Wisdom, than for Arms renown'd,
In Action warm, and in Designing cool,
Mighty to conquer, and as fit to rule.

197

Nor do's the wild intemperate Zone admit
Religion's Empire more than that of Wit,
Alike for Sense and Piety unfit.

Survey the Regions near th' Æquator Line,
To Congo's Sands from swarthy Abyssine,
The Nations spread on Guinea's golden Shore,
The tawny, black, the long, and short-hair'd Moor,
Who drink the Niger, or the Nile adore;
That People barbarous Madagascar's Soil,
Camboia's Kingdom, and Mindano's Isle,
Who range like Savage Beasts, the Hill and Wood,
Unciviliz'd, and naked snatch their Food,
Nature's pure Growth, and drink the ready Flood.
These stupid Nations, this degenerate Race,
Can scarce the Being of their Maker trace,
Tho' Marks of Pow'r Divine shine bright on Nature's Face.
And those, who Altars for Religion raise,
To Demons, not to Gods, direct their Praise.

198

Soon as th' unhappy Head of Humane Kind,
By secret Guile and flatt'ring Arts inclin'd,
Had (fatal Choice!) embrac'd th' Impostor's Cause,
Abjur'd his Soveraign, and despis'd his Laws;
Inflicted Mists, and Shades of penal Night
Involv'd his Offspring, and perplex'd their Sight:
Hence, lost in various Error, they ador'd
Some Fellow-Creature, as their Maker-Lord;
And mumerous Kinds of Idols did revere,
The Objects of their Love, or of their Fear.

Some deify'd the Seraph-Race, that fell
From bright celestial Thrones, condemn'd to dwell
In Falshood's dark Abodes, and reign accurs'd in Hell.
While these Fall'n-Angels, Princes of the Air,
From their low Seats to ours, did oft repair,
To manage here their Empire, to preside
O'er warring Winds, and wrathful Tempests guide,

199

To ripen Plagues, and Torments to dispense,
To scourge Mankind, and punish bold Offence;
Mistaken Man, by Terrors thus alarm'd,
Bow'd to the Pow'rs with so much Vengeance arm'd:
And to the fierce Tormentors Fanes did reer;
While Demons thus were first made Gods by Fear.

Th' Apostate Spirits proud to be ador'd,
And vie in Honours with their Soveraign Lord;
In various Climes appointed various Modes,
By which th' Usurpers were aton'd as Gods.
In Person some, disguis'd in Humane Shape,
Met their Adorers, some assum'd the Ape.
The Satyr's Form some did capricious chuse,
Some did the Goat's, and some the Serpent's use;
Others were pleas'd, from different Taste of Pride,
Unseen in various Idols to reside:
Temples and Domes were rais'd, the high Abodes
Of wing'd, four-footed, and of reptile Gods.

200

Some did the Town, and some the Desart love;
These chose the Hill, and those the shady Grove.
Here burning Incense sooth'd their Nostrils, there
They view'd the prost'rate Crowd, and heard their abject Pray'r.
Here impious Priests, full of the Demon Guest,
With trembling Limbs and agitated Breast,
Exclaiming loud the Fiend within confest.
While some with Rites uncouth, and hollow Notes
Exploded frightful thro' their lab'ring Thoats,
From murm'ring Bowels raving did dispense
Dark Oracles, and Words of doubtful Sense,

As Evil Spirits were by Men implor'd,
So Good, their own Invention, were ador'd.
Such Deities their Guardian Genij were,
Who rul'd wide Realms, or made great Towns their Care;
And those, who still assiduous did attend
Their Fav'rite's Person, and his Life defend:

201

Such those commission'd to protect their Tow'rs,
And guard their Walls against invading Pow'rs;
And Lares, plain, familiar, inmate Gods,
Who watchful kept their Votaries Abodes.

