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AN 
 
 ON 
 
 AMERICAN POETRY, 
 
 WITH SEVERAL 
 
 ON A 
 
 VARIETY OF SUBJECTS, 
 
 SENTIMENTAL, DESCRIPTIVE, MORAL, AND PATRIOTIC. 
 ***** 
 
 Br SOLYMAN BROWN, A. M. 
 
 To you, American* J the Muse appeals ; 
 For you she labours, and for you she feqjj.' 
 
 MEW-HAVEN: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HEZEKIAH HOWff. 
 FLAGG & GRAY, PRINTERS, 
 
 1818. 
 
District of Connecticut ss. 
 
 E IT REMEMBERED, That on the 
 h day of j anuar y t j n tne fbrty-stc- 
 "^^ ond year of the Independence of the Uni 
 ted States of America, HEZEKIAH HOWE, of the said 
 district, hath deposited in this Office the Title of a Book, 
 the right whereof he claims as Proprietor, in the words 
 following, to wit : 
 
 "An Essay on American Poetry, with several Miscel 
 laneous Pieces on a variety of subjects, sentimental, de 
 scriptive, moral, and patriotic. By SOLTMAN BROWN, 
 A.M. 
 
 ' To you, Americans ! tbe Muse appeals ; 
 " For you she labours, and for you she feels." 
 
 In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United 
 States, entitled, u An Act for the Encouragement of 
 Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts and 
 Books, to the Authors and Proprietors of such copies, 
 during the times therein mentioned " 
 
 R. I. INGERSOLL, 
 Clerk of the District of Connecticut. 
 
 A true Copy of Record, examined and sealed by me, 
 R. I. INGERSOLL, 
 
 Clerk of the District of Connecticut. 
 
 
To JAMES MORRIS, Esq. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 WERE I actuated by no other motive, 
 in wishing to shelter this production un 
 der the covert of a worthy name, a sense 
 of gratitude alone would impel me to re 
 call, at least to my own recollection, an 
 early benefactor. The honour and the 
 
 felicity of having been, for a number of 
 years, an inmate of your family, are tri- 
 
 Jling, only, when compared with the hon 
 our of your friendship, and the felicity of 
 retaining a grateful remembrance of dis 
 tinguished and important favours. 
 
 With the utmost conjidence, I commit 
 this little volume to the American Public, 
 shielded by a JWnne which Envy and De 
 traction must ever assail in vain. That 
 it should inherit the immortality of my 
 
 I . 271 
 
4 
 
 Patroitfs virtues, it would be presump 
 tion to hope ; hut if countenanced by his 
 approbation, it wilt be folly to despair. 
 
 I am. Sir, yours. 
 
 with undissembled 
 
 and lasting esteem, 
 SOLYMAN BROWN, 
 
 Litchfidd, Jan. 1st, 1818. 
 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Jl HE proudest freedom to which a nation 
 can aspire, not excepting even political independ 
 ence, is found in complete emancipation from lit 
 erary thraldom. Few nations, however, have ar 
 rived at this commanding eminence. Greece 
 once possessed it, and she was the glory and won 
 der of the world. Her arms were then victorious 
 over every foe. The arts that polish life, and dis 
 tinguish cultivated man from the unlettered sav 
 age, elevated her sons to the height of human 
 greatness ; and every improvement was exactly 
 commensurate with her scientific monopoly. She 
 perfectly understood what advantages she gained 
 from her intellectual superiority, and that every na 
 tion from which she could exclude Learning and 
 the Arts, was, of course, her slave. 
 
 In this magisterial career, she retained, for a 
 long time, the monarchy of the world. The na 
 tions submitted to her command with the same def- 
 A-2 
 

 U PREFACE. 
 
 erence with which they bowed to the immortal 
 geniuses that sparkled in her literary galaxy. 
 They could scarcely doubt, that she who had nour 
 ished and reared to manhood, a Xenophon, a De 
 mosthenes, and a Homer, was the mother and mis 
 tress of the human race, and had an indisputable 
 right to arbitrate the destinies of man. 
 
 But we soon behold, as her vigilance is decli 
 ning, a neighbouring nation, fired by her example, 
 and with a masterly effort, leaping into mental ri 
 valry. Rome struggled for the palm. Her Ma- 
 ro was carefully reared in the nursery of Augustus, 
 as a literary champion, to encounter the Grecian 
 Bard ; while her Tully, by the thunders of the Ro 
 man forum, was shaking the statue of Demos 
 thenes from its golden pedestal. So successful 
 were the assailants in this intellectual conflict, that 
 the capitol of the scientific and of the political 
 world was immediately transferred to the banks 
 of the Tyber. 
 
 The Learning, the Arts, and the Arms of Rome, 
 were now on their march to perfection, and the 
 glory of Greece was consequently fading in the 
 splendors of the new and rising luminary. Rome 
 was for a long time the arbitress of the world ; nor 
 did the powers of this vast empire decline, till Big 
 otry shook her sceptre over the throne of the 
 
PREFACE. 7 
 
 Caesars, and Wit and Genius retired to the cells of 
 Superstition. 
 
