University of Virginia Library

STANZA I.

Hence Curiosity me led
To view the Neighbouring Sea:
Where 'tis with Green Sargossa spread,
And imitates a Flowry Mead;
Doth the unwearied Eye to rove invite,
And every where gives Prospects of Delight:
Under whose Shade the harmless Fry,
No Fear nor Danger nigh,
Their Innocent Revels keep,
And deck with sparkling Pearly scales the Deep.
Where Tortoyses from far resort,
Journy again unto their well-known Port;
Do with unwearied Feet repair
Unto the Place, where they were bred,
Or where before their Eggs they laid;
And without Guide, but Nature being their Friend,
Thrô devious ways are without Pole-star led:
And upon barren Desolate Isles,
They stupidly unto the Care
Of Hatching Sands their shelly Brood commend,
Or to the Sun's auspicious Smiles.

II.

Where Artfull Crabs, by Nature taught,
Their Food of Oysters and of Muscles make:
Whose Armory of Shells so well is wrought,
Their furious Gripes can't the Contexture break.
But when to take in pearly Dew they o'pe,
The watchfull Crabb doth the Occasion steal,
With little Stones the gaping Shells doth fill;
That those on whom rude Force could nought avail,
By Policy are caught.
Where the poor Fish, to all a Prey,
On whom kind Nature hath bestow'd
An Art to raise himself above the Flood,
Doth his useless Skill essay.
By Albicores and Dolphins he pursued
With moistned Fin knows how to fly,
But can't avoid his steady Destiny.
Sea-Fowl his Course prevent,
Seize on the helpless Prey:
And he, that durst not trust the Sea,
Dies in a Foreign Element.
A sad Dilemma, when to stay or fly,
Death equally is nigh:
Death that doth to all Seats repair,
That neither Land nor Sea doth spare,
Nor the swift Flights of those, that cut the Air.

III.

Nor did I miss the Plain,
Where the Seas Terrour, the Leviathan,
In his extended Pride doth reign.
Whose Subjects do at awfull Distance wait,
And dread him as their Fate.
But not his Monstrous Bulk and Mighty State,
Not his devouring Jaws
Can stop his Destiny;
Such often is the Doom of High and Great,
Such are Fate's rigid Laws,
By despicable Foes to die.
So scorned Vapours oft the Earth have shook:
So Worms destroy the aged Oak,
Neither by Tempest nor by Thunder strook:
So Elephants despised Mice do kill,
So the Ægyptian Rat the sleeping Crocodile.

IV.

Two Fish, but small in Bulk, yet great in Mind,
When none the mighty Monster dare assail,
With Skill and Force combin'd
Revenge their murder'd Kind;
One arm'd with Sword, the other with a Flail.
This from below th' unweildy Monster gores,
Nor can he to his Deeps descend:
The other furious Blows upon him showers,
From which no Armour can defend.
Which way soe'r he moves he finds his Doom;
The goring Sword, if he descends, he meets,
And furious Batteries; if he up doth come:
Death on each Weapon waits;
No way is left to fly,
But, while his trembling Subjects wait th' Event,
He meets his uncontrouled Destiny.
And what doth aggravate his Fall, he dies
Not by an Equal Combatant,
But those he did despise!

V.

Nor did I miss to' enquire
What symptoms in the Sea were seen,
Before a Storm doth rise,
While all is yet serene;
What Ebullitions are i'th' Ocean made,
While nothing doth our Eyes or Ears surprize.
What secret skill by Nature is convey'd
To Sea-fowls, that to Isles retire;
And Porpoyses, that they
Only before the Tempests play:
How they those Secrets know,
Which strange to Men do show.
When Storms the troubled Waters shall molest,
When Calms shall Lap the Sea in rest;
And how the Halcyon knows when to prepare her Nest.

VI.

Where in dark Caves
That do no Rays admit,
Beneath the Force of foaming Waves,
And Influence of Cheerfull Light,
The ragged Sea-Calves make a Safe Retreat.
Where they in solitary Holds do breed,
And gloomy Seats and Safety do prefer,
To all the Pompous Shows that Danger bear:
And where with Milky Breasts the Seales their Young Ones feed.

VII.

How rising Spouts, the Wonders of the Sea,
Or drawn by th' Sun's attractive heat,
Or rarified by Subterranean fire,
Do in Ætherial Regions play;
And mix with Seas above the Firmament.
How they new Qualities do get,
And against Nature's Laws aspire:
And from their Kindred Waters rent
Do revel in the Air;
That's now become a Watry Plain.
How the Vast Pillar doth the Burthen bear,
And gives new Nourishment for Clouds and Rain.
How frighted Mariners, when nigh,
VVith spread-out Sails the Danger shun;
The Dreadfull Neighbourhood do fly,
Which on what e'r it falls doth drown.

VIII.

Nor did the Dreadfull Gulph my Voyage stay,
That ope's a Passage to th' Pacifick Sea:
Whether by the Great Workman's hand 'twas made
For Commerce and Enriching Trade:
Or whether restless Waves the way had tore
On the Vast Chasm, was rent with Earthquake's power:
It lyes th' amazing way into another World.
Th' unfathomable Depths appall:
The Waves in Dreadfull Storms are ever curl'd,
In Hurricanes and Whirlwinds furl'd.
The unrelenting Cliffs do never save,
And the Vast Chasm doth represent a Grave.
The hanging Rocks, that threat a fall,
The foaming Waves, that rage below,
And Hills above all cloath'd with Snow,
That rob the Gulph of half the Day,
And hide the Sun's Auspicious Ray;
The furious Winds that from the Mountains break,
And headlong Gusts, that Ships in pieces shake;
Th' Abyss, that doth no Light admit,
But seems for Fiends a dark Retreat;
The Rocks, on which no Peace doth sit;
The Shores, that do no food or shelter show,
And Savages, that do no Pitty know:
Fiercer than Rocks, and Ruder than the Wind,
A Dreadfull Scene present unto the Trembling Mind.

IX.

Nor less the Northern Seas my Course invite,
Doubly fenc'd by Ice and Night.
Where Nature's fixed Bars are laid,
The Fetters nothing can invade,
But Heavenly heat from the Sun's presence shed,
Where the unfathomable Depths are spread:
Where Ghastly Horrour and Confusion dwell,
Gloomy, Dark, and Deep, as Hell:
Whose Stranger Waves ne'r bore the Plowing Keel,
Nor e'r the Lashes of the Oar did Feel;
Nor were Discover'd, but by Thee,
Generous and much-Lamented Willoughby!

X.

Where Barren Isles exalt their Head,
Uncomfortable, as the Seas; in which they'r spread:
Whose Hoary Heads, cloath'd with Eternal Snow,
No Friendship with the Sun do know;
But all in Icy Fetters bound remain:
Congeal'd in Numerous Centuries slid by,
The Streams a Chrystal hardness gain,
So Hard, they never will relent:
But when the World a Sacrifice shall dy,
And in her Funeral Flames expire,
They shall outbrave the Raving Element;
Nor yield to that, which Conquers all things, Fire.

XI.

Where the Bold Savage doth ill Fate defie;
The force of Storms and Mounting Seas outbraves,
And safely Dances on the Threatning Waves,
And truly may be said to rule the Sea.
Clos'd in his Boat secure He rows,
Made of the Skins of Fish, He took his Prey;
Which, by a secret Sympathy,
Do with the well-acquainted Waves agree,
And in a lasting Friendship close.
Lock'd in his Schiff they can't a Passage find,
Nor one Inquisitive Drop can search a way:
Thô Water doth thrô Rocks and Mountains wind,
And in each Particle of Matter ly.
Antiquity of Centaurs told,
That did half-Men, half-Horses grow;
The Fumes of wild Poetick Heads of Old.
A stranger Wonder He doth show
A Man (if yet a Man) above, a Monster all below.
In Seales-skins cloath'd He doth the Fish deceive,
Who Him one of their Shoal believe,
Untill his Fatal Dart
Credulity's Reward to them doth give:
He Personates a Fish with so much Art,
That not their piercing Eye,
Thô sight in them in its Perfection be,
And doth, what they in other Sences want, supply,
Can any difference spy.
He lives, He eats, He sleeps i'th' Sea,
Which seems to be his Element,
And gives that Food, the Barren Shores deny;
And doth his Bed, his Drink, his Sport present:
And it a Question yet remains,
What Classis of the Creatures He is in,
Whether He is to Men or Fish of Kin:
Whether He more to Earth or Sea doth owe,
To th' Solid or the Liquid Plaines,
And if what doth his Food bestow,
May not be thought his Mother too:
If that, which doth his Wants relieve,
Mayn't be suppos'd his Being first to give.

XII.

Necessity doth teach Him Art;
And thô the Soil's to Him unkind,
And doth all Needfull Instruments deny,
His Sport, what e'r He needeth, doth impart:
For by kind Nature's Aid He all in's Prey doth find.
Of Fishes Fins his Boat is made,
And with their Skins 'tis overspread,
Their Bones the room of Hooks supply,
And from their Teeth He forms his deadly Dart.
A Circling Pleasure that hath never End,
Doth on his Quiet Life attend.
Full Shoals of Fish to Him resort,
Who by their Death to others Death bequeath,
They with them bring the Instruments of Death,
And by their Own do Ruine unto Others give;
And He can ne'r want Tackle, if He hath but Sport.
Alive Great Fish do on the Lesser feed,
Do Ravin even on those they breed:
Here, when they'r dead, the Enmity doth live;
They senseless do become their Enemies Bane,
And after Death a Conquest over others gain.