Those of their Race, who useful Arts did find,
Or blest with gen'rous Labour Humane Kind,
By States too grateful were enrol'd Divine,
And mid'st the Stars did Gods illustrious shine.
Bacchus, and Ceres, who obtain'd a Place
High in the Heav'ns among th' Immortal Race,
Their Priests and Altars to their Skill did owe;
One taught to plant the Vine, and One to sow.
Robust Alcides, whose heroick Toil,
From Plagues and Monsters freed his Native Soil,
By Strength Athletick climb'd to Heav'n and rais'd
His Temples by the Club, which rescu'd Nations prais'd.
On Æsculapius Altars they bestow'd,
First their Physician, and at length their God.

202

Some duller yet of Reason, more debase
The Dignity of Man's superior Race,
While stupid they with sacred Honours crown
Creatures of Rank inferior to their own;
Worship wild Inmates, which the Woods infest,
The Desart's Terror, or the Mountain's Guest,
That walk, and run, or on their Bellies creep,
Traverse the Air, or range the spacious Deep.

Rude Africk Realms, far from the Tropic Lines,
On which the Sun, profuse of Glory, shines,
Abject, their own Destroyers idolize,
And stock with Monster-Gods th' affronted Skies.
The wild and barb'rous Nations of the Land,
That stretches near the Erythræan Strand,
The Viper, Snake, and Basilisk adore,
And from their Plagues and Torments Aid implore.

203

Ægypt bow'd down before the Crocodile,
Who fierce infests their other God, the Nile;
The Terror That, and This the Blessing of their Soil.

While Heroes dead, and Demons were prefer'd
To Thrones Divine, and Beasts were Gods declar'd,
Ev'n Herbs themselves, cheap verdant Deities,
From Earth transplanted, flourish'd in the Skies.
Ægypt in Garden Pow'rs her Safety plac'd,
Divinities of high delicious Taste:
Her Sons, like modern Rome, their Gods did eat,
Who fixt in Domes, or on their Tables set,
Did raise Devotion now, and now their Hunger treat.

Some lifting to the glorious Sun and Skies
Magnificent with Stars, their wond'ring Eyes
In Error lost, took for their Maker God
His Throne refulgent and August Abode.

204

But Muse return, and thy first Aim pursue,
With closer Flight, and with less distant View.

Nor do the Nations which inhabit near
Arcturus, and the never-setting Bear,
In Nova Zembla, and Iselandia's Isle,
In Lapland Hills, and bleak Muscovia's Soil,
More noble Dictates of Religion own,
Than the Brute Kingdoms of the Torrid Zone.
This heav'nly Plant, which Life Divine bestows,
Rare in incliment Air successful grows,
'Tis scorcht with Libia's Heats, and nip'd with Russia's Snows.

'Tis true th' Almighty can with Ease display
O'er dull benighted Realms celestial Day;
And to th' unaptest Natures can impart
Transforming Pow'r, and with unerring Art
Bend the reluctant Will, and new create the Heart,

205

Yet who shall tax his Goodness, who arraign
Of Providence Divine the secret Chain,
If chief we see his Blessings the Reward
Of Thoughts more Humane, and of Minds prepar'd?
Nations, 'tis known, with finer Nature blest,
And Sense and Wit superior to the rest,
Soonest Divine Religion's Charms discern,
Meet the blest Teacher, and her Dictates learn.

And hence, ye various Nations dull of Thought,
To near the Solar Orb, or too remote,
Stupid of Mind, and obstinate of Will,
Unconscious of the Rules of Good and Ill,
Rarely your Souls to pious Acts incline,
Or feel th' impulsive Force of Light Divine:
Obdurate, rarely in your yielding Breast,
You entertain the Beatifick Guest.
Your Hearts, as barren as your Rocks and Sand,
Her Charms and pow'rful Influence withstand;

206

Whose heav'nly Rays defeated thence recoil,
Like Sun-Beams wasted on unfruitful Soil.

Know, hardy Atheists, who insulting say
Some populous Realms to Gods no Homage pay,
And therefore Nature's universal Law
Imprints not on the Mind Religious Awe;
That those, who no superior Being own,
Are more from Beasts by Shape, than Reason known.

Then impious Maxims, which affront the Skies,
From Want of Wit, and not Abundance rise.

The End of the First Book.