The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys Late Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America to the Court of Madrid |
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 | The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys |  |
Hail, model of free states! too little known,
Too lightly priz'd for rural arts alone:
Yet hence from savage, social life began,
Compacts were fram'd and man grew mild to man.
Thee, Agriculture! source of every joy,
Domestic sweets and bliss without alloy;
Thee, friend of freedom, independence, worth,
What raptur'd song can set conspicuous forth?
Thine every grateful gift, my native soil!
That ceaseless comes from agricultural toil:
This bids thee, dress'd, with added charms appear,
And crowns with glories, not its own, the year.
Though, capp'd with cliffs of flint, thy surface rude,
And stubborn glebe the slothful race exclude;
Though sultry summer parch thy gaping plains,
Or chilling winter bind in icy chains;
Thy patient sons, prepar'd for tasks sublime,
Redress the rigours of th' inclement clime,
Clothe arid earth in green, for glooms supply
The brightest beauties to th' astonish'd eye.
Too lightly priz'd for rural arts alone:
Yet hence from savage, social life began,
Compacts were fram'd and man grew mild to man.
Thee, Agriculture! source of every joy,
Domestic sweets and bliss without alloy;
Thee, friend of freedom, independence, worth,
What raptur'd song can set conspicuous forth?
Thine every grateful gift, my native soil!
That ceaseless comes from agricultural toil:
This bids thee, dress'd, with added charms appear,
And crowns with glories, not its own, the year.
Though, capp'd with cliffs of flint, thy surface rude,
And stubborn glebe the slothful race exclude;
Though sultry summer parch thy gaping plains,
Or chilling winter bind in icy chains;
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Redress the rigours of th' inclement clime,
Clothe arid earth in green, for glooms supply
The brightest beauties to th' astonish'd eye.
| The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys | |