 | The works, in verse and prose, of the late Robert Treat Paine, Jun. Esq |  |
26
[Ye, who enjoy the bliss of social ease]
“Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto.”
Terence, Heaut:
Terence, Heaut:
I am a man, and interested in all the concerns of humanity.
Ye, who enjoy the bliss of social ease,
Who drink the sweets of Freedom's passing breeze,
Taught by your fortune, learn, with generous mind,
To soothe the woes, and feel for all mankind.
Who drink the sweets of Freedom's passing breeze,
Taught by your fortune, learn, with generous mind,
To soothe the woes, and feel for all mankind.
While Pride's imperial sons in splendour vie,
And with a meteor glare delude the eye;
While bold Ambition copes for deathless fame,
That tinsel glitter of a glorious name;
Behold the generous soul, who feels for man,
The great adherent to the Saviour's plan,
In the dark cell of languid woe appear,
And the sad heart with smiling bounty cheer;
Or in the cruel dungeon's dreary shade,
Where stern Oppression fettered millions laid,
Hear his mild voice amid the lurid gloom,
Recall the fleeting spirit from the tomb!
And with a meteor glare delude the eye;
While bold Ambition copes for deathless fame,
That tinsel glitter of a glorious name;
Behold the generous soul, who feels for man,
The great adherent to the Saviour's plan,
In the dark cell of languid woe appear,
And the sad heart with smiling bounty cheer;
Or in the cruel dungeon's dreary shade,
Where stern Oppression fettered millions laid,
Hear his mild voice amid the lurid gloom,
Recall the fleeting spirit from the tomb!
Sweet are the pleasures, that from love arise;
Sweet the warm rapture, when, with eager eyes,
And swelling with the gairish hopes of youth,
Young genius springs to clasp a long sought truth;
But more extatick joys, those scenes impart,
When flowing from a warm and grateful heart,
The sweet eulogiums of relieved distress
The generous heart with pleasing transport bless.
Hail, kind Philanthropy, thou friend of earth,
Creation's mildest, fairest, noblest birth!
Bright are thy features, as the blush of even,
And more complacent than the smile of heaven.
Sweet is the musick, which thy voice distils,
As the soft murmurs of the purling rills;
More gladly echoed through Misfortune's ear,
Than the blithe carols of the vernal year.
Benignant parent of the tear and sigh!
Heaven-born Benevolence, whose gracious eye,
By pity fired, the blandest smile bestows,
That cheers this gloomy scene of mortal woes.
Sweet the warm rapture, when, with eager eyes,
And swelling with the gairish hopes of youth,
Young genius springs to clasp a long sought truth;
27
When flowing from a warm and grateful heart,
The sweet eulogiums of relieved distress
The generous heart with pleasing transport bless.
Hail, kind Philanthropy, thou friend of earth,
Creation's mildest, fairest, noblest birth!
Bright are thy features, as the blush of even,
And more complacent than the smile of heaven.
Sweet is the musick, which thy voice distils,
As the soft murmurs of the purling rills;
More gladly echoed through Misfortune's ear,
Than the blithe carols of the vernal year.
Benignant parent of the tear and sigh!
Heaven-born Benevolence, whose gracious eye,
By pity fired, the blandest smile bestows,
That cheers this gloomy scene of mortal woes.
When savage Nature her dominion kept,
And each mild Virtue in oblivion slept,
Then pale eyed Misery and Oppression rose,
And plunged mankind adown the abyss of woes.
Dire Rage and War around the nations strode,
And Havock grimly smiled o'er seas of blood.
The dearest ties of love were stained with gore,
And Peace and Friendship ruled the world no more.
And each mild Virtue in oblivion slept,
Then pale eyed Misery and Oppression rose,
And plunged mankind adown the abyss of woes.
Dire Rage and War around the nations strode,
And Havock grimly smiled o'er seas of blood.
The dearest ties of love were stained with gore,
And Peace and Friendship ruled the world no more.
The sprightly virgin in her tender bloom,
Torn from her lover's arms, by cruel doom,
With tears of anguish, trickling from her eyes,
O'er his dear marble bids the cypress rise.
Torn from her lover's arms, by cruel doom,
With tears of anguish, trickling from her eyes,
O'er his dear marble bids the cypress rise.
28
Stript of the solace of their aching hearts,
Those tender ties, which social love imparts,
See hoary sires, around the funeral bier,
In silent sorrow drop the mournful tear!
Brutal barbarians, with stern pride elate,
Trampling on every right of civil state;
Traitors to every law of gracious Heaven,
By Nature's voice to all her children given;
Unfeeling monsters, tyranny their creed,
Who never blushed but at a virtuous deed,
With wanton fury kept the world in awe;
Their sword was justice, and their nod was law.
Those tender ties, which social love imparts,
See hoary sires, around the funeral bier,
In silent sorrow drop the mournful tear!
Brutal barbarians, with stern pride elate,
Trampling on every right of civil state;
Traitors to every law of gracious Heaven,
By Nature's voice to all her children given;
Unfeeling monsters, tyranny their creed,
Who never blushed but at a virtuous deed,
With wanton fury kept the world in awe;
Their sword was justice, and their nod was law.
But, to relieve the miseries of man,
Benevolence on earth her reign began.
Of heavenly birth the virgin goddess shone,
And all the virtues hovered round her throne.
But scarce the precepts of her friendly tongue,
To hostile realms the sweets of peace had sung,
And strove with warm persuasion to control
The warring passions of each barbarous soul;
When, lo, a monster from his Stygian cave
Laid the mild virgin in the silent grave.
'Twas Persecution, whose dread right hand bore
A flaming faulchion, wet with human gore.
Detested Bigotry, (oh foul disgrace!)
And blinded Ignorance, of monkish race,
To this blood-thirsty, hellish fiend gave birth,
Who with such miseries scourged the groaning earth.
Cursed be the bigot, whose religious light
Comes through the medium of a jaundiced sight!
Benevolence on earth her reign began.
Of heavenly birth the virgin goddess shone,
And all the virtues hovered round her throne.
But scarce the precepts of her friendly tongue,
To hostile realms the sweets of peace had sung,
And strove with warm persuasion to control
The warring passions of each barbarous soul;
When, lo, a monster from his Stygian cave
Laid the mild virgin in the silent grave.
'Twas Persecution, whose dread right hand bore
A flaming faulchion, wet with human gore.
Detested Bigotry, (oh foul disgrace!)
And blinded Ignorance, of monkish race,
To this blood-thirsty, hellish fiend gave birth,
Who with such miseries scourged the groaning earth.
Cursed be the bigot, whose religious light
Comes through the medium of a jaundiced sight!
29
Lo, Superstition fills the papal throne,
And guiltless victims at her footstool groan!
Lo, Death proscribes each disbeliever's head;
See, on the rock their tortured limbs are spread;
Their strained nerves tremble to each mangling blow;
Hark, the soul-piercing shrieks of dying woe!
Stroke follows stroke until they move no more,
And streams of blood gush out from every pore.
And guiltless victims at her footstool groan!
Lo, Death proscribes each disbeliever's head;
See, on the rock their tortured limbs are spread;
Their strained nerves tremble to each mangling blow;
Hark, the soul-piercing shrieks of dying woe!
Stroke follows stroke until they move no more,
And streams of blood gush out from every pore.
Yet in the storm of this tempestuous time,
When Superstition fostered every crime;
When servile priests pronounced with impious tongue,
Nor understood the jargon which they sung;
When Romish bigots, who made nations bleed,
Knew not the letters, which composed their creed;
E'en then, in Albion's soil, a glorious few,
To virtue's cause, to freedom's interest true,
With anxious toil preserved from total night
Mild toleration's feebly glimmering light.
But short, alas, her empire in the land,
Where factious nobles bear supreme command!
When Superstition fostered every crime;
When servile priests pronounced with impious tongue,
Nor understood the jargon which they sung;
When Romish bigots, who made nations bleed,
Knew not the letters, which composed their creed;
E'en then, in Albion's soil, a glorious few,
To virtue's cause, to freedom's interest true,
With anxious toil preserved from total night
Mild toleration's feebly glimmering light.
But short, alas, her empire in the land,
Where factious nobles bear supreme command!
As the faint splendour of the solar beam,
When vapours intercept the golden stream,
Emits through thin, transparent clouds a blaze,
Which on some distant spire in triumph plays;
But while the eye admires the partial ray,
The pale and watery lustre melts away;
Thus transient, all the milder virtues fled,
And kind Compassion veiled her tender head,
Till true Religion, with that magick power,
Which bade old Ocean's billows cease to roar,
Benevolence raised from her mouldering tomb,
And bade new laurels on her brow to bloom.
When vapours intercept the golden stream,
Emits through thin, transparent clouds a blaze,
Which on some distant spire in triumph plays;
But while the eye admires the partial ray,
The pale and watery lustre melts away;
Thus transient, all the milder virtues fled,
And kind Compassion veiled her tender head,
Till true Religion, with that magick power,
Which bade old Ocean's billows cease to roar,
30
And bade new laurels on her brow to bloom.
All hail, Columbia; to thy western skies,
Where sacred Freedom's lofty temples rise,
The virgin goddess bends her azure flight,
On the fleet pinions of diffusive light!
She comes, with love's fervescent rays t' illume
The vale of woe, and cheer its awful gloom;
To snatch mankind from the cold arms of Death,
And reinspire with being's transient breath.
Where sacred Freedom's lofty temples rise,
The virgin goddess bends her azure flight,
On the fleet pinions of diffusive light!
She comes, with love's fervescent rays t' illume
The vale of woe, and cheer its awful gloom;
To snatch mankind from the cold arms of Death,
And reinspire with being's transient breath.
But, ah! will ye, who fought in Freedom's cause,
To die in battle, or defend her laws;
Will ye, when Fortune has your efforts crowned,
And deathless laurels round your temples bound;
Will ye, such bold achievements now disgrace,
Nor grant your freedom to all human race?
Shall the poor Africk blot your rising fame,
And sue for freedom with neglected claim?
In the dark cell, where anguish turns with pain
His tortured limbs, indented with the chain,
See Æthiopia's sons, because the day
Upon their skin has glanced too warm a ray
From social joy, from their dear native land,
By Fraud's ungenerous artifice trepanned,
Far to the west o'er swelling surges borne,
In slavish toil a life of woe to mourn!
Blush, blush, vile despots, who, for lucre's sake,
Through every natural bond of freedom break!
Although with honour crowned, Columbia's name
May sound eternal through the trump of Fame;
Though shouting millions her new system boast,
By Solons planned, t' unite her jarring host;
Yet while the Africk clanks Oppression's chain,
And these unfeeling, brutal tyrants reign,
Though decked with all the splendid charms of state.
Her blemished character can ne'er be great.
To die in battle, or defend her laws;
Will ye, when Fortune has your efforts crowned,
And deathless laurels round your temples bound;
Will ye, such bold achievements now disgrace,
Nor grant your freedom to all human race?
Shall the poor Africk blot your rising fame,
And sue for freedom with neglected claim?
In the dark cell, where anguish turns with pain
His tortured limbs, indented with the chain,
See Æthiopia's sons, because the day
Upon their skin has glanced too warm a ray
From social joy, from their dear native land,
By Fraud's ungenerous artifice trepanned,
Far to the west o'er swelling surges borne,
In slavish toil a life of woe to mourn!
Blush, blush, vile despots, who, for lucre's sake,
Through every natural bond of freedom break!
Although with honour crowned, Columbia's name
May sound eternal through the trump of Fame;
31
By Solons planned, t' unite her jarring host;
Yet while the Africk clanks Oppression's chain,
And these unfeeling, brutal tyrants reign,
Though decked with all the splendid charms of state.
Her blemished character can ne'er be great.
Hail glorious æra, when the genial rays
Of mild Philanthropy in one broad blaze
Shall round the world benignant lustre dart,
And warm the haughty tyrant's frozen heart,
When Africk's millions shall to freedom rise,
And with loud rapture rend the yielding skies;
Columbia's eagle then, with wings unfurled,
Shall shadow with its plumes the subject world.
Of mild Philanthropy in one broad blaze
Shall round the world benignant lustre dart,
And warm the haughty tyrant's frozen heart,
When Africk's millions shall to freedom rise,
And with loud rapture rend the yielding skies;
Columbia's eagle then, with wings unfurled,
Shall shadow with its plumes the subject world.
| The works, in verse and prose, of the late Robert Treat Paine, Jun. Esq | |