Miscellany Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

There was an Isle, Fame sings,
To' Antiquity well known,
Whose Powerfull Kings
O'r Africk did extend their wide Dominion:
Th' Atlantick Island nam'd.—
West o'th' Herculean Straits the Happy Soil was spread,
With Arts and Arms Embellished,
With Peace and Justice Crown'd:
Till (many Ages long-since past)
Either that undermining Waves had tore
The unsecure Foundation;
Or Strugling Nature with the Burthen groan'd,
And Sunk beneath the Weight She bore;
Or Nature's God, for Crimes to Us unknown,
A Dreadfull Vengeance took,
And by an Earthquake's Power,
I'th' starting and affrighted Sea did sink Her down;
Earthquakes, that have the World's Foundation shook:
Have lowly Valleys into Mountains rais'd;
The Proudest Citties have debas'd,
And Towring Hills to Vales depress'd;
Old Isles overwhelm'd, and in their stead,
Made new Ones show their unknown head:

Heaven's unrelenting, all-devouring, Rod
The Dreadfull Messenger of Angry God.

II.

The Earth's Third Part sunk in one Moment down.—
The Guardian Angels were with Wonder strook;
Th' Infernal Shades th' Alarum took;
And th' other Parts o'th' World without an Earthquake shook.
Even Jove and Pluto, Jealous grown,
Envied their Brother's late enlarg'd Dominion.
And all that Western Spacious Coast,
Which We America do stile,
Which was for many Ages lost
In dark Oblivion,
Beyond that Dangerous Ocean spread,
E'r Great Columbus his Discovery made;
Prov'd but some small remains of that most Potent Isle.

III.

Hither Great Neptune's Course did lead
To th' Palace o'th' Atlantian Kings:
Which doth the wildest thoughts exceed,
Castalian Fury e'r did breed,
Which Bacchanals or Dithyrambiques sings:
Outdoes those Notions, fill the Poet's head,
When Pegasus expands his Wings:
More Rich, more Stately, and more Bright,
Than all, that heated Rage can write;
All, that Flattery can indite:
All, that Inventive Greece did once bestow,
On Gods above, or on their Kings below:
The Fabrick did more Excellencies shew,
Than e'r from Poet's Fancy were instill'd;
“Thô they can Richest, Quickest, and the Cheapest build.

IV.

Here in a Spacious Hall,
A Faithfull Register was kept of all

The memorable Conquests of the Sea:
E'r since the Universal Floud, when She
Her Empire over all had hurl'd,
And Neptune rul'd the World.
What her old Limits were before;
Where She unchang'd doth keep
The Bounds of Lands and of the Deep.
Where th' Ocean doth usurp upon the shore;
And where the Land possesses, what She had.
Where Hills were by the Deluge made,
Where Continents broke, and Isles were spread
And where, what once was Sea, now Land appears:
Charts of the Land and Sea, as once it stood,
Before the Changes of the Sweeping Floud;
And as it now is Seen to later Years.

V.

The Voyage of the Heaven-contrived Ark,
Which Providence did safely Steer;
While She, th' whole Species did of Mankind bear:
The first frail Bark,
In which Men durst attempt to trust the Sea!
The Minutes kept, how every Day
Her Sacred Course thrô th' Ocean lay:
When She to East or West did Steer,
When She to North or South did bear:
When She o'r Europe sail'd, or Asia;
And how Mount Ararat at last Her Course did stay.

VI.

The certain time, when by Impetuous Rage,
The Great Atlantian State sank down;
And did the Sea-Gods Temples Crown;
Six Centuries before great Plato's Age:

When Sicily from Calabria was rent,
And when beloved Brittain from the Continent.
When Goodwin Sands
Was once a Powerfull Prince's Lands.
When Ægypt's Fruitfull Soil
Was ravish'd from the Sea by Mud and Filth of Nile.
When th' Ocean shall new Conquests make,
When, what did once belong to Her, retake.
When Holland must Her Debts repay,
And count for all Her Provinces stole from the Sea.
He that would Curious be,
And know of future Times the Destiny,
He need but Visit that Great Court and see.

VII.

There in another Column stood,
The Great Commanders of the Floud:
Those that have uncontrouled swept the Seas,
And Triumph'd o'r the Watry Provinces.
When the Sea Infant-Burthens bore,
And Men sail'd Safe in sight of shore,
Nor trusted to the Wind but to the Oar.
When Daring Men by Custom Bolder made,
But by Experience more,
With heavy Fleets the Ocean did invade.
When bold Phœnicia could not stay at home,
But did for Gain to distant Regions roam:
Did Rich Atlantis rape,
Nor could our CASSITERIDES Escape.
When Purple Tyre sate Mistress of the Sea:
When Carthage rais'd her Emulous Head,
And o'r Imperial Rome prevail'd;
When her Bold Fleets the Ocean's Bosom spread,
And Hanno first of all round Africk sail'd:

When Greece from them the Secret got,
And Alexander, that both Empires sought,
Sail'd by Nearchus unto India.
When Rome to her own Coast confin'd
Dar'd not to trust the faithless Wind:
Till from some Ships wreck'd on the Shore
She learnt the Dangerous trade;
And grew so' expert her Neighbours to invade:
And made th' unquiet World the fatal Skill deplore.

VIII.

When with the Roman Empire Arts too dy'd;
And Barbarous Rage took in the Downfall pride.
When Fear and dire Necessity
Compell'd the frighted Troops, that fled,
Inhospitable Cliffs to choose,
Secure from Reach of Barbarous Foes:
Whence Venice rais'd her glorious Head;
Venice, the Jewel of the Sea;
With silver Feet that on the Waves doth tread,
But her high Temples among Stars doth lay.
When the great Secret of the Loadstone found
For bold Discoveries gave a ground:
That doth thrô pitchy Night and Darkness guide,
Miraculously finds the unseen Way,
When there's no Marks nor Tracts left in the liquid Sea,
Even when the Polestar's hid.

IX.

When English Ships with gallant Pride
Did o'r the subject Sea in Triumph ride.
And all the Men; that Former times did grace,
The Heroes of Immortal Race,
All, whose brave Souls with Valour were inflam'd,
All, that for Arts or Arms were nam'd,
For Victories on Land or Sea were fam'd;

Seem'd by a Metempsychosis
In Englishmen again to rise.
When all, that Ancient Greece dar'd doe,
Or Tyre or Carthage skill could know,
Or Rome's exalted Minds could show;
Or later Venice, that Espous'd the Sea,
Are all compriz'd in Our one Brittany.

X.

Around hung the surprizing Sights
Of all the Memorable Fights,
That ever dy'd with Gore the frighted Main:
Where Art with Nature for the Empire strove;
The Ships yet seem'd to move,
The Men to live,
Their Former Rage and Vigor to retain:
Their swollen Limbs did bold Defiance breathe
And gave a Life to Death:
Their blood shot Eyes yet darted Fire,
And their stretch'd Veins did show their inward Ire.
The Draughts of Wars in Ages long-since gone
Lapp'd up in dark Oblivion;
To which no tracts nor Footsteps lead
But even the very Fame is dead:
In lively Portraytures are shown,
In Postures and in Garbs are drawn,
To Us and all the World unknown.
There Maps of Realms whereof we ne'er did hear,
That lie Rewards for future Industry;
Whose very Names yet never reach'd our Ear,
But to succeeding Times shall be familiar.
That might we thence Great Neptune's Records bear,
And all the Secrets of his Court declare,
How welcome to the Inquisitive World would such an History be!

XI.

The Memorable Time was set
When Xerxes did the Ocean beat,
And fetter'd up the Hellespont:
Which unrevenged long bore not th' Affront.
When He, his Numerous Army by an Handfull torn,
His Bridge of Boats by Tempests overborn,
In a poor Schiff was forc'd to pass that Sea,
Which he once bragg'd, He'd taught to' obey
The former Feats of ancient Greece,
Ever since Jason won the Golden Fleece.
What they have told in Vanity and Pride,
What they've forgot and what they've magnify'd;
Where they've told Truth, and where they've ly'd.

