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33

The TRIAL of FAITH.

1. Part I.
Daniel, Chap. I.

Beneath the dawn, o'er Babel's fruitful plain,
In proud effulgence mov'd the conquering train.
Full on the sun's broad beam their buckler's ray
Streak'd the glad fields, and gave a mimic day.
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With spiry splendor varying standards glow'd;
In pomp sublime majestic chieftains rode;
The silver clarions gave a solemn sound,
And cars unnumber'd, thundering shook the ground.
There Judah's spoils in proud display were borne;
There purple vesture mock'd the rising morn;
There sacred vessels, rich from Ophir's mine,
Beam'd their strong light, and imag'd art divine;
There mov'd the prince, the queen, the lord, the sage,
And hapless captive throngs of every age.
High-thron'd, the monarch from his golden car,
Survey'd the trophies of successful war.
Majestic, tall, the mighty hero rose,
Born to command, and dreadful to his foes:
His lofty limbs, enrob'd in rich attire
Of steel, and gold, were circled round with fire:
His pride, his soul, expanded at the sight,
And his glad eye-balls warm'd with living light.
As o'er the captive train he cast his eyes,
And heard, unmov'd, their mingled groans and cries,
Four youths, companions, silent pass'd along,
By form distinguish'd from the vulgar throng.
Fair o'er them trembled beauty's purple flame;
Their eyes, as angels', cast a sunny beam;
Sublime their port; serene their solemn look;
By fear unaw'd, by heaviest woes unbroke;
To ills superior; earth and time above;
But touch'd with kindred woe, and yearning love.
The monarch gaz'd.—His fierce and hardy mind
Then first with sweet and tender thoughts refin'd;
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He felt each nerve with strange emotion thrill,
And down each cheek new tears in silence steal.
No more the host, no more the spoils appear'd;
No more the trump's inspiring voice was heard;
Fix'd as he gaz'd, to soft compassion won,
The pomp was buried, and the triumph gone.
To Arioch then, his favor'd, faithful slave,
The turning prince his sovereign pleasure gave:
“Seest thou, my Arioch, those bright, youthful forms;
“What grace surrounds them, and what beauty warms!
“With what fair pride, magnificently great,
“They move superior to their humble fate!
“For arms, for empire, not for bondage made,
“They win my soul, and claim imperial aid.
“Go then, my Arioch, go, their steps pursue;
“With gentle sympathy their souls subdue;
“Their monarch's favour to their hearts ensure;
“Win them from grief; disrobe their rags impure;
“Their course immediate to the palace bend;
“Let faithful Ashpenaz their steps attend;
“Superior far to all in every grace,
“Among the chosen youths appoint the place.”
The monarch spake. The faithful chief obey'd,
And to the palace strait the youths convey'd.
There Ashpenaz, the eunuch's prince, receiv'd,
To hope restor'd them, and from want reliev'd.
Cheer'd with kind words, their every wish obey'd,
And thus, with soft and tender accent, said:—
“All-lovely youths! attir'd with every grace,
‘The best, and brightest, of your hapless race,
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‘Think not, from war's dire scenes, the Assyrian mind,
‘To love impervious, or to misery blind.
‘Even the great prince, our mighty realm who sways,
‘Train'd in fierce wars, and nurs'd in bloody ways,
‘Though proudly borne on Conquest's lofty wings,
‘Lord of a world, and king of countless kings,
‘Yet bade me kindly every want supply,
‘No hope extinguish, and no joy deny.
‘By his command, on kingly dainties fed,
‘Serv'd by his slaves, and in his palace bred,
‘In every art, in every mystery train'd,
‘By lords approv'd, by royal love sustain'd.
‘Your lives, in peace serene, shall glide away,
‘New joys returning with returning day.
‘For me, my bosom, not of stubborn steel,
‘Well knows to love, and long has learn'd to feel.
‘Your woes, O Youths, your nation's fate severe,
‘Pierce my sad soul, and prompt the tender tear.
‘Each gentle act, that marks a parent's hand,
‘From faithful Ashpenaz assur'd command;
‘From earliest years, to youths a constant guide,
‘'Tis joy to bless them, and to serve is pride.”
Thus spoke the prince. With meek, but solemn grace,
The elder youth return'd this sad address:
‘O Prince of Eunuchs, soothing friend of woe!
‘Thy gentle solace bids our sorrows flow:
‘With love, with gratitude, our bosoms burn,
‘But, pierc'd with grief, our hapless nation mourn.
‘For ah! her sons, of every good forlorn,
‘Waste with dire want, or shrink from piercing scorn;
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‘Or rage, in slaughter bids them weltering roll;
‘Or gloomy slavery blasts the wither'd soul;
‘Her childless mothers spread the reeking ground;
‘Her babes, unpitied, glut the hungry hound;
‘Levell'd in dust, her heaven-built Temple lies,
‘And SALEM's smoking ruins fill the skies.
‘More dread these splendors shew the fearful doom,
‘As day more deeply shades the darksome tomb:
‘Then, mid all joys, permit our hearts to mourn,
‘Nor think thy goodness meets a base return.”
He spoke. The prince, to chambers proud and fair,
Led the sad youths, and sooth'd their rising care,
Their graceful forms in splendid garments dress'd,
And kindly cheer'd their troubled minds to rest.
As now all-fragrant spread the rich repast,
Cates of all climes, and wines of every taste;
Deep cares revolving in his troubled breast,
His chosen friends the elder youth address'd:—
“O youths, refin'd in fierce affliction's flame,
‘Like gold, refulgent with undrossy beam!
‘Now new alarms your virtuous minds assail,
‘New dangers tempt, and untried foes prevail.
‘As icy rocks, by winter beat in vain,
‘Yeild to mild suns, and melt in vernal rain,
‘So the firm heart, no cruelty could move,
‘May lose each virtue in the beams of love.
‘Those cates, compos'd of all things rich and rare,
‘Cull'd with nice art, and dress'd with skilful care,
‘From truth's fair path our footsteps softly charm,
‘Our prayers enfeeble, and our faith disarm.
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‘To purest food the sacred law confin'd,
‘The taste luxurious, and the wandering mind.
‘Fix'd be our hearts its high behests to obey,
‘Nor let vain banquets lure our feet astray.
‘From humble pulse serenest peace shall spring,
‘Health nerve the limbs, and lift the mental wing;
‘The soul, the form, with health and beauty bloom,
‘And heaven complacent grant a milder doom.”
Thus spoke the youth. With smiles of pure delight,
In duty's path the assenting friends unite,
To heaven the feast, the roving wish resign'd,
And gain'd the banquet of the obedient mind.
The courteous prince, by soft intreaties led,
Indulg'd their prayer, and gave the humble bread.
Heaven bless'd its sons.—As mid the inferior grove,
Four beauteous pines ascend the clouds above,
Mid heats, and droughts, and storms, and frost, and snow,
Through the full year with living verdure grow,
O'er every wood, with pride majestic, reign,
And wave exulting round the adjacent plain:
In port, in stature, thus, with thoughts sublime,
And worth, superior to the assaults of time,
Their gentle manners, great beyond disguise,
Friendly to man, and faithful to the skies,
The favour'd captives grew, and learn'd to soar
Through all the mysteries of Chaldean lore;
Learn'd how the stars in solemn splendor roll;
How countless realms compose one mighty whole;
What arts, what mazes, through the system run;
How hosts are marshall'd, and how fields are won.
39

2. PART II.
Daniel, Chap. II.

Thus rose the youths, by lords and kings approv'd,
By earth exalted, and by Heaven belov'd,
When, lost in slumbers as the sovereign lay,
What time fair Phosphor sings the approach of day,
Full to his eyes a vision rose sublime,
Big with dread mysteries of ascending time.
Alarm'd, awak'd, he left the thorny bed;
His sleep all vanish'd, and the vision fled:
In vain he tried the wonders to restore,
The fleeted phantom met his eyes no more.
Then deep convulsions shook his stormy mind,
That knew no crosses, and no wish resign'd.
At once he summon'd all the learn'd and wise,
Skill'd to explain, and artful to disguise,
Practis'd to bode, in words of soothing guile,
New feats, new triumphs, and new realms of spoil.
And thus the king—“Let every sage and feer,
Dreamer of dreams, and star-taught prophet hear!
This night, as sunk in sleep, your monarch lay,
When truth's clear dreams attend approaching day,
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Before my eyes a solemn vision rose,
Clear, full, distinct, as morn's full splendor glows;
Fill'd with dread scenes, with acts of mighty name,
With change of empires, and with years of fame.
I wak'd—I rose—but all the events of night
Fled from my view, and took their final flight.
Then hear, ye sages; borne by skill sublime,
Thro' the dark ages of ascending time,
Explore the vision, make the wonders known;
And tell what changes wait the Assyrian throne.”
The Hero spoke. Around the spacious room
The strange command diffus'd a solemn gloom;
When thus a hoary sage—“O king divine,
Be endless life, and power, and honour thine!
Thy high behests our hearts delight to obey;
We own thy glory, and we bless thy sway.
But, O dread Prince, thy visions to reveal,
Transcends the efforts of terrestial skill.
Could'st thou, by memory's aid, the scenes restore,
Easy thy seers the mystery would explore;
Would teach, for thee what crowns of triumph bloom,
Or what new nations meet the general doom.
The Gods alone, to whose unbounded eye
Spread, in clear sight, all realms beneath the sky,
In obvious view the stars immensely roll,
Or on fleet pinions roves the wandering soul,
Can bid the eventful scenes of night return,
Or ope the vanish'd visions of the morn.
A new command, a labour yet undone,
Thy will enjoins us, and thy voice makes known,
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Nor lord requir'd, nor prophet e'er divin'd,
The secret motions of the mazy mind.”
The monarch heard. With sudden anger bright,
From his fierce eye-balls flash'd a withering light:
Sternly he cried,—“Base, impious wretches, hear
What wrath betides you, and what fate is near.
If, taught by heaven, your hearts the dream divine,
Wealth waits your steps, and crowns before you shine:
Prophets of truth, your race shall then be seen,
Lov'd by the Gods, and precious gifts to men.
But if this feat your purblind skill denies,
Each wretch, who soils the robe of wisdom, dies.
Mock'd by your boasts, my soul, no longer tame,
Shall rouse to sense, and bid just vengeance flame;
Each pamper'd carcase this right hand shall tear,
Glut the rob'd wolves, and feast the fowls of air.
Your hosts, your houses, give to flames a prey,
And sweep the nuisance from the world away.”
He spoke: the seers withdrew.—The realm around,
From voice to voice diffus'd the dismal sound.
From Arioch, Ashpenaz the tidings knew!
With thoughts all anxious to the youths he flew,
Rehears'd the tale—and “You, by worth betray'd,
Must soon,” he cried, “be number'd with the dead.”
“Fear not, O Prince,”—the elder youth reply'd:
“While heaven commands no ills the just betide.
Virtue refines, beneath affliction's power,
As gold runs beauteous from dissolving ore.
To light the dream shall rise, or, if the sky
Ordains our death, 'tis highest gain to die.
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Unmov'd, our hearts, that thousand deaths have known
In Judah's woes, will meet the pangs of one;
From toil, and grief, and shame, unpinion'd rise,
And mix with angels in their native skies.
But haste, ah haste, and faithful Arioch bring,
E're he commence the vengeance of the king;
This night, shall Heaven the vanish'd scenes restore,
And save the prophets from vindictive power.”
The Prince to Arioch flew, and, bath'd in tears,
Rehears'd the tale of mingled hopes, and fears.
He came: And pleas'd to stay the monarch's rage,
Led to the throne the young, unbearded sage.
With mild regard, the softening sovereign view'd,
While worth, and beauty, half his wrath subdued,
Heard him, with modest mien, his hope propose,
That Heaven, ere morn, the vision would disclose,
And bade glad Arioch vengeance dire delay,
'Till the wish'd hour should ope the promis'd day.
Those hours, the youths consum'd in fasts severe,
And the pure fervence of effectual prayer.
The God of worlds, to whom, with beam divine,
Fairer than morn the sons of Zion shine,
With love all bounteous bade the vision rise,
Dread, full, and clear, to Daniel's slumbering eyes.
At earliest dawn, the youths, in bright array,
Toward the new palace bent their early way;
Through rows of lords, and rows of kings they pass'd,
While eyes of wonder thousands on them cast;
For round the court had spread the fearful doom,
That mark'd the guiltless Magi to the tomb.
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Before the throne the beardless prophets stood;
Round their fair forms the grace of virtue glow'd;
Pleas'd, the great monarch view'd: With softer ray,
His eye-balls smil'd their fiercer flames away;
His settling visage lost its wrathful form,
As Spring looks fair behind a wintery storm.
“O King of kings?” the elder youth began—
“Thy dread request transcends the power of man.
In vain thy seers the vision would regain;
Like ours, their wishes, toils, and tears, are vain.
'Tis God alone the wonders can display,
The God, who form'd the heaven, the earth, and sea;
Naked, and clear, before whose searching eye,
The soul, the thoughts, and deep affections lie;
He brought the eventful vision to thy sight,
And he again commands it into light.
“What time the dew of peace around thy bed
The silent slumbers of the morning spread,
Dread to thine eyes a wonderous image shone,
Awful in form, in splendor like the sun.
Its head of flaming gold, its arms and breast,
Of silver fair, inferior worth confess'd;
Its thighs and belly glow'd with brazen light;
Its legs, of iron, mark'd resistless might;
Its iron feet, commix'd with miry clay,
Display'd unsolid power, to time a prey.
When lo! spontaneous, from the mountains rent,
A stone came thundering down, with swift descent;
Full on the form, with mighty force it burst,
Crush'd all its limbs, and ground its frame to dust;
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Borne by the winds, thou saw'st its ruins fly,
Like chaff, when whirlwinds sweep the summer sky.
And as a rising cloud, but just beheld,
Approaching, widens o'er the aerial field,
Expands, ascends, and, slow thro ether driven,
Sails thro the immense, and fills the bounds of heaven:
So the small cliff to rise, and swell, began,
Spread thro' the fields, the neighbouring groves o'er-ran,
O'er towns, o'er realms, o'er mountains, left the eye,
Uprose beyond the clouds, and heav'd the boundless sky.
“'Tis thus, O king! the Lord of Heaven declares,
What scenes roll onward with the tide of years.
By us, his sovereign voice to thee makes known,
And tells what changes wait the Assyrian throne.
“Thou art this head of gold: Thy power sublime,
Rules thousand kings, and spreads thro every clime.
But soon thy glory hastens to decay,
Soon the bright arms commence a humbler sway:
That too shall fail; the brazen kingdom rise,
Like ocean, spreading to surrounding skies.
As iron then an empire strong shall spring,
Subdue each realm, and vanquish every king:
Beneath its wonderous power, all nature yeilds,
Europe's lone wilds, and Asia's cultur'd fields.
Hence various kings, to art, and force, a prey,
As iron potent, yet dissolv'd like clay:
Unsound, unsolid, shall their empire rise,
Varying, as clouds their changes in the skies.
In those far distant days, o'er every land,
Shall God's dread sceptre rear its high command:
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Before its power, resisting powers decay;
Nations, and kings, and empires, melt away;
Through unknown wilds the vast dominion roll,
Extend its conquering force from pole to pole;
From morn's far regions reach the shores of even,
Fill earth, and time, and rear its pomp to heaven.
Thus, King of kings! the heavens thy dream restore,
And teach the changes of terrestial power.”
The monarch heard, and look'd, when heavenly flame,
Round the fair youths should cast a golden beam;
Or o'er their limbs instinctive lightnings run;
Or rainbow'd pinions lift them to the sun.
Prostrate to earth he fell: and,—“Oh!” he cries,
“Your God is Lord of gods, and worlds, and skies:
He, only he, could make these visions known;
Let praise, and glory, wait his heavenly throne.”
To Daniel, then the raptur'd hero bade
Incense be fir'd, and rich oblations paid;
O'er his prime lords his favourite place ordain'd,
A prince to every king, and every land:
While, high o'er Babel's realm, his partners sate
In kingly favour, and judicial state.
Where'er they pass'd, pursuing wonder came;
The Magi bless'd, the children lisp'd their name;
To them were Judah's prayers and blessings given,
And the poor mark'd them as the sons of Heaven.
46

3. PART III.
Daniel, Chap. III.

And now once more, the spacious empire round,
War's fearful clarion ceas'd its shrilling sound;
Her voice harmonious, on subsiding gales,
Sweet peace resounded through the gladdening vales:
When lo, new fears the faithful friends await,
And other trials lour'd approaching fate.
Long through the monarch's soul the project ran,
(Grateful to proud and heaven-dethroning man)
To bind the soul, the conscience to enchain,
And force one worship through his wide domain.
Fir'd with the fond design, an image fair,
Rich with pure gold, and gem'd with many a star.
He form'd, fair image of the morning sun,
Acknowledg'd guardian of th'Assyrian throne.
To this, his soul decreed mankind should bow,
Each victim burn, and rise each sacred vow,
And bade his mighty lords direct their way
To meet their sovereign, on th'appointed day.
North of proud Babel's walls, from sky to sky,
The plain of Dura left the labouring eye:
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There willows wav'd o'er Tygris flowery side:
There broad Euphrates roll'd his mighty tide.
This the dread scene the monarch's will ordain'd;
And hither throng'd the lords of many a land.
As now the destin'd morn her lustre shed,
Here o'er the fields a host immensely spread;
Kings, nobles, chieftains, every sage and seer,
And hosts of slaves, and warriors gather'd here.
Bright rose, in pomp divine, the imperial sun;
Light, life, and joy danc'd round his golden throne;
The heavens unclouded smil'd a fairer blue;
Reviving beauty cloath'd the world anew;
As on old ocean glows the sun's broad ray,
And lights his glassy fields with mimic day;
So, kindled by his beams, around the plain,
A new morn trembled o'er the unnumber'd train;
From helms, and shields, and steeds, and cars, aspires
A general glory of immingling fires:
The Tygris brighten'd in the golden beam,
And sweeter murmurs soften'd o'er the stream.
On a tall pedestal, before them shone
The sacred image of the rising sun;
In solemn pomp, a hero rose sublime,
His eye deep piercing through the scenes of time.
When first the orb, ascending from the main,
Cast his far level'd beams along the plain,
The form superb with every splendor shone,
Streak'd the gay fields, and seem'd another sun.
There the deep ruby pour'd a crimson ray;
The sunny topaz shed a rival day:
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Of every hue the mimic rainbow came,
And join'd its varied lights in one transcendant flame.
Far round the plain the throng unnumber'd stood,
And gaz'd in silence on the imag'd god,
When thus the heralds cried, “With reverent ear
Your Monarch's voice, ye kings and nations, hear,
What time the notes of mingled music roll,
With magic influence on th'enraptur'd soul,
Before yon golden form, ye suppliants all
Prostrate on earth, with sacred homage, fall.
They spoke: as, borne thro' some far winding vale,
The voice of ocean leads the springing gale;
More loud, more solemn from the distant shore,
The slow, deep murmurs rise, and swell, and roar;
Propp'd on his staff, the hoary seaman stands,
And calls back happier times, and other lands;
Through his limbs thrills the youth-renewing charm,
And skies, and winds, and waves, his bosom warm:
So sudden, from ten thousand pipes and strings,
Loud, full and clear, the voice of music springs:
O'er the glad plain, the breathing sounds exhale,
And swell, and wanton in the rising gale;
Now deep, majestic in dread pomp they roll;
Now softly languish on the yeilding soul;
Now solemn awe, now lively zeal inspire,
Wake heavenly dreams, and light romantic fire:
Now sunk on earth, the unnumber'd suppliants lie,
And smoking altars cloud the fragrant sky.
'Mid the vast throng, the friends of Daniel stood,
Nor bent the knee before the golden god.
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Alone they stood; for at the palace gate,
So the king bade, in judgement Daniel sate,
The Magi saw, and straight, by envy led,
Flew to the king, and thus impatient said—
(For tho' the youths preserv'd from death their race,
Their bosoms sicken'd at their rival's place)
O prince! regardless of thy dread decree,
The Jews, so honor'd, lov'd and bless'd by thee,
Before yon golden God refuse to bow,
Present the prayer, or pay the solemn vow.
They slight thy gods, despise thy glorious name,
Nor heed the vengeance of the fearful flame.
Fir'd at the tale, before their sovereign king
He bade fierce guards the sons of Judah bring.
Serene they came. And dare your hearts, he cries,
Against the terrors of my anger rise?
Dare ye refuse before yon god to bow,
Present the prayer, and pay the solemn vow?
Then know from me, vain youths, repenting know,
Before you flames of fearful vengeance glow.
Nor hope to 'scape. What man, what god can save,
When I command you to the burning grave?
Be warn'd; be wise, your monarch's god adore;
Nor tempt the dangers of resistless power.
He spoke. As cherubs, dress'd in robes of light,
To earth, on heaven's high errands, wing their flight,
With solemn, sweet, complacent smile appear,
And blossom in immortal beauty here:
So, rosy splendor purpling o'er his face,
With meekly dignity and matchless grace,
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Whilst on the king he cast a heavenly look,
That half revers'd the sentence ere he spoke.
His lifted eye serene with solemn pride,
With gentle voice, the elder youth replied,
Well pleas'd, O prince! our hearts confess thy sway,
And all thy just commands with joy obey;
Faithful and patient, every toil sustain,
Unaw'd by danger, and unmov'd by pain.
But the great God who form'd the earth and seas,
First claims our homage, first demands our praise:
To him alone our knees in worship bend;
To him our praises and our prayers ascend;
His mighty arm his faithful sons shall save
From all the terrors of the burning grave;
Or bid the flames with harmless fury glow;
Or crown with endless bliss the transient woe.
But know, Assyrian prince! should ills most dire
Rend our rack'd hearts, and bid our lives expire;
Should virtue yeild to unrelenting power,
And heaven forsake us in the dreadful hour;
Still to his throne our sacred thoughts shall rise,
Nor heed the gods that dwell beneath the skies.
He spoke: Again, with ecstasies of ire,
The king's full visage flash'd infernal fire;
Fiercely he bade his guards the offenders bind,
And bear them forth, their feet and arms confin'd,
Through the wide host their guilt and fate proclaim,
And light the furnace with a seven-fold flame.
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The guards obey'd. As near the seat of woe,
Their eyes beheld the fearful vengeance glow,
They claim'd, with fervent prayers, the pitying sky,
And fix'd their souls to suffer and to die.
Serene, they saw the dark and dreadful fires,
Felt the fierce heat, and ey'd the gloomy spires;
Serene, they heard the long, deep murmurs roar,
As distant, rising whirlwinds rend the shore.
Forth to the flames the unfriended youths they cast;
Nor 'scap'd the eager guards the scorching blast:
Far round them shot a long, infolding spire,
And wrap'd them helpless in the mantling fire.
Mean time the king, the storm of vengeance o'er,
His wrath provok'd, his will oppos'd no more,
Felt other thoughts, and passions more refin'd
Compose the settling tumult of his mind.
Softening, he thought on all their conduct past,
Their virtue spotless, and their wisdom vast,
The wondrous dream, to them, with Daniel, given,
And all their pillar'd confidence in heaven.
His will they brav'd, of pains nor death afraid;
But still with mildest meekness disobey'd;
With such firm truth, such peaceful words denied,
As spoke the soul of virtue, not of pride.
Who knows, he whisper'd, but their well taught mind,
Serves nobler gods, with worship more refin'd?
Who knows but he who could the dream restore,
May save his favourites from the furnace' power?
As thus he spoke, with wand'ring course and slow,
He turn'd his footsteps towards the seat of woe:
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'Till, with unguided, heedless feet he came
Where full before him burn'd the dismal flame.
When lo, dread scenes amaz'd his wilder'd sight:
The youths walk'd peaceful through the horrid light:
Harmless around them climb'd the circling spires,
And mild as zephyrs play'd the lambent fires.
Hymns of sweet praise the adoring prophets sung,
And mid hoarse murmurs raptur'd warblings rung.
He gaz'd: at once, with light and beauty new,
Through the dread cavern sudden splendor flew;
A new dawn brighten'd o'er the dreary tomb,
Drown'd the dark flames and quench'd the sullen gloom.
So when the morn's bright face, in fair attire,
Through orient windows strikes the wintry fire,
The red flames wither in the etherial ray,
And all their earthly lustre dies away.
He gaz'd; when lo! a form of bodied light,
Sprung from the sun and like the parent bright,
In slow and stately grandeur, trod the scene,
And the dread cavern smil'd, a Heaven within.
Fair stars his wondrous crown, his strange attire
The lucid rainbow's many-colour'd fire;
Like threads of burnish'd silver, round his head,
His twinkling locks in solemn glory play'd;
In pomp divine above his shoulders borne,
And dipt in roseate beams of rising morn,
His long wings waving, fell: beneath his feet,
The unnumber'd streams of springing light'nings meet.
Full on the friends he beam'd a sun-bright smile,
Transcendent meed of all their faith and toil!
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Complacence pure, all thoughts, all minds above,
That op'd the yearnings of redeeming love.
Such smiles salute th'unbòdied soul forgiven;
Such smiles improve the sainted race of Heaven;
Such smiles serene, with unextinguish'd ray,
Purpled the opening morn of endless day.
At once soft sounds of gratulation rung;
Strange music play'd, unseen musicians sung;
The solemn sounds with more than mortal fire,
Wav'd with mild warblings, o'er th'etherial lyre:
Marbled, on earth the prostrate monarch lay,
And swoon'd his vanquish'd sense and soul away.
At length resummon'd from the gloomy dead,
His opening eyes beheld the vision fled.
With strong, but plaintive voice, amaz'd he cried,
Sons of the sky and earth's transcendent pride!
Forth from those dreary flames triumphant come,
And quit the mansions of the destin'd tomb.
Forth came the youths; unsing'd their fair attire,
Their limbs unconscious of the potent fire;
The king, the nobles mark'd with solemn gaze,
And sighs and silence own'd their deep amaze.
Round the wide plain the saddening pomp decay'd;
The music died, the vast assembly fled;
The knee unbent, the image ceas'd to adore;
The extinguish'd altars shed perfumes no more;
The golden form apart forsaken stood,
And not a suppliant hail'd the slighted god:
Round the wide circuit brooding silence lay,
And clouds of deepest gloom o'ercast the day.
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Then through his boundless empire Heaven's great name,
The humbl'd monarch bade his criers proclaim.
To Heaven's great God, they cried, your honors pay,
Let kings and nations own his sovereign sway;
With power divine to earth his angel came,
And sav'd his prophets from the sevenfold flame.
To Babel's walls return'd the royal train:
Their wonted honors cloth'd the youths again.
With transport, Daniel heard his friends relate
Their glorious triumph o'er the destin'd fate;
The flames by heavenly power innoxious made;
The solemn glories on the angel shed;
In dreams the labor'd pomp forever gone;
The tyrant vanquish'd and his god o'erthrown.
Belov'd, rever'd, the sons of virtue shin'd,
Heirs of the skies, and patrons of mankind.
Through all th'Assyrian world their bounty spread;
All Judah triumph'd; all oppression fled;
Their glad approach, instinctive homage bless'd;
Crouds bent before them, lords and kings caress'd;
To them the songs of every realm were given,
And ceaseless round them glow'd the light of heaven.
 

Shadrach.

55

ADDRESS OF THE GENIUS OF COLUMBIA,

To the Members of the Continental Convention.

From western skies, a cloud of glory came,
A small, dim spot, a torch of lambent flame;
Ascending, widening, slow the skirts unroll'd,
Rainbow'd with fire, and warm'd with glowing gold.
There, borne by summon'd winds, in pomp sublime,
His look far-piercing down the vast of time,
Where the long, narrowing vale deserts the eye,
Unbosom'd dimly on the eternal sky,
The Genius sate. He saw, when faction spent,
No more with war his darling kingdom rent,
The stream of kindred blood forbore to flow,
And morn faint trembled o'er the night of woe,
Call'd from each sister realm, the wise and great,
In Penn's fair walls, and awful council sate;
Pois'd in their hands, Columbia's mighty sway,
And tottering laws, and rights, and freedom, lay.
He saw, when fairer than the glow of even,
And bright as visions of disclosing heaven,
Full in his face a sacred splendor shone,
And the west kindled with another sun.
56

“All hail, my sons,” he cried, “my voice attend,
Your country's genius, guardian, guide, and friend:
The counsels mark, that faithful friend supplies,
Attend, and learn the dictates of the skies,
Before you, lo! what scenes of glory spread,
The fairest, brightest, noblest, heaven has made:
Their home, where freedom, science, virtue, find,
The last recesses of oppress'd mankind.
The immense of empire here, amaz'd, descry,
Where realms are lost, and hidden oceans lie;
Where Perna's vast would sink in shades conceal'd,
And Rome's proud world diminish to a field.
See, from the pole, where frozen fountains rise,
And pour their waters under torrid skies,
Where Rhines and Danubes, rills and streamlets play,
To swell the pomp of Missisippi's sea;
Where a zone's breadth majestic woods extend,
And other Andes o'er the storms ascend;
Where meadows bound the morn and evening rays,
Where plains are kingdoms, and where lakes are seas.
See thro all climes the unmeasur'd empire run,
And drink each influence from the lingering sun;
Pure skies unbosom'd, days serenest roll,
And gales of health, from Darien fan the pole.
In each bless'd clime, to crown industrious toil,
See every product spring from every soil,
Here the fur whitens in the frozen shade;
Here flocks unnumber'd crowd the pastur'd glade;
Here threatening famine double harvests scorn—
Europe's rich grains, and India's useful corn—
57

Virginia's fragrant pride, huge fleets convey,
And fields of rice float cumbrous o'er the sea,
While all its wealth, the world of waters yeilds,
And treasures fill the subterranean fields.
These goods to waft where'er expands the wind,
To bless and to sustain the human kind,
See, stretch'd immense from Cancer to the pole,
On either side contending oceans roll;
O'er this, all Europe wings her haughty sails;
O'er that, all India wafts on spicy gales;
While bays, and streams, and lakes, her realms explore,
And land each product at each happy door.
To fill these realms, a generous race behold,
Of happiest genius, and of firmest mould;
In thoughts, in arts, in life, in language join'd,
One faith, one worship, one politic mind,
Patient, serene, in toils and dangers dire,
Their nerves of iron, and their souls of fire:
Call'd from all realms, these chosen sons have join'd
Expansive manners, and a genial mind,
The liberal sentiment, the adventurous thought,
With greatness teeming, and with goodness fraught;
Chain'd to no party; by no system bound;
Confining merit to no speck of ground;
Nor Britons, Frenchmen, Germans, Swiss, or Huns,
Of earth the natives, and of heaven the sons,
Regarding, loving, all the great and good,
Of every rank, clime, party, sect, and blood.
58

The swain, with bliss to Europe's climes unknown,
His wife, his house, his lands, his flock, his own,
Treads, independent, on the subject soil,
Prepar'd for every danger, every toil;
Prepar'd to see antarctic oceans roll,
To circle earth, and search the lonely pole;
Or thro the immense of science wind his way;
Or lift poetic wings beyond the day;
The ridgy front of death for freedom dare,
Or, round all regions, hush the voice of war.
Heaven from all climes this happy realm conceal'd,
While wolves and Indians roam'd the bloody field,
Till human rule a soft'ning aspect wore,
Till war's black chariot ceas'd to roll in gore,
Till bigot zeal resign'd his scarlet sway,
And his dread thunders puff'd in smoke away.
Thus oh how bless'd the era of her fate,
How bright the morning, and how long the date!
For now each fair improvement of the mind,
Each nobler effort lifts the human kind;
Vast means of bliss mechanic arts combine;
All liberal arts the rugged soul refine;
Freedom, and right, and law, their reign assume,
Stern Power resist, and cheer the world's sad doom;
On nature's ocean, science lifts her sails,
Finds other stars, and catches nobler gales;
While dawning virtue beams from yonder sky,
And brighter suns arise on human joy.
Such scenes of bliss, ye sages, bless your eyes:
For men, for realms like these, your plans devise.
59

Be then your counsels, as your subject, great,
A world their sphere, and time's long reign their date.
Each party-view, each private good, disclaim,
Each petty maxim, each colonial aim;
Let all Columbia's weal your views expand,
A mighty system rule a mighty land;
Yourselves her genuine sons let Europe own,
Not the small agents of a paltry town.
Learn, cautious, what to alter, where to mend;
See to what close projected measures tend.
From pressing wants the mind averting still,
Thinks good remotest from the present ill:
From feuds anarchial to oppression's throne,
Misguided nations hence for safety run;
And through the miseries of a thousand years,
Their fatal folly mourn in bloody tears.
Ten thousand follies thro Columbia spread;
Ten thousand wars her darling realms invade.
The private interest of each jealous state;
Of rule the impatience, and of law the hate.
But ah! from narrow springs these evils flow,
A few base wretches mingle general woe.
Still the same mind her manly race pervades,
Still the same virtues haunt the hallow'd shades.
But when the peals of war her center shook,
All private aims the anxious mind forsook.
In danger's iron-bond her race was one:
Each separate good, each little view unknown.
Now rule, unsystem'd, drives the mind astray;
Now private interest points the downward way:
60

Hence civil discord pours her muddy stream,
And fools and villains float upon the brim;
O'er all, the sad spectator casts his eye,
And wonders where the gems and minerals lie.
But ne'er of freedom, glory, bliss, despond:
Uplift your eyes those little clouds beyond;
See there returning suns, with gladdening ray,
Roll on fair spring to chase this wintry day.
Tis yours to bid those days of Eden shine:
First, then, and last, the federal bands entwine:
To this your every aim and effort bend:
Let all your efforts here commence and end.
O'er state concerns, let every state preside;
Its private tax controul; its justice guide;
Religion aid; the morals to secure;
And bid each private right thro time endure.
Columbia's interests public sway demand,
Her commerce, impost, unlocated land;
Her war, her peace, her military power;
Treaties to seal with every distant shore;
To bid contending states their discord cease;
To send thro all the calumet of peace;
Science to wing thro every noble flight;
And lift desponding genius into light.
Thro every state to spread each public law,
Interest must animate, and force must awe.
Persuasive dictates realms will ne'er obey;
Sway, uncoercive, is the shade of sway.
61

Be then your task to alter, aid, amend;
The weak to strengthen, and the rigid bend;
The prurient lop; what's wanted to supply;
And graft new scions from each friendly sky.
Slow, by degrees, politic systems rise;
Age still refines them, and experience tries.
This, this alone consolidates, improves;
Their sinews strengthens; their defects removes;
Gives that consistence time alone can give;
Habituates men by law and right to live;
To gray-hair'd rules increasing reverence draws;
And wins the slave to love e'en tyrant laws.
But should Columbia, with distracted eyes,
See o'er her ruins one proud monarch rise;
Should vain partitions her fair realms divide,
And rival empires float on faction's tide;
Lo fix'd opinions 'gainst the fabric rage!
What wars, fierce passions with fierce passions wage!
From Cancer's glowing wilds, to Brunswick's shore,
Hark, how the alarms of civil discord roar!
“To arms,” the trump of kindled warfare cries,
And kindred blood smokes upward to the skies.
As Persia, Greece, so Europe bids her flame,
And smiles with eye malignant, o'er her shame.
Seize then, oh! seize Columbia's golden hour;
Perfect her federal system, public power;
For this stupendous realm, this chosen race,
With all the improvements of all lands its base,
The glorious structure build; its breadth extend;
Its columns lift, its mighty arches bend!
62

Or freedom, science, arts, its stories shine,
Unshaken pillars of a frame divine;
Far o'er the Atlantic wild its beams aspire,
The world approves it, and the heavens admire;
O'er clouds, and suns, and stars, its splendors rise,
Till the bright top-stone vanish in the skies.”

COLUMBIA.

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,
The queen of the world, and child of the skies!
Thy genius commands thee; with rapture behold,
While ages on ages thy splendors unfold.
Thy reign is the last, and the noblest of time,
Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy clime;
Let the crimes of the east ne'er encrimson thy name;
Be freedom, and science, and virtue, thy fame.
To conquest, and slaughter, let Europe aspire;
Whelm nations in blood, and wrap cities in fire;
Thy heroes the rights of mankind shall defend,
And triumph pursue them, and glory attend.
A world is thy realm: for a world be thy laws,
Enlarg'd as thine empire, and just as thy cause;
On Freedom's broad basis, that empire shall rise,
Extend with the main, and dissolve with the skies.
63

Fair Science her gates to thy sons shall unbar,
And the east see thy morn hide the beams of her star.
New bards, and new sages, unrival'd shall soar
To fame, unextinguish'd, when time is no more;
To thee, the last refuge of virtue design'd,
Shall fly from all nations the best of mankind;
Here, grateful to heaven, with transport shall bring
Their incense, more fragrant than odours of spring.
Nor less shall thy fair ones to glory ascend,
And Genius and Beauty in harmony blend;
The graces of form shall awake pure desire,
And the charms of the soul ever cherish the fire;
Their sweetness unmingled, their manners refin'd
And virtue's bright image, instamp'd on the mind,
With peace, and soft rapture, shall teach life to glow,
And light up a smile in the aspect of woe.
Thy fleets to all regions thy pow'r shall display,
The nations admire, and the ocean obey;
Each shore to thy glory its tribute unfold,
And the east and the south yeild their spices and gold,
As the day-spring unbounded, thy splendor shall flow,
And earth's little kingdoms before thee shall bow,
While the ensigns of union, in triumph unfurl'd,
Hush the tumult of war, and give peace to the world.
Thus, as down a lone valley, with cedars o'erspread,
From war's dread confusion I pensively stray'd—
The gloom from the face of fair heav'n retir'd;
The winds ceas'd to murmur; the thunders expir'd;
64

Perfumes, as of Eden, flow'd sweetly along,
And a voice, as of angels, enchantingly sung:
“Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies.”

The SEASONS Moralized.

Behold the changes of the skies,
And see the circling seasons rise;
Hence, let the moral truth refin'd,
Improve the beauty of the mind.
Winter, late with dreary reign,
Rul'd the wide, unjoyous plain;
Gloomy storms with solemn roar
Shook the hoarse, resounding shore.
Sorrow cast her sadness round,
Life and joy forsook the ground,
Death, with wild imperious sway,
Bade the expiring world decay.
Now cast around thy raptur'd eyes,
And see the beauteous spring arise;
See, flow'rs invest the hills again,
And streams re-murmur o'er the plains.
65

Hark, hark, the joy-inspiring grove
Echoes to the voice of love;
Balmy gales the sound prolong,
Wafting round the woodland song.
Such the scenes our life displays,
Swiftly fleet our rapid days;
The hour that rolls forever on,
Tells us our years must soon be gone.
Sullen Death, with mournful gloom
Sweeps us downwards to the tomb;
Life, and health, and joy decay,
Nature sinks, and dies away.
But the soul in gayest bloom,
Disdains the bondage of the tomb;
Ascends above the clouds of even,
And, raptur'd, hails her native heaven.
Youth, and peace, and beauty there
Forever dance around the year;
An endless joy invests the pole,
And streams of ceaseless pleasure roll.
Light, and joy, and grace divine
With bright and lasting glory shine:
Jehovah's smiles, with heav'nly ray,
Diffuse a clear, unbounded day.
66

A HYMN,

Sung at the Public Exhibition of the Scholars, belonging to the Academy in Greenfield, May 2d, 1788.

Hail child of light, returning Spring,
Fair image, foretaste sweet, of heaven!
In thee our hearts thy Maker sing,
By whose blest bounty thou wast given.
From thee the wintry glooms retire,
The skies their purest beams display,
And winds, and showers, and suns conspire,
To clothe the world with life and May.
Hail knowledge, hail, the moral spring
That wakes the verdure of the mind!
To man, thy rays indulgent bring
All fragrant flowers, and fruits refin'd.
Thy progress with the morn began,
Before thee every region smil'd;
The savage brighten'd into man,
And gardens blossom'd in the wild.
All hail fair Virtue, noblest good,
The bliss and beauty of the skies!
By whom, to yonder blest abode,
The humble, and the faithful rise.
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While here fair Learning smiles benign,
And Spring leads on the genial year,
From realms of life and peace divine,
Descend, and bloom, and flourish here.
And O thou fount of good supreme,
The sun that lights eternal spring,
At once of knowledge source and theme,
Thee first, and last, our voices sing!
Virtue, in every charm array'd,
For this dark world, thy sufferings won;
Those charms thy matchless life display'd,
When here the incarnate splendor shone.
As dews refresh, as suns revive,
When clear and cloudless shines the day,
Command our rising race to live,
And win them from the world away.
With thee, the source of every grace,
Our song shall end, as it began;
Our hope, our trust, our joy, and praise,
The Saviour, and the Friend of Man.
68

A SONG.

Look, lovely maid, on yonder flow'r,
And see that busy fly,
Made for the enjoyment of an hour,
And only born to die.
See, round the rose he lightly moves,
And wantons in the sun,
His little life in joy improves,
And lives, before 'tis gone.
From this instinctive wisdom, learn,
The present hour to prize;
Nor leave to-day's supreme concern,
'Till morrow's morn arise.
Say, lovliest fair, canst thou divine
That morrow's hidden doom?
Know'st thou, if cloudless skies will shine,
Or heaven be wrapt in gloom?
Fond man, the trifle of a day,
Enjoys the morning light,
Nor knows, his momentary play
Must end, before 'tis night.
The present joys are all we claim;
The past are in the tomb;
And, like the poet's dream of fame,
The future never come.
69

No longer then, fair maid, delay
The promis'd scenes of bliss;
Nor idly give another day,
The joys assign'd to this.
If then my breast can soothe thy care,
'Twill now that care allay;
If joy this hand can yield, my fair,
'Twill yield that joy to-day.
Quit then, oh quit! thou lovely maid,
Thy bashful, virgin pride;
To-day the happy plot be laid,
The bands, to-morrow, tied!
The purest joys shall be our own,
That e'er to man were giv'n;
And those bright scenes, on earth begun,
Shall brighter shine in heaven.
70

THE CRITICS.

A Fable.

[_]

Written September 1785.

‘To every general rule there are exceptions.’
—Common Sense.
'Tis said of every dog that's found,
Of mongrel, spaniel, cur, and hound;
That each sustains a doggish mind,
And hates the new, sublime, refin'd.
'Tis hence the wretches bay the moon,
In beauty throned at highest noon;
Hence every nobler brute they bite,
And hunt the stranger-dog with spite;
And hence, the nose's dictates parrying,
They fly from meat to feed on carrion.
'Tis also said, the currish soul
The critic race possesses whole;
As near they come, in tho'ts and natures,
As two legg'd can, to four legg'd creatures;
Alike the things they love and blame,
Their voice, and language, much the same.
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The Muse this subject made her theme,
And told me in a morning dream.
Such dreams you sages may decry;
But Muses know they never lie.
Then hear, from me, in grave narration,
Of these strange facts, the strange occasion.
In Greece Cynethe's village lay,
Well known to all, who went that way,
For dogs of every kindred famed,
And from true doggish manners named.
One morn, a greyhound pass'd the street;
At once the foul-mouth'd conclave met,
Huddling around the stranger ran,
And thus their smart review began.
“What tramper” with a grinning sneer,
Bark'd out the clumsy cur, “is here?
No native of the town, I see;
Some foreign whelp of base degree.
I'd shew, but that the record's torn,
We true Welsh curs are better born.
His coat is smooth; but longer hair
Would more become a dog by far.
His slender ear, how strait and sloping
While ours is much improved by cropping.”
“Right,” cried the blood-hound, “that strait ear
Seems made for nothing, but to hear;
'Tis long agreed, thro' all the town,
That handsome ears, like mine, hang down;
And tho' his body's gaunt, and round,
'Tis no true rawboned gaunt of hound.
72

How high his nose the creature carries!
As if on bugs, and flies, his fare is;
I'll teach this strutting, stupid log,
To smell's the business of a dog.”
“Baugh-waugh!” the shaggy spaniel cried,
“What wretched covering on his hide!
I wonder where he lives in winter;
His strait, sleek legs too, out of joint are;
I hope the vagrant will not dare
His fledging with my fleece compare.
He never plung'd in pond or river,
To search for wounded duck and diver;
By kicks would soon be set a skipping,
Nor take, one half so well a whipping.”
“Rat me,” the lap-dog yelp'd, “thro' nature,
Was ever seen so coarse a creature?
I hope no lady's sad mishap
E'er led the booby to her lap;
He'd fright Primrilla into fits,
And rob Fooleria of her wits;
A mere barbarian, Indian whelp!
How clownish, countryish, sounds his yelp!
He never tasted bread and butter,
Nor play'd the petty squirm and flutter;
Nor e'er, like me, has learn'd to fatten,
On kisses sweet, and softest patting.”
“Some parson's dog, I vow,” whined puppy;
“His rusty coat how sun-burnt! stop ye!”
The beagle call'd him to the wood.
The bull-dog bellowed, “Zounds! and blood!”
73

The wolf-dog and the mastiff were,
The Muse says, an exception here;
Superior both to such foul play,
They wish'd the stranger well away.
From spleen the strictures rose to fury,
“Villain,” growl'd one, “I can't endure you.”
“Let's seize the truant,” snarl'd another,
Encored by every foul-mouth'd brother.
“'Tis done,” bark'd all, “we'll mob the creature,
And sacrifice him to ill-nature.”
The greyhound, who despised their breath,
Still tho't it best to shun their teeth.
Easy he wing'd his rapid flight,
And left the scoundrels out of sight.
Good Juno, by the ancients holden,
The genuine notre-dame of scolding,
Sate pleased, because there'd such a fuss been,
And in the hound's place wish'd her husband;
For here, even pleasure bade her own,
Her ladyship was once out-done.
“Hail dogs,” she cried, “of every kind!
Retain ye still this snarling mind,
Hate all that's good, and fair, and new,
And I'll a goddess be to you.
Nor this the only good you prove;
Learn what the fruits of Juno's love.
Your souls, from forms, that creep all four on,
I'll raise, by system Pythagorean,
74

To animate the human frame,
And gain my favorite tribe a name.
Be ye henceforth (so I ordain)
Critics, the genuine curs of men.
To snarl be still your highest bliss,
And all your criticism like this.
Whate'er is great, or just, in nature,
Of graceful form, or lovely feature;
Whate'er adorns the ennobled mind,
Sublime, inventive, and refin'd;
With spleen, and spite, forever blame,
And load with every dirty name.
All things of noblest kind and use,
To your own standard vile reduce,
And all in wild confusion blend,
Nor heed the subject, scope, or end.
But chief, when modest young beginners,
'Gainst critic laws, by nature sinners,
Peep out in verse, and dare to run,
Thro' towns and villages your own,
Hunt them, as when yon stranger dog
Set all your growling crew agog;
Till stunn'd, and scared, they hide from view,
And leave the country clear for you.”
This said, the goddess kind caressing,
Gave every cur a double blessing.
Each doggish mind, tho' grown no bigger,
Henceforth assumed the human figure,
The body walk'd on two; the mind
To four, still chose to be confin'd;
75

Still creeps on earth, still scents out foes,
Is still led onward by the nose;
Hates all the good, it used to hate,
The lofty, beauteous, new, and great;
The stranger hunts with spite quintessent,
And snarls, from that day to the present.

EPISTLE to Col. HUMPHRYES.

Greenfield, 1785.

From realms, where nature sports in youthful prime,
Where Hesper lingers o'er his darling clime,
Where sunny genius lights his sacred flame,
Where rising science casts her morning beam,
Where empire's final throne in pomp ascends,
Where pilgrim freedom finds her vanish'd friends,
The world renews, and man from eastern fires,
Phœnix divine, again to Heaven aspires,
Health to my friend this happy verse conveys,
His fond attendant o'er the Atlantic seas.
Health to my friend let every wish prolong;
Be this the burden of each artless song;
This in the prayer of every morn arise;
Thou angel guardian, waft it to the skies!
76

His devious course let fostering Heaven survey;
Nor ills betide, nor foes arrest his way.
Nor health alone—may bliss thy path attend;
May truth direct thee, and may peace befriend;
From virtue's fount thy taintless actions flow;
The shield of conscience blunt the dart of woe;
To rising bliss refin'd above alloy,
Where budding wishes blossom into joy,
Where glory dwells, where saints and seraphs sing,
Let Heaven, in prospect, tempt thy lifted wing.
Me the same views, the same soft tide of cares,
Bear gently onward down the stream of years,
Still the same duties call my course along;
Still grows, at times, the pain-deluding song;
Still scenes domestic earthly joys refine,
Where blest Maria mingles cares with mine;
The same fond circle still my life endears,
Where Fairfield's elms, or Stamford's groupe appears;
Or where, in rural guise, around me smile
Mansions of peace, and Greenfield's beauteous hill;
Still to my cot the friend delighted hies,
And one lov'd parent waits beneath the skies.
To thee, far summon'd from each native scene,
With half the breadth of this wide world between,
How bless'd the news my happy verse conveys,
Of friends, divided by interfluent seas?
Health, peace, and competence, their walks surround,
On the bright margin of yon beauteous Sound;
Where Hartford sees the first of waters glide,
Or where thy Avon winds his silver tide.
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Yet thou must mourn a friend, a brother dear,
And o'er departed merit drop a tear.
Him sense illum'd, the hero's warmth inspir'd,
Grace taught to please, and patriot virtue fir'd;
Alike in peace, in war, at home, abroad,
Worth gain'd him honor, where his footsteps trode;
Yet all in vain: his laurel'd garlands bloom;
But waste their beauty on the untimely tomb.
Meantime, invited o'er the Atlantic tide,
Where arts refin'd allure thy feet aside,
May'st thou, unmov'd by splendor's painted charms,
And steel'd, when pleasure smiling spreads her arms,
The great simplicity of soul retain,
The humble fear of Heaven, and love of man.
When round thy course temptations sweetly throng,
When warbling sirens chant the luscious song,
When wealth's fair bubble beams its hues afar,
When grandeur calls thee to her golden car,
When pleasure opes the bosom bright of joy,
And the dy'd serpent gazes to destroy;
Oh! may the heavenly Guide thy passions warm,
Up virtue's hills thy feet resistless charm,
Shew thee what crowns reward the glorious strife,
And quicken fainting duty into life.
Oft has thine eyes, with glance indignant seen
Columbia's youths, unfolding into men,
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Their minds to improve, their manners to adorn,
To Europe's climes by fond indulgence borne;
Oft hast thou seen those youths, at custom's shrine,
Victims to pride, to folly, and to sin,
Of worth bereft, of real sense forlorn,
Their land forget, their friends, their freedom spurn;
Each noble cause, each solid good desert,
For splendor happiness, and truth for art;
The plain, frank manners of their race despise,
Fair without fraud, and great without disguise;
Where, thro the life the heart uncover'd ran,
And spoke the native dignity of man.
For these, the gain let Virtue blush to hear,
And each sad parent drop the plaintive tear!
Train'd in foul stews, impoison'd by the stage,
Hoyl'd into gaming, Keyser'd into age,
To smooth hypocrisy by Stanhope led,
To truth an alien, and to virtue dead,
Swoln with an English butcher's sour disdain,
Or to a Fribble dwindled from a man,
Homeward again behold the jackdaw run,
And yield his sire the ruins of a son!
What tho' his mind no thought has e'er perplex'd,
Converse illum'd, or observations vex'd;
Yet here, in each debate, a judge he shines,
Of all, that man enlarges, or refines;
Religion, science, politics, and song;
A prodigy his parts; an oracle his tongue.
Hist! hist! ye mere Americans, attend;
Ope wide your mouths; your knees in homage bend;
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While Curl discloses to the raptur'd view
What Peter, Paul, and Moses, never knew;
The light of new-born wisdom sheds abroad,
And adds a leanto to the word of God.
What Creole wretch shall dare, with home-made foils;
Attack opinions, brought three thousand miles;
Sense, in no common way to mortals given,
But on Atlantic travellers breath'd by Heaven;
A head, en queue, by Monsieur Frizzle dress'd;
Manners, a Paris Taylor's arts invest;
Pure criticism, form'd from acted plays;
And graces, that would even a Stanhope grace?
Commercial wisdom, merchants here inhale
From him, whose eye hath seen the unfinish'd bale;
Whose feet have pass'd the shop, where pins were sold,
The wire was silver'd, and the heads were roll'd!
Conven'd, ye lawyers, make your humblest leg!
Here stands the man has seen Lord Mansfield's wig!
Physicians hush'd, hear Galen's lips distil,
From Buchán's contents, all the Art to heal!
Divines, with reverence cease your scripture whims,
And learn this male Minerva's moral schemes;
Schemes theologic found in Drury-lane,
That prove the bible false, and virtue vain!
Heavens! shall a child in learning, and in wit,
O'er Europe's climes, a bird of passage flit;
80

There, as at home, his stripling self unknown,
By novel wonders stupified to stone,
Shut from the wise, and by no converse taught,
No well-read day, nor hour of serious thought,
His head by pleasure, vice, and hurry, turn'd,
All prudence trampled, all improvements spurn'd;
Shall he, with less of Europe in his cap,
Than satchell'd school-boy guesses from the map,
On every subject struttingly decree,
Ken the far shore, and search the unfathom'd sea,
Where learning has her lamp for ages oil'd,
Where Newton ponders, and where Berkeley toil'd?
Of all the plagues, that rise in human shape,
Good Heaven, preserve us from the travell'd Ape!
“Peace to all such:” but were there one, whose mind
Bold genius wing'd, and converse pure, refin'd,
By nature prompted science' realms to roam,
And both her Indies bring with rapture home;
Who men, and manners, search'd with eagle eye,
Exact to weigh, and curious to descry;
Himself who burnish'd with the hand of care,
Till kings might boast so bright a gem to wear;
Should he, deep plung'd in Circe's sensual bowl,
Imbrue his native manliness of soul,
With eye estrang'd, from fair Columbia turn,
Her youth, her innocence, and beauty scorn;
To that soul harlot, Europe, yield his mind,
Witch'd by her smiles, and to her snares resign'd;
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To nature's bloom prefer the rouge of art,
A tinsell'd outside to a golden heart,
Show, to the bliss by simple freedom given,
To virtue, Stanhope, and Voltaire to Heaven;
Who but must wish, the apostate youth to see?
Who but must agonize, were Humphreys he?
But all thy soul shall 'scape, the escape to aid,
Fair to thy view be every motive spread.
Of each gay cause the dire effects survey,
And bring the painted tomb disclos'd to day.
Tho' there proud pomp uprears his throne on high;
Tho' there the golden palace lights the sky;
Tho' wealth unfolds her gay, Edenian seats,
Her walk of grandeur, and her wild of sweets;
The stage, the park, the ring, the dance, the feast,
Charm the pall'd eye, and lure the loathing taste;
Yet there fierce war unceasing sounds alarms;
Pride blows the trump, and millions rush to arms;
See steel and fire extinguish human good!
See realms manur'd with corses, and with blood!
At slaughter's shrine expires the new-born-joy,
And all Jehovah's bounty fiends destroy.
See the huge jail in gloomy grandeur rise,
Low'r o'er mankind, and mock the tempted skies!
Hear the chain clank! the bursting groan attend!
And mark the neighboring gibbet's pride ascend.
See earth's fair face insatiate luxury spoils!
For one poor tyrant, lo, a province toils!
To brothels, half the female world is driven,
Lost to themselves, and reprobates of heaven.
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There too refinement glances o'er the mind;
And nought but vice, and outside, is refin'd;
To vice auspicious, brilliant manners blend,
The waxen saint, and sinner, foe and friend,
Melt from the soul each virtue, as they shine,
And warm the impoison'd blossom into sin.
In fair Columbia's realms, how chang'd the plan;
Where all things bloom, but, first of all things, man!
Lord of himself, the independent swain,
Sees no superior stalk the happy plain:
His house, his herd, his harvest, all his own,
His farm a kingdom, and his chair a throne.
Unblench'd by foul hypocrisy, the soul
Speaks in her face, and bids his accents roll;
(Her wings unclipp'd) with fire instinctive warms,
Strong pulses feels, and bold conceptions forms;
At noblest objects aims her flight supreme,
The purpose vast, and enterprize extreme.
Hence round the pole her sons exalt the sail,
Search southern seas, and rouse the Falkland whale;
Or on bold pinions hail the Asian skies,
And bid new stars in spicy oceans rise.
Hence in bright arms her chiefs superior flame,
Even now triumphant on the steep of fame,
Where Vernon's Hero mounts the throne sublime,
And sees no rival grace the reign of time.
Hence countless honours rising Med'cine claims;
Hence Law presents her constellated names;
The Sacred Science sees her concave bright
Instarr'd, and beauteous, with the sons of light;
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Hence Edwards cheer'd the world with moral day,
And Franklin walk'd, unhurt, the realms where lightnings play.
Mechanic genius hence exalts his eye,
All powers to measure, and all scenes descry,
Bids Rittenhouse the heavenly system feign,
And Bushnell search the chambers of the main.
Hence too, where Trumbull leads the ardent throng,
Ascending bards begin the immortal song:
Let glowing friendship wake the cheerful lyre,
Blest to commend, and pleas'd to catch the fire.
Be theirs the fame, to bards how rarely given!
To fill with worth the part assign'd by Heaven;
Distinguish'd actors on life's busy stage,
Lov'd by mankind, and useful to the age;
While science round them twines her vernal bays,
And sense directs, and genius fires their lays.
While this fair land commands thy feet to roam,
And, all Columbian, still thou plan'st for home,
From those bright sages, with whose mission join'd,
Thou seek'st to build the interests of mankind,
Experience, wisdom, honour, may'st thou gain,
The zeal for country, and the love of man.
There thro' the civil science may'st thou run;
There learn how empires are preserv'd, or won;
How arts politic wide dominions sway;
How well-train'd navies bid the world obey;
How war's imperial car commands the plain,
Or rolls majestic o'er the subject main;
Thro' earth, how commerce spreads a softer sway,
And Gallia's sons negociate realms away.
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Then, crown'd with every gift, and grace, return,
To add new glories to the western morn;
With sages, heroes, bards, her charms display,
Her arts, arms, virtues, and her happy sway;
Bid o'er the world her constellation rise,
The brightest splendor in the unmeasur'd skies,
Her genial influence thro' all nations roll,
And hush the sound of war from pole to pole.
And oh, may he, who still'd the stormy main,
And lightly wing'd thee o'er the glassy plain,
Thro' life's rough-billow'd sea, with kinder gales,
With skies serener, and with happier sails,
Each shoal escap'd, a far each tempest driven,
And nought but raptures round the enchanted Heaven,
To bliss, fair shore, thy prosperous course convey,
And join my peaceful bark, companion of thy way.
 

Major Elijah Humphreys, brother to Col. Humphreys, who died in the West-Indies, in 1785.

An awkward addition to a dwelling-house, very common in New-England.

Pope's prologue to the Satires.

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