XIII.

Nor did I miss, by Inclination led,
(For 'tis an Art my Soul doth please)
To visit all the Spacious Fruitfull Seas,
That are with Numerous Shoals of Fishes spread.
Where they upon the Artist wait,
With Greedy Hast swallow the Deadly Bait,
And Quarrel, who the first shall meet their Fate.
By Ill Example led they still rush on,
Regardless of their Friend's Destruction:
Whose Mangled Parts their Hungry Jaws do eat,
That now are dress'd up for their meat,
And made the Engines of Deceit.
Unhappy Case! where Fellows Traytors are,
And where Society becomes a Snare!
Where Death to th' Living no Advice doth give,
And where Dead Friends the Living do decieve!
From hence with winged speed I fled,
Did all around as Enemies dread:
And where no warning was from Ruine took,
Did on my self as on a Traytor look.

XIV.

I saw, where floating Woods of Timber, rent
From th' undermined Continent,
By Northern Tempests furious blow;
Or else o'recharg'd by weight of Ice and Snow,
As hanging on the Cliffs they grow,
They break, and into th' subject Sea do glide:
How they in unknown Paths their Journeys steer,
Till wakefull Providence's Care,
That Necessaries doth for all provide,
Their Course to barren Isles doth guide,
Which, by th' Inclemency of their raw Air,
Never a Tree or Shrub did bear,
But the Inhabitants in want do to the Sea repair.
Their Darts and Bows to Waves they owe,
Their Houses do from Tempests grow:
Their Food they draw from Tydes;
And their cold frozen Sea their usefull Fire provides.

XV.

I saw the Sea-Mors chac'd, whose prized Horn
That doth his fatal Head adorn
His Destiny doth bequeath,
And what's design'd his Safety, proves his Death:
Where Isles of Ice, remote from any Shore,
Themselves at eighty Fathom moar:
Look like a Continent,
And Capes and Cliffs, and Promontories represent.
Upon whose Tops wild Beasts do fight,
And Sea-fowls make the Cliffs look doubly white.

XVI.

Nor here my Curiosity was staid,
But with bold Course my daring Eyes survey'd
Where secret Passages o'th' Deep were laid.
Where by the working of the Sea,
Or by some secret Cause to us unknown;
The winding waters find their hidden way:
And straining thrô the Earth do leave behind
The Saltness, they did from their Mother own,
Till fit for Use, Delight, and Nourishment, they'r grown.
And on some Mountain's side
They do a Passage find:
Thrô flowry Meadows wind,
Thrô fruitfull Valleys glide
Till they i'th' Sea again do their Ennobled Waters hide.

XVII.

Nor did I fear
Beneath stupendious Rocks my Course to steer;
The hidden Tracts and lonely Vaults to' explore,
That under Mighty Realms do sink,
Thrô which the thirsty Caspian,
The CASPIAN, that doth numerous Rivers drink,
Yet still unsatisfi'd doth gape for more,
Nor ever swells with all the Store,
Empties it self into th' Mediterranean.
I did not fear the headlong Gulf, which all
The Mariners its Navel call:
The Vortex, which the Sea drinks down,
And all, that comes within its Verge, doth drown.

XVIII.

Nor to my Curious Search did secret lie
The devious Ways in Regions deep below,
That do 'twixt distant Lakes and Oceans go.
How the Friendly Waters meet,
How the Shoals of Fishes greet
In Realms yet undiscover'd to the Eye.
How Meers, whose Heads and Springs we cannot see,
Nor what their Sourse doth breed,
An Entercourse do keep
With Caverns under Mountains laid,
Or with the Treasures of the Deep:
How what the Sea doth from the Land receive,
When swelling Rivers to her Bosom come,
She back again in Springs and Showers doth give,
And keeps an Æquilibrium.

XIX.

There lies a Deep, if we may Truth receive
From those, that on the Seas do live,
Not far from th' CAPE, that hath a Name from Hope,
Where no Art can a Bottom gain;
Thô they a thousand Fathom sound with Rope,
But all their Labour and their Charge is vain.
Here I sunk down into the deep Abyss,
Where no created Being e're before
The Secrets went to' explore,
Or Nature's Work, that near the Center lies.
Below vast Rocks and massy Mounts I past,
Such as the Upper World don't know;
The Strength and Fortresses below,
On which the World is plac'd:
Till thrô dark Paths and uncut Ways,
Being arriv'd at th' utmost Place,
Where ev'en sharp Thoughts could not a farther passage trace;
I my wearied Journey staid
At Natures Bars, by the Almighty made.

XX.

The Bars, that fence the Windows of the Deep,
The raging Waves secure;
Lest they again the Earth should sweep,
And all Mankind devour.
But who the wondrous Locks can tell
VVho can the Adamantine Gates reveal?
That fortifie the firm Decree,
Which hath forbid the Ocean to rebell,
Set Limits to the Imperious Sea,
And made her in her Confines dwell.
Here I in vain for Dæmogorgon sought,
The Monster, ancient Ages thought,
Did at the Center lie;
The VVorld did actuate;
Whose Breath did make the Seas with Tydes to swell,
And whose unruly Motion Earthquakes did create.

XXI.

Now thrô dark subterranean Caverns led
And solitary Roads below;
Upon whose Brow sits dismal Night,
VVhere massy Rocks exclude the Light;
VVhere ghastly Horrour and Distraction's laid.
Led by Instinct, not by Sight,
VVhere Zembre's Lake doth fruitfull Waters show,
The wish'd-for Light I do regain,
And what Antiquity did never know
Find Nile's Illustrious Head.
Down all his glorious Course I cut my Way,
Thrô all the Realms that do his Waves adore;
The thirsty Nations that his Help implore:
Not the steep Cataracts could force my stay,
VVhose dreadfull Downfall doth the Sight surprize,
And dulls the Eye, as th' Ear is deafned with the Noise:
My daring Course with them I downward led,
Nor fear'd the Treacherous Crocodile,
Nor Hippopotamus of Nile:
View'd the remains of Dark Antiquity,
Wept o'r its Pristin Glory fled,
And griev'd to see the Marks of present Slavery.

XXII.

Nor did the Jewish Sea,
Fill'd with Bitumen 'scape Discoverie:
Trembling I at its Borders stood,
But durst not trust the Poys'nous Flood.
No Creature can the Noxious Waves abide,
Nothing can thrô the Waters safely glide,
Not Birds unhurt are to fly o'r't allow'd.
The Towns beneath do yet their Beauty bear,
For they alas not Guilty were,
The Men did all the Sin and all the Judgment share.
Around th' Infectious Shore
Fair-Trees deceitfull Apples bore,
To th' Eye they did with ravishing Beauty shine;
(Such are the looks of Sin)
But Loathsom Dust and Ashes held within.

XXIII.

Sometimes in distant Realms I rove,
For Curiosity is unconfin'd;
Where Springs their Vigorous Source send out above,
Or where vast Rocks below their Streams do bind.
Where they, unseen by Mortal Eye,
The Subterranean Progeny do feed;
Or Dæmons of the Mines (if any such there be)
Or beneath Rocks Metallick Compounds breed.
Below the Alps now my Dark Course is led,
Where PELION upon OSSA'S thrown,
Where Hills on Hills, Mountains on Mountains stand,
Till they to Heaven lift their Aspiring Head;
And do not seem the Work of Nature's hand,
But broken Ruines of the former World.—
The Monstrous Caverns, that Vast Depths do hold,
In their wide Arms do Seas enfold.
Who can their secret Sources show?
Whether they swell from melted Snow,
Which ever Crowns their Hoary Head:
Or whether from condensed Air they'r bred,
In Great Vacuities below:
Or whether from the Sea their secret Course doth flow:
The boundless Treasure's in their Bowels laid,
The Minerals, that there abound,
And Richly pay for all the Barren Ground.

XXIV.

To all the Lakes from these Abysses bred,
By hidden winding ways I pass'd:
Now I in Switzerland lift up my Head,
And trembling and agast
The barren Rocks and threatning Mountains dread:
Where Nature shows but a Step-Mother's Love;
Where the harsh Soil unkind doth prove;
Yet all is sweetned by Bless'd Liberty.
Their rugged Rocks, that scarce their Toil repay,
Their Vales with headlong Torrents wash't away,
They more do Prize than Dangerous State.
Than Smiling Treacherous Pageantry,
VVhile Peace and Safety do upon them wait.

XXV.

Now I i'th Garden of the VVorld do rise,
The Queen of Nations ITALY,
And from a Lake behold the Country round,
Which doth with Nature's Gifts abound,
And only Freedom wants to mak't a Paradise.
But see the Dreadfull Curse of Tyranny!
The untill'd Soil doth Mourn its State,
Th' unpeopled Land a VVilderness doth ly,
The wearied Peasant doth lament his Fate,
VVorks for what He ne'r enjoys;
But Groans, Sinks, and Expires beneath his Miseries.
Rapine and dire Oppression all doth seize,
And Curses, what God Bless'd before.
In vain God Plenty sends, and Store,
If dire Exactions keeps the Subjects poor.
Adam from Paradise was driven;—
And here Men fly the next Bless'd Place to Heaven.