XII.

The Struggle, Carthage made, to try,
When just expiring, for her Liberty:
When yielding to inevitable Fate
She sunk unwillingly beneath the weight:
When all her Beauteous Ladies deign'd to spare,
To make new Cordage for her Ships, their Hair.
Nor was forgot
The bloody Battle, that was fought,
When Carthage lofty Head was low,
With Hannibal Rome's Mortal Foe,
That Barrel'd Vipers into Roman Ships did throw.

XIII.

There was describ'd at large
The great Deciding Fight,
That to the Empire of the World did give the Victor Right.
There Cleopatra's Gilded Barge
With curious Workmanship did shine,
And promis'd something Great within.

With base ignoble Fear she fled;
The gallant Warriour turn'd his Head,
His Head and Heart with Her was led.
With her loose Charms betray'd
He could not stay behind,
Weak and Effeminate as Woman-kind;
He could not want her Look,
His mighty Heart in pieces broke:
Honour and Fame forgot,
The Empire of the World esteem'd at nought,
He turn'd his Sails and said;
“In Empire I have had my share,
“Gallant my Acts have been in War,
“And I in Love as nobly dare.
“I can't thy Presence, Cleopatra, lose,
“The World for Thee I'l give:
“And rather now to be thy Captive choose
“Than the World's Emperour live.
So He with Love, not Fear o'recome,
“Follow'd his Heart and left to Cæsar Rome.

XIV.

There Pompey's Gallant Sons were shown
Crowned with Honour and Renown.
The Noblest Spirits, Rome e'r bore,
Who influenc'd with Generous Rage
Both for a violated Country's Good,
And for a Murder'd Father's Blood,
Did against Cæsar and the World engage;
And first did learn the Ocean to command the Shore.
Nor was thrô all the Ages down
A memorable Action pass'd,
When Rome retain'd her old Renown,
Or when with Barbarous Rage her Glory was defac'd;
Till Fam'd Lepanto's happy Fight,
That did the Sea of Turkish Force acquit.

XV.

There was the

Battle of Scluce near Flanders. A. D. 1340.

Famous Sea-Fight shown,
Which unto Scluce did give so vast Renown,
Scluce, in the Books of Fame well-known!
Nor Greece from Salamis did bear
A Richer Prize, than Albion purchas'd there:
When our Third EDWARD and his Godlike Son,
The Admir'd BLACK-PRINCE, did raise the English Name,
And proud Valois his Mighty Fleet o'recame,
Asserting o're the Seas their high Dominion.
The Feathered Messengers of Fate
Flew thick, as storms of Hail, from English Bows:
Nor could the French endure their stinging Weight,
But rather desparately Chose
Their gaping Wounds in the salt Floods to close.
Then thrice-ten thousand French their Lives resign'd,
Staining the Brittish Seas with hostile Gore;
Their fainting Lillies now grew sick and pin'd;
While Neptune trembled at our Angry Lyon's Roar.

XVI.

But above all with greatest Care,
(For lesser Fights are lost,
As smaller Sounds are by the Great ingrost)
The Wonder and the Scorn o'th' Sea,
That even frighted the submissive Eye,
The Great Armada, swell'd with Spanish Pride,
That came to take Possession, not to War,
Was in most costly Colours drawn,
Did in Triumphant Manner ride,
Already sure of Victory;
Had England in vain Hopes already swallow'd down.
Till English Valour thrô the empty shadows broke
The Pompous Fleet in pieces shook;
Th' unweildy Carracks got new wings to fly.

The Burthens of the Sea
Did Burthens now unto themselves become;
And wish'd, they could shrink into lesser Room.
Their Fetters and their Chains were took,
And even their Instruments of Cruelty
Did to their Owners dreadfull look;
And told what was their Doom:
Thrô all the Northern World they fled;
Each Promontory did their Treasure share;
Each barren Soil enriched by the War:
Beyond the Farthest Thule trembling and agast,
They by their Valiant Foes were chac't:
And Famine, Cold and Ignominy past,
The poor Remains reel'd shatter'd and despised Home at last.

XVII.

Nor did the skilfull Art omit
The Acts in various Ages done,
That eve'n did Fame affright;
Which no bold Language could recite,
Nor could by Pencil's skill be drawn.
All Species of Ships were there,
Those, that first cut the Waves with Fear;
And near the Shore did creep:
Those, that with Oars did lash the Deep;
Those, whose wide Sails the Waves did sweep:
From the tall Flagg-ship, Pride of all the Main,
To the Canoo o'th' Sun-burnt Indian.

XVIII.

And, as a sign of Confidence, was show'd
The Secret Book,
In which no one but Favourites may look,
Nor even are those allow'd;
Till Sanctions bid them Secrets keep
Nor e'r reveal the Mysteries o'th' Deep.

There were large Charts o'th' Southern unknown Land,
How the Coast trends to East and West.
In what Degrees of Longitude 'tis laid,
How far to th' Southern Pole 'tis spread.
The Capes and Promontories were express'd,
Where a Safe Port, and where a Dangerous Strand;
Where Ships secure may ride, and where lies hid a Sand.
The Depth of Rivers and of Shores were took,
Not even a Creek, but was mark'd down:
The Traffick, Strength, and Riches of each Town.
That on the Neighbouring Sea doth look.
Their Customs both in Peace and War,
What Merchandize the Land doth bear:
What they do want, and what they spare.
The Trade-winds, that do thither blow,
The Roads, that thither lead.
And Isles, that are i'th' Passage spread:
That He, who the least Skill doth know,
May thither without help o'th' Compass go.

XIX.

There, what hath puzled Curious Brains,
But ne'r Rewarded for the Cost or Pains,
Are Maps, that do display
The Northern Passage to Cathay.
Where the Strait opens, and where ly
The Sea-marks for Discovery;
How to 'scape broaken Lands, that there arise,
And how to' avoid the Shoales of Ice:
VVhere the Coast Southward bends,
And where the Scythic Promontory ends.
Th' extent of BACON'S Polar Land,
Charts of the Dolefull Strand;
The Icy Mountains, that affright:
How the Inhabitants the rigid cold do bear,

And misty Damps of the condensed Air,
How they endure an half-year Night.
Besides the Virgin Soils, that never yet
Did Conquest or Discovery admit;
That in his secret Catalogue are writ.

XX.

Nor were the Secrets of his Empire hid,
Where the fam'd Rivers (Paradice's Pride)
Whose Names and Scituation
With endless Contests have Mens Brains employ'd,
Yet in their wanted Channels run;
And like Seth's Pillars have surviv'd the Flood.
Where Isles, that have from the Creation stood,
By restless Waves are undermin'd,
And with next Earthquake will a Ruine find.
Where Infant growing Isles do swell,
And will in future Times their Heads reveal.
Where old Phœnician Wracks have slept,
Treasures from former Ages kept:
Stores, that would be
Priz'd for their Worth and more for their Antiquity
Who shall in future Ages rule the Sea,
And Acts of Ancient Times outdoe.
The Fortune and the Fate of Brittanie,
When the Espoused Sea shall Venice leave,
And Her of all Her pristin Fame bereave;
A certain Symptom of approaching Woe.
And what hath unto Ages lain unknown,
There is an Art the Longitude to find:
And, what don't less Distract the Curious Mind,
The Reason of the Needle's Variation.

XXI.

There one might know
The Fate of every One, that unto Sea doth go:

What Prosperous Winds shall Him attend,
What Lucky Adventures Him befriend,
Or if unruly Storms his Shatter'd Bark shall rend.
Where controverted Ophir lyes,
Whence Solomon had his Rich Supplies.
Where th' floating Isle, the Proteus of the Sea,
Obeys Great Neptune's Law,
And doth a fixed Mansion get.
Where Polar Loadstone Isles are set,
(If any such there be)
That the touch'd Needle draw.
Where working Seas shall Harbors fill,
And Towns of Trade
Shall shrink to Villages from their Exalted State;
And in their stead
Some Despicable Place grow Great.

XXII.

This Palace once th' Atlantian Kings did own,
In its own Structure Beauteous 'twas and Great:
But all its former Glories are outdone,
By Juices which do ly to us unknown,
Such as do Gems and Precious Stones beget:
And by the Plastick Power which Nature secret keeps,
But in dark Mines reveals, and i'th' unfathom'd Deeps;
By these her Structures all are turn'd to Adamant,
And neither Darling Beauty nor unyielding Hardness want.
Unviolated Temples stand,
That don't beneath Time's burthen groan:
Neither by Tydes nor Storms bore down,
Nor Injured by rowling Sand.
Branches of winding Corall crawl
Upon the Sacred Wall,
Like clasping Ivy round embrac't:
Which never Sacrilegious Hand
Or Savage Force defac'd.

Th' Altars within their Privileges retain,
Do Sanctuaries yet remain:
Thither the helpless Fry
Pursu'd by Violence do fly,
And from th' Asylum all their Foes defy.
They to the Helpless yet do lend their Aid,
Nor may Arm'd Force the Sacred Seats invade.

XXIII.

Within and round are shown
The Tombs of the Atlantian Kings;
Which of themselves are Stately things,
But by accession of Sea-Treasure Nobler grown.
Each common Stone
A Jaspis or an Hyacinth doth grow:
Mother of Pearl the common roads doth strow,
And ev'n Plebean Tombs do Sapphires show.
And He, who last did in Atlantis Reign,
That to futurity he might remain,
Beyond the common doom,
Which swallows up the Worthless Crowd,
Neptune on Him his Greatest Gem bestow'd,
A Gem so Great, it serv'd Him for a Tomb.
There Queens in Chrystall Monuments were set,
That show'd the Beauty lay within:
Who from themselves much Fame did get;
But from what th' Ocean lent did seem Divine.
Some did in Tombs of Amber live,
And nothing to a Life did want, but Breath:
A Grave more Precious and more Fair,
Than all Arabia's Gums could give:
Than Ægypt for Her Monarchs did prepare,
Or Artemisia did to Her Dear Lord bequeath.

XXIV.

The Princely Gardens kept their Beauteous Store;
With Powdred Pearls the Walks were spread,
Nor is upon Earth's Bosom bred
A Beauteous Flower,
But by kind Nature's Artfull power
The same of Precious Jewels there was made,
Which no Time ever can devour.
Close Arbors and aspiring Groves,
That were intrusted oft with secret Loves,
By Petrifying Juice are turn'd to Stone:
And the same Order and Proportion
They yet unchanged own.
Designed Wracks the Treasuries do store
With rarities of every distant shore:
The Noted Ports yet Ships do show,
Whom Tempests overbore;
And order'd so
That they into the very Harbors fell:
And Bloody Sea-fights do the useless Armories swell.

XXV.

A Band of Triton's upon Neptune wait,
And Guard his Palace Gate,
And yet keep up the old Atlantian State.
The Castles and the Towns remain,
The Citties yet their Privileges retain:
Tritons do in the Nobles Houses stay,
And Sea-Nymphs in the Groves and Meadows play.
On Earth Vicissitude of Things
Rules o'r the Peasants Spade and Crowns of Kings.
Citties are not exempt from Fate,
But, as they had their Birth, shall have their Date.
Their Names and Scituation soon are lost;

And She, whose lofty Head stood high,
In the next Age in lowly Dust shall lie,
And even her very Ruines be forgot.
But here Atlantis doth a Conquest boast,
Which i'th' uncertain Sea
Hath from all Change Exemption got,
And's plac'd beyond the Reach of Destiny.