 During the dark ages of the world, there was 
 too little science for either literary eminence or lit 
 erary ambition. An eminence in ignorance, fa- 
 natacism, and vice, was the only superiority. 
 From this intellectual and moral insensibility, 
 Fi ance was the first to awake ; but the prize was 
 contested, and England eventually obtained the as 
 cendancy. Her course has indeed been luminous, 
 and the splendor of her achievements has excited 
 the wonder of the world. Her attainments have 
 been as universal, if not as distinguished, as those 
 of Greece and Rome. In the group of English 
 worthies, a counterpart is presented, of all the va 
 rieties of Genius which adorned the Grecian OF 
 the Augustan age. Poetry, epic, pastoral, and 
 lyric, with all its minor diversities ; Philosophy, 
 natural and moral ; Architecture, Statuary, and 
 Painting, together with the useful arts of life, have 
 all been cultivated with encouraging success, and 
 to the immortal honour of the British name. 
 
 But although it would be folly to assail the lit 
 erary fame of England, 'purchased by Shakespeare, 
 Dryden, Spencer, Milton, Locke, Newton, Pope, 
 Addison, Young, and Cowper, it is not to be con 
 cealed, that she has long understood her own inter- 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 ests too well, not to assume a dictatorial aspect to 
 wards other nations, utterly inconsistent with their 
 welfare. It is thus she has subjugated Scotland 
 and Ireland, and used all her efforts to smother, in 
 its cradle, the rising genius of both these countries. 
 It has ever been the policy and practice of Eng 
 land, to decry Scotch and Irish intellect, and affect 
 a sovereign contempt for all that are born on the 
 Forth or the Liffey. As these countries have now 
 coalesced under the crown of England, it has be 
 come less her interest to ur^e hostilities in those 
 
 O 
 
 directions. America is therefore the principal ob 
 ject of her literary persecution. It was seen that 
 the United States threatened to become the rival 
 of the mother country. Already had the Eagle of 
 Columbia, stooping from his inaccessible JErie^ 
 plucked the brightest gem from the British dia 
 dem, and bore it away for ever beyond the reach 
 of recovery. That such a nation would, one day, 
 contest the pulm of priority with the fellow coun 
 trymen even of Shakespeare, Swift, and Locke, 
 was no unreasonable presumption. It would be 
 inconsistent with the design of a Preface, to enter 
 minutely into all the artifices, incessantly employ 
 ed, for half a century, to maintain the ideal supe 
 riority of British over American Genius. We 
 were at first represented as cannibals, feasting only 
 on the tortures of suffering humanity, and deriving 
 our habits and religion from the savage that prowl? 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 in the desert. When this charm was dissolved, 
 and the English populace began to love, as breth 
 ren, the fellow patriots of WASHINGTON, we were 
 immediately exhibited as a race of intellectual 
 pigmies ; bunglers in Art, and pedants in Science. 
 
 It was no difficult task for an English pamphle 
 teer to demonstrate, beyond the fear of confuta 
 tion, that the human mind was unable to sustain a 
 voyage across the Atlantic ; that a giant on the 
 Thames, was a dwarf on the Hudson ; in short, 
 that all who landed on the shores of the New 
 World, found themselves only the skeletons of 
 man, deprived at once of animal instinct, and of 
 a rational soul, 
 
 The manifest design of the English ministry, at 
 whose instigation these absurdities were palmed 
 upon the vulgar, was to aid the national revenue 
 by the exportation of English books for the use 
 of the people of the United States ; to fill these 
 publications with slanders on the scientific char 
 acter of Americans ; to suppress the growing spir 
 it of emigration in England, and to excite in the 
 minds of the people of this country, a prejudice 
 against the literary works of their compatriots. 
 By a little observation, we may learn the fatal suc 
 cess of this scheme. No inconsiderable portion 
 f the schools in this country are now supplied 
 
10 PREFACE. 
 
 with elementary books of English edition. Even 
 American authors are reprinted there, and the 
 profits of the sales in the United Stales are con 
 verted to the support of the British government. 
 These facts must produce unavoidable conviction 
 of the propriety of the preceding remarks. 
 
 And it is perfectly easy to trace these effects to 
 their causes, and show their tendency to under 
 mine the structure of our National Independence. 
 One of the greatest institutions established to pro 
 duce the effects here spoken of, and under the 
 eye of the British ministry, is that of their nu 
 merous Reviews. These unmasked batteries, 
 erected on the Forth and the Thames, are in the 
 republic of letters, what the English navy is up- 
 on the ocean the terror of mankind. The two 
 grand designs of these periodical publications, are 
 to extol the literary productions of England, and 
 ridicule those of every other country. These 
 Reviews are sedulously circulated in the United 
 States, for which they seem principally designed, 
 The respect which the American people are ac 
 customed to pay their mother country, has engen 
 dered an incredible credulity to all the assertions, 
 how groundless and preposterous soever, which 
 issue from the English Press. Thus the design 
 of England is exactly accomplished ; and the con 
 tempt which they only affect to possess for Araer- 
 
PREFACE. II 
 
 lean genius, is actually instilled into many of the 
 inhabitants of this republic. It seems to be suffi 
 cient to immortalize any work, that it has once been 
 published in England, though it may have been a 
 jest in its own country, "and become a voluntary 
 exile to America, to avoid the sneers of its coun 
 trymen. What wonder if such cringing obsequi 
 ousness render the name of an American a by 
 word across the ocean ? And what could more 
 effectually prove that we form our opinions from 
 the scribbles of an English Pamphleteer, and sur 
 render our judgments to. the dogmatical assevera 
 tions of a swaggering Reviewer ? 
 
 A second cause of the evils of which America 
 so justly complains, is the importation of books 
 into the United States, often at reduced prices, to 
 prevent improvement in the arts of Printing and 
 Binding, and thus annihilate that profession, which, 
 in all countries and ages, has given the first im 
 pulse to latent genius. 
 
 On the article of books, more than on most ex 
 ports, it has ever been the policy of England to 
 make pecuniary sacrifices, when necessary to the 
 destruction of American Manufactures. This ar 
 tifice strikes at the soul of intellectual improve 
 ment, as well as of advancements in the Arts. 
 On the respectability of Booksellers and Printers, 
 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 much of the literary glory of any country depends. 
 They have it in their power to encourage the tim 
 id, but worthy adventurer, in the race of Fame ; 
 and in all ages, since the art of printing was in 
 vented, they have been the first patrons of those 
 men, who, from obscurity, hare risen, by their tal 
 ents, to a mental nobility, which royal blood or 
 royal favour could never impart. As the Free 
 dom of the Press has been uniformly, when not 
 perverted, the bulwark of independence ; so any 
 infringement on its native rights, in a land of free 
 dom, is a national evil. It matters not whether 
 that infringement arise from force at home, or 
 from secret and artful fraud in a foreign power. 
 
 But it requires no spirit of prophecy to predict 
 the consequences, if the influx of foreign books, 
 maps, and charts, is so great, and the prices so 
 much reduced, as to render the manufacture of 
 those articles rather a detriment than a benefit to 
 the artisan that in the first place, it will drive the 
 printer from his work-shop ; and secondly, render 
 it the interest of the bookseller to encourage the 
 use of imported books, which he has bought at re 
 duced prices, and on which he makes a greater 
 profit than on those manufactured in his own 
 country. Little sagacity is necessary to discover 
 the success of this scheme in checking the ad 
 vancement of American Literature, We find our 
 
PREFACE. 13 
 
 presses, . to a degree, inactive ; native genius 
 without patrons, and the shelves of the bookseller 
 bending beneath a weight of imported volumes. 
 These are evils, which every true friend to his 
 country will deprecate, and which, it is hoped, 
 patriotism will, ere long, remove. 
 
 A third source of the evils under consideration, 
 is found in the determined resolution of men of 
 letters, in the parent country, not to give the 
 smallest credit to American productions, how 
 meritorious soever. The patriotism of the Eng 
 lish, in this respect, is without a parallel. From 
 the prince to the beggar, the same spirit is mani 
 fest through all grades of community. It per 
 vades the writings of the learned, and the conver 
 sation of the illiterate. It grows with the growth 
 of every son of Britain, and journeys with him to 
 the remotest nations. Even the renegade from 
 the justice of his country, who seeks an asylum 
 in America from the avenger ef blood, and who 
 intends to make this country his future home, is 
 fraught with the same spirit. It affords a fit topic 
 for the exhibition of national pride ; and we often 
 meet with those who are unable to distinguish the 
 brilliant beauties of Rasselas from the dull mono 
 tony" of Pilgrim's Progress, venting unmeaning re 
 proach at the names of Edwards and Dwight, 
 whose intellectual greatness would not suffer them 
 B 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 to desire a conquest, in the struggle for literary 
 glory, over thousands of the deified witlings of 
 England. 
 
 Another artifice employed by the British minis 
 try, to reproach America, and exalt their own na 
 tion, is that of sending through the United States, 
 hireling emissaries, to compose on their way, what 
 they denominate " Travels." These fabrications 
 they palm upon the vulgar as real history, and 
 sanction the whole by a solemn act of licensed 
 perjury. They contain just what the addle brains 
 of these prostituted knaves happea to conceive ; 
 and if this should be found a libel on the Ameri 
 can character, it is sure of the approbation of the 
 employers. 
 
 Such are some of the causes which have con 
 tributed to suppress the spirit of literary enter- 
 prize in this republic ; and to throw a shade over 
 those geniuses that have burst the incumbent dark 
 ness. That they will ever be removed, until the 
 spirit of independence shall teach thp inhabitants 
 of these States, that true liberty is incompatible 
 with literary bondage, is not to be expected. We 
 may learn the effects of emancipation upon other 
 countries. We have seen the dungeon of mental 
 slavery crumbled before the strong arm of Ro 
 man and British patriotism, and the chains of the 
 
 
 
PREFACE. 15 
 
 oppressor melted in the fire of Genius. The ex 
 ample of these nations, contending for victory, is 
 bright and alluring ; and the triumph of intellect, 
 when thus vigorously exerted, affords a consolatory 
 hope, that the land of the exile will assume, ere 
 long, its appropriate place among the nations of 
 the earth. 
 
ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 AMERICAN POETRY. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 Subject proposed.... Opposition to be encountered.... 
 Illiberality of British Reviewers towards Ameri 
 can Productions. ...Description of Avar ice.... The 
 Influence of these Causes on National Character, 
 Native Genius, and Individual Exertion.... The 
 Duties of the American Reviewer delineated**.. 
 Appeal to an enlightened Public. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 F all the Arts that Greece or Rome refin'd, 
 That taught their sons to leave a world behind, 
 Celestial Poesy was first and best, 
 The Nerve, the Soul, the Parent of the resi 
 
 The Statuary strove, but strove in vain, 
 To call from marble lips one melting strain; 
 To senseless silence was the Image doom'd, 
 And on its cheek, no fragrant roses bloom 'd. 
 Not so with Homer's and with Maro's art ; 
 For this could touch, and fire, and mend the heart:, 
 
20 ESSAY. 
 
 Could clothe in verdure all the circling year; 
 On winter's snow the flowers of summer rear j 
 Bid frozen fountains burst their icy chains ; 
 Command the flock to graze the sunny plains; 
 Inspire the soul with every kind emotion, 
 Love, Pity, Courage, Friendship and Devotion. 
 
 The Pencil strove to make the Canvass live,. 
 And deathless Fame to modest Merit give ; 
 To show Mankind the men of other days, 
 And send through Earth a herald of their praise. 
 
 Presumptuous Art! and arrogant thy claim, 
 With Heaven-born Poesy to rank thy name; 
 Thy softest touches soon, ah ! soon will fade, 
 An undistinguish'd mass, nor light nor shade. 
 E'en Raphael's master-strokes ere long shall be, 
 As pale, unnotic'd, unadmir'd, as he I 
 But Poesy ! thy strains shall never die, 
 While man can feel, or music charm the sky s 
 
ESSAY. 21 
 
 0'er thee the sword no victory can gain, 
 
 And time assails thy feeblest works in vain; 
 
 The latest youth that reads of Helen's charms. 
 
 Shall long to clasp the virgin in his arms; 
 
 And Earth's last son shall hear, with list'ning joy, 
 
 Achilles thundering at the walls of Troy. 
 
 e 
 
 The Grecian Muse thus bade mankind admire 
 The strains of Homer's more than mortal lyre ; 
 The Bard of Mantua resurn'd the strain, 
 And mortals bow'd to Homer's second reign. 
 Of Tasso Camoens of latter time ; 
 Of Dryden father of the polish'd rhyme; 
 Of Milton Heaven's historian below ; 
 Of Pope, who taught the liquid line to flow, 
 With pleasure could I sing but pleas'd I come, 
 To greet the Poets of the " Exile's home." 
 No common task, advent'rous Muse ! invites; 
 Your suppliant poet trembles as he writes ; 
 He knows his danger ; yet his strains shall court, 
 What wits can say, and cringing fools support. 
 
*S ESSAY. 
 
 The critic throng in this alone unite, 
 That none but native Englishmen can write : 
 In this one point the envious herd agree, 
 That none but slaves have spirit to be free. 
 This current jargon, this imported iant, 
 This foster'd fruitage of exotic plant, 
 That sprung at first in lordly Britain's soil, 
 And grew beneath a snarling critic's toil, 
 My soul abhors, unsparing of her pains, 1 
 To root the poison from her native plains. 
 
 Parnassian Nine ! who give poetic fire ! 
 Can Slaves alone awake the tuneful lyre ? 
 Are Freemen banish'd from the minstrel-throng. 
 And deaf to Nature's never-ceasing song ? 
 Did Homer sing beneath a Tyrant's frown, 
 And pluck his clustering honours from a Crown ? 
 Did Maro owe his numbers or his story 
 To Kings or Thrones or share with them his glory ? 
 And Milton ! Prince of Poets ! didst thou soar, 
 By royal aid, to fields untrod before ? 
 
ESSAY. 23 
 
 Say, Bard ! wast thou, by some great monarch, hurl'd 
 Far from the orbit of this rolling world ? 
 Say not : I know full well thy proud disdain, 
 That spurn'd a tyrant and a tyrant's chain : 
 Thy soul abhorr'd Oppression's curst abode ; (a) 
 Thy generous breast with patriot virtue glow'd : 
 'Twas this that taught thy taintless soul to rise, 
 And sing of earth and air and hell and skies 
 'Twas this that bore thee free, on Fancy's wing, 
 To drink at Nature's unpolluted spring. 
 Or Pope ! didst thou obey a monarch's nod, 
 And cringe beneath a tyrant's lifted rod . ? 
 Detested thought ! though Scotch Reviewers rave, 
 And swear a poet must be born a slave, 
 Apollo swears whoe'er Apollo be, 
 
 A God or not the Poet must be free. 
 
 * 
 No forest laws degrade the Muses' groves; 
 
 He freely ranges, who sincerely loves : 
 
 No guarded fountain cheers that chosen few, 
 
 Who sponge their honours from a Scotch Review, 
 
4 ESSAY. 
 
 Has Europe, then, an undisputed claim 
 To light her Genius at the Muse's flame ; 
 To deck her brow with Fame's immortal wreath. 
 And all the perfumes of Parnassus' breathe ? 
 Say, trans-atlantic Wits, a critic throng, 
 Who live by maiming prose and mangling song, 
 Do Wealth and Fame and Genius favour more, 
 Atlantic's Eastern, than her Western shore ? 
 Believe who will one principle is clear, 
 If there 'tis policy 'tis treason here : 
 One dares to boast ; the other fears to chide ; 
 'Tis here servility; there, lordly pride. 
 
 Whatever foreign critics may advance, 
 Irish or Scotch, in England or in France, 
 
 I heed it not ; we look not there for candour : 
 
 
 But, shall Americans retail their slander ? 
 
 Shall Nature's Freemen bow to Nature's Slaves, 
 
 And watch the beck of prostituted knaves ? 
 
 Our presses change to execrable sewers, 
 
 To catch the loathsome filth of Scotch Reviewers ' 
 
ESSAY. 3 
 
 Where sleeps the pride that spurn'd a foreign yoke, 
 And lordly England's iron sceptre broke ? 
 Oh ! wake to life, avenging spirit ! wake, 
 
 % 
 
 And her assuming critic sceptre break ; 
 
 Dash from her lip th' inebriating bowl, 
 
 And rescue Genius from her curst control ! 
 
 Beneath the baleful influence of her reign, 
 
 The hopes of Genias and of Wit are vain : 
 
 No matter how exalted be the verse, 
 
 It dies beneath a snarling critic's curse : 
 
 However sweet the song, or sound the sense, 
 
 It is not British, and has no defence. 
 
 An Humphreys or a Dwight may charm the skies 
 
 Those strains die soonest, which the highest rise. 
 
 'Tis with the critic's as with Nature's laws, 
 
 The tallest spire the livid lightning draws. 
 
 'Tis Country then, not Merit, wins the prize. 
 And Prejudice, not Truth, the meed supplies* 
 C 
 
26 ESSAY. 
 
 A faithless Byron, (b) or a swaggering Scott, 
 A knave, a sot, a dunce, no matter what, 
 May rant, be dull, may loiter, lag or blunder, 
 Apollo owns him, and the world must wonder, (c) 
 
 Still other foes, my Muse ! our theme assail ; 
 Some hostile sound arrives in every gale. 
 Of all the ills by which this land is curst, 
 Thou, grovelling, hell-born Avarice ! art worst. 
 Should Time subdue a foreign Critic's rage, 
 And Prejudice in Freedom's cause engage ; 
 
 Pale Death would sooner cease to glut the grave, 
 
 
 
 Than sordid Avarice after more to crave* 
 With harpy-claw, she guards her hoarded pelf ; 
 Nor plate nor volume decks her dusty shelf; 
 One mouldy crust supports her meagre form ; 
 Her tatter'd garments flutter in the storm ; 
 Averse to Science, she her aid denies ; 
 Adoring gold rebels against the skies : 
 The more she gains, the more her passion glowf, 
 And Virtue dwindles as her idol grows. 
 
ESSAY. S7 
 
 Time was, when wealth repaid the Poet's toil, 
 And Genius flourish'd in a kinder soil : 
 This Virgil knew, and saw a monarch twine 
 A golden wreath for each successive line. 
 But now, alas ! that golden age is o'er, 
 And Rome's Augustan worthies are no more : 
 No modern Maroes rise you ask me why? 
 Because old Maro's friends were bor-n to die. 
 Had they surviv'd the mighty wreck of time, 
 All Virgil's fire had glow'd in modern rhyme,. 
 
 J Tis love of fame or gold, in grooms or kings^ 
 
 
 Heroes or bards, whence emulation springs : 
 
 To Wealth or Honour, all mankind aspire; 
 Though some affect contempt, yet all admire. 
 What Fame refuses, Patronage supplies, 
 And Fame bestows what Patronage denies ; 
 And though we grant, men struggle for a toy, 
 Remove the cause, and you th' effect destroy. 
 This toy may be a kingdom or a straw, 
 It matters not, it answers Nature's law. 
 
28 ESSAY. 
 
 But ye, Columbian Bards ! in vain desire, 
 Or Fame or Friend to fan your sacred" fire. 
 No flatt'ring prospect nerves the Muse's wing ; 
 In vain ye labour, and in vain ye sing : 
 No patron bids you share his swelling store, 
 No friend unfolds the hospitable door; 
 But cold and thankless is the soil ye tread, 
 And Earth's chill lap the houseless Poet's bed ! 
 Yet heed it not Immortal Bards ! be brave ; 
 A Nation's tears shall dew the Poet's grave : 
 So once did Greece o'er Homer's ashes sigh, 
 And still she tells the stranger where they lie : 
 Of Greece, a living Homer begg'd his bread, 
 Now, all of Greece that lives, is Homer dead. 
 
 Unnumber'd Bards have charm'd Britannia's ear, 
 Whose food was wind, whose drink the briny tear. 
 
 Ill-fated Burns ! I hear thy shade complain 
 Of hearts unmclted at thy witching strain. 
 
ESSAY. 2 
 
 Deaf were the ears on which thy numbers fell, 
 And cold the hearts that knew thy wants so well. 
 
 And Chatterton ! thou darling son of Song ! 
 I hate the sordid race that saw thy wrong, 
 And would not lend to thee what fortune gave. 
 To snatch immortal Genius from the grave. 
 Oh ! Av'rice ! heir and offspring too of hell ! 
 By thee alone this youth untimely fell ! 
 And lovely Charity ! hadst thou been there, 
 One crust had sav'd the Poet from despair. ( d) 
 
 Thus Patronage has oft, unthinking, slept, 
 While modest Worth in solitude has wept ; 
 Then, luckless Bards ! consign'd to evil days, 
 Who scarcely gain a shilling for your lays, 
 What though you now can boast nor friends nor store. 
 Your names shall live when misers are no more 5 
 Their hoarded gold shall into marble turn, 
 And Fame convert it to the Poet's urn, 
 
SO ESSAY. 
 
 Thus Prejudice at home, and Pride abroad, 
 Columbia's Bards of every wreath defraud ; 
 And should one faded bay escape their power, 
 That bay rapacious Avarice will devour. 
 With savage force they seize the Poet's right, 
 And merge his hopes in everlasting night. 
 
 Nor is the evil felt by him alone 
 A Nation suffers from her Minstrel's moan. 
 When hostile arms our floating flag assault, 
 Rivers of blood atone the daring fault ; 
 A nation's pulse beats high for noblest deeds, 
 Nor 'bates its vengeance till the foeman bleeds. 
 The traitor too, that sells his faith for gold, 
 In just abhorrence and contempt we hold ; 
 The infant learns to execrate his name, 
 And mem'ry damns him to eternal shame. 
 But say ! in which does nicest honour lie, 
 Commerce or SCIENCE Arms or POESY ? 
 In what the sword has won, the bard has writ,; 
 The hero's laurels, or the flowers of wit ? 
 
ESSAY. 51 
 
 "What then is due to that licentious throng 
 Across the deep, who spurn the Child of Song, 
 That forms Columbia's sons to Attic manners. 
 And wakes his strains round Freedom's flyingbanners? 
 And what does he deserve, a freeman born, 
 Who treats his fellow-countrymen with scorn ; 
 Subscribes to all that foreign fools can write, 
 And vends the slanders, hireling knaves indite. 
 
 ^ 
 But is there left no spirit to redeem 
 
 A Nation's name from Lethe's deadly stream ? 
 No soul of fire to lure Columbia's gaze, 
 And light her sons to glory by its blaze ? 
 
 Beneath a smouldering heap, by Pride and Spite 
 And Malice rais'd, is hid from mortal sight, 
 A countless treasure riches yet untold, 
 Of plate and pearl, and diamond and gold. 
 Let those whose pens can form the public mind 5 
 No longer palm deception on mankind, 
 
32 ESSAY. 
 
 But rend the veil that hides from mortal eye, 
 Those hidden mines where golden treasures lie. 
 
 How blest the pen, the candid critic wields ! 
 How fresh the bays, his approbation yields ! 
 His master touches, modest Merit raise, 
 And Genius smiles, in secret, at his praise* 
 Such was a Johnson once ; and such be ye, 
 Who boast a birth-right rich and proud as he : 
 And such was he who rais'd a Milton's shade, 
 Who bade mankind admire, and they obey'd. (e) 
 Oh, that some other such may rise to save 
 A Payne, a Dvvight, a Barlow, from the grave [ 
 Let critics here, from foreign critics learn, 
 And proud contempt for proud contempt return ; 
 Their chosen weapons to their rage oppose, 
 And make them love as friends, or fear as foes* 
 A critic's fame should not from this arise, 
 To find where fault of foreign author lies ; 
 But home-born Wit should share his honest praise^ 
 And find, in him, the patron of her lays, 
 
ESSA Y. 85 
 
 To wield ibe pen in modest Merit's cause, 
 
 And justly execute the critic's laws ; 
 
 Disclose the Patriot in every line, 
 
 Is great, is gen'rous, noble, and divine. 
 
 Be this the pride of those, whom Heav'n design'd 
 
 To form, instruct, and mould the public mind. (/) 
 
 But should the great, the learned, and the wise, 
 In one condens'd, o'erwhelming phalanx rise, 
 To slander Genius, blast the Poet's bays, 
 And give to foreign pens alone the praise ; 
 To you, Americans ! the Bard appeals ; 
 For you he labours, and for you he feels. 
 
 A people jealous of their injur'd name. 
 Can fix the laws of infamy and fame ; 
 Can say if native genius shall be spurn'd, 
 And native wisdom into folly turn'd. 
 Will you pronounce a satire on yourselves, 
 While British volumes shine along your shelves ? 
 
34 ESSAY. 
 
 To foreign asps your bosom warmth impart, 
 Till, rous'd to life, they sting you to the heart ? 
 Expel the monsters !...for their very breath 
 Is poison.. .nay, inevitable death. 
 E'en now, emerging from th' Atlantic flood, 
 They waste your flesh, and drink your'vital blood : 
 Your country's foes, incessantly they seek 
 To blight the rose that blossoms on her cheek. 
 Exertion falters, though the Muse inspires 3 
 And Genius, quench'd, forgets her native fires. 
 Thus, while a foreign press your wealth devours, 
 Columbia's Bards forsake the Muses' bowers. 
 
 Say then, enlighten'd Public ! shall your name 
 Be thus consign'd to everlasting shame ? 
 No monument of Genius grace your shore, 
 And Wit attempt the steeps of Fame no more f 
 Oh ! shame deserv'd, if Freemen are resign'd 
 To give their name and honour to the wind ! 
 Columbia's Sons ! assume that proud control, 
 That proves unconquer'd liberty of soul ; 
 
ESSAY. S5 
 
 'reclaims to ev'ry wit beyond the Ocean, 
 Expect no more the free-born soul's devotion !" 
 'oo long already has the meed of Sense 
 
 ivolv'd on Dulness and on Impotence : 
 'oo long has love of country been forgot, 
 'o praise a fool, or idolize a sot. 
 
 virtuous Public must decide the strife 
 >f Truth and Falsehood struggling into life, 
 'he Muse forbears she knows your native pride, 
 lAnd leaves the strife for Freemen to decide. 
 

 ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 AMERICAN POETRY, 
 
 FJ1KT SECOND. 
 
 1> 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 Genius of Columbia addresses the Bards that 
 have sung on this side the Atlantic.. ..Celebrates 
 their Power over the Human Mind in Civilizing... 
 In attuning the Soul to Virtue. ...In giving a 
 Charm to other Sciences,. ..In rewarding Merit.... 
 In Religious Worship. ...Promises them Fame 
 when Prejudice shall have been dethroned by the 
 rising "Spirit of tfniori > \..*She then invites her 
 surviving Sons to participate their Glory. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 DESCEND! indulgent Sister of the Nine ! 
 Once more I court thy influence divine ; 
 Direct thy flight to yonder stately dome, 
 The prize of Valour, and the Hero's home. 
 There will I read, in patriotic pride, 
 The names that greatly liv'd and bravely died ; 
 The Sage, the Hero, Poet and Divine, 
 That high enroll'd in Freedom's temple shine. 
 There's no contention there, for each receives 
 That precedence alone which Merit gives. 
 
What Sages counseled, Patriots achiev'd, 
 And Poets sung but' what Divines believ'd. 
 All strove alike in Freedom's injur'd cause, 
 For pure Religion and for equal Laws. 
 
 High on a sapphire throne, in royal state, 
 The guardian Genius of Columbia sat ; 
 Suspended arms adorn the spacious Hall ; 
 The star-deck'd banner floats along the wall ; 
 The tombs of sleeping worthies rise around, 
 And Silence treads the consecrated ground. 
 Across the harp her graceful arm she flings, 
 And all her " flying fingers kiss the strings.' 5 
 Of heroes, long she sung, in battle slain, 
 While ravish'd mortals listen'd to her strain ; 
 She told the deeds their warrior-hands had done, 
 Their toils encounter'd, and their laurels won, 
 
 But other names inspire a softer lay ; 
 The ready chords her eager soul obey ; 
 
ESSAY. 41 
 
 The sacred Nine descend with all their fire, 
 Arid thus she sweeps her animated Lyre : 
 1 Immortal Bards ! a mighty Nation's pride ! 
 ' Though long her gratitude has been denied. 
 'Accept the tribute of Columbia's song - 
 ' And let her future deeds atone the wrong. 
 e Thy sainted shade ! Oh ! venerable DWIGHT ! 
 ( Now ranging through the happy fields of Light, 
 .' I see, sublime, on seraph-pinions soaring, 
 1 Or humbly, at th' Eternal Throne adoring ! 
 4 There, in immortal beauty, ever shine, 
 1 And Heaven's transporting blessedness be thine ! 
 'Thy earth-born strains instruct the saint to love, 
 4 And tune his voice for sweeter notes above. 
 ' His raptur'd soul has listen'd to thy lay, (a) 
 * And long'd to soar to everlasting day. 
 6 Columbia oft recalls thy patriot worth, 
 'And notes the day that gave her Poet birth ; 
 ? That gave Religion an unshaken friend, 
 A sage to counsel, champion to defend ; 
 D2 
 
42 ESSAY. 
 
 1 Saint to exemplify her precepts given, 
 
 ' And shepherd to conduct her flocks to hearen, 
 
 1 To thee did Orphanage direct its eye, 
 
 1 And found a faithful steward of the sky. 
 
 1 Neglected Worth was taught by thee to rise, 
 
 * And suff'ring Innocence forgot her sighs. 
 
 'The fields of Science, where thou oft didst rove, 
 
 * The fount of Knowledge, and the Muses' grove, (b) 
 ' Record the honours of thy deathless name, 
 
 ' And boast immortal traces of thy fame. 
 'Protect, Oh Earth ! his consecrated dust; 
 1 And thou, blest spirit, live among the just, 
 'Till Nature's GOD command that dust to spring 
 ; To life, and soar where praising seraphs sing. 
 
 ' And BARLOW ! Music's heir Apollo's child 
 'Around thy cradle all the Muses smil'd ; 
 ' To thee were Fancy's airy wings bequeath'd, 
 ' And on thy lips, Parnassian odours breath'd : 
 'Thy Country yet shall own thy epic verse, (c) 
 < And hear thy Muse her warlike deeds rehearse, 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 * Her latest offspring shall with jfcy behold 
 
 ' The happy scenes thy polish'd strains unfold ; 
 
 * And distant Bards shall anxiously aspire 
 
 * To share thy Genius, and partake thy fire. 
 
 { Thy music, PAYNE ! to Freedom ever dear, 
 1 Compatriot souls shall long delight to hear, 
 
 * And freemen never tremble at a foe, 
 
 ' While tyrants hear thy hallow'd numbers flow, (d} 
 
 * Say ! when thy spirit left this earthly ball, 
 " Like good Elijah's, did tby mantle fall ? 
 
 5 Oh ! then, if some Elisha, too, was near, 
 ' We still might boast immortal freedom here ! 
 
 * Rest, honour'd shade ! in peace for ever rest> 
 c And aid the ceaseless anthems of the blest. 
 
 ' Though cold the lips that once so sweetly sung, 
 
 * And cold the bosoms whence such music sprung, 
 
 * Th charm remains the soul delights to dwell 
 c On Nature's scenes, your pencils drew so well* 
 
44 ESSAY. 
 
 1 Sure Nature strungfto song the tuneful soul, 
 
 * And gave to Minstrelsy supreme control ; 
 'The Poet's art remotest realms admire, 
 
 1 And ev'ry age has fann'd his sacred fire. 
 
 * In savage wilds, where Science never shone, 
 
 * Where life's blest charities are all unknown, 
 1 Behold the group around the Minstrel bend, 
 'And list'ning ears to harshest numbers lend. 
 
 f Thus tribes, at first, were form'd ; and thus, ere long., 
 1 The Hamlet rose by magic art of Song ; 
 
 * Wild-wand'ring man forsook his native wood, 
 ' To reap the higher bliss of doing good. 
 
 * The City next extended o'er the plain, 
 *As wiser Poets sung a nobler strain ; 
 
 *And mighty Empires now confess their sway, 
 
 * Mankind admire, and listen, and obey, 
 
 *A sordid world can see the worthy die, 
 *And scarce remember where their ashes lie; 
 
 * But thou divine rewarder of the brave, 
 
 ' Thou Poesy ! wilt deck the good man's grave j 
 
BSSAY. 45 
 
 Around his tomb unfading garlands twine, 
 'And tell the world ? that VIRTUE is DIVINE. 
 ' Though Time may dash the frail historic glass, 
 c And o'er the pyramid his ploughshare pass ; 
 ' Though Egypt's boasted granite may decay, 
 'And monumental marble wear away; 
 1 From dark Oblivion can the Muse reclaim, 
 'And raise forgotten Merit into fame. 
 ' The Grecian Bard, that sung the wars of Troy, 
 ' Has thus embalmed the noble Phrygian boy : 
 1 Great Hector lives through each succeeding age 5 
 'And mortals witness still, Achilles' rage : 
 'Unnumber'd wounds yet bleed before our eyes, 
 1 And o'er the plain the rapid courser flies : 
 ' Though pale in death the mangled heroes lie, 
 ' In Homer's verse they live and cannot die. 
 ( So later Bards, on their poetic page, 
 
 * Have rear'd a monument to every age ; 
 
 Along their lines more lasting honours flow, 
 
 1 Than letter'd brass or sculptur'd tombs bestow. 
 
*6 ESSAY. 
 
 4 To gain the fame they give, the Prince descends 
 4 To court the humble Bard the Monarch bends 
 e From ermin'd royalty and sceptred pride, 
 ' To grace a cottage by the Poet's side. 
 
 * Nor is it strange, if Poesy approve 
 'Those virtues which, as parent, she must love ; 
 
 * For all the virtues that in man appear, 
 c Her care has long contributed to rear. 
 
 * To infant minds just dawning into thought, 
 ' In pleasing verse are moral lessons taught, 
 
 1 And rules of action, thus, the nurse can teach, 
 Which, else, the little mind could never reach. 
 The youth, well pleas'd, repeats the simple verse s 
 The village mistress taught him to rehearse ; 
 And thus, by tale of noble deed inspired, 
 He learns to practise what he once admir'd, 
 So, when arriv'd to intellectual prime, 
 The mind approves the" aid of flowing rhyme, 
 And owns that each idea pleases more, 
 Than, unadorn'd, it ever pleas'd before. 
 
ESS A K 
 
 c The Virtues here in rich attire you see, 
 ' And Vice assumes her own deformity. 
 
 * Is Love the Poet's theme f his art requires 
 4 That every grace should fan the vestal fires ; 
 
 That truth and constancy should rule the breast, 
 4 And every milder virtue stand confest. 
 
 ' The stoic heart is thus constraint to feel, 
 ' And soft desires from marble bosoms steal 
 
 The charm converts the vulture to a dove, 
 
 And all the reader's yielding soul is Love. 
 
 - Or does he sing of arms, and proudly tell 
 'What WELLINGTON achiev'd- how NELSON fell, 
 'How WASHINGTON his Country's bulwark stood, 
 c And WARREN bought her freedom with his blood? 
 J^The mighty theme enkindles large desire 
 
 * To shine in arms, and glow with martial fire; 
 { The glowing hero mounts the foaming steed, 
 
 * And foes to freedom, in his fancy, bleed. 
 
Itt ESSAY.- 
 
 ' Or should the Muse, on humbler pinions borne, 
 ' Those virtues sing, which common life adorn, 
 * Still mortals listen to the artless lay, 
 ( And rules, unknown before, they now obey. 
 'Fraternal Kindness Modesty and Truth, 
 4 And filial Piety, the gern of youth, 
 1 Parental Faithfulness and mutual Love s 
 ' And Charity, the heir of all above, 
 ( And Temperance, the parent sole of Health 5 
 1 And Industry, proprietor of Wealth, 
 f Forbearance, from revenge and malice free, 
 
 * Submissive Patience, heavenly Chastity 
 
 6 All these the Muse adorns with golden tresses ; 
 And to the reader's panting bosom presses, 
 
 * The Virtues thus, from Poesy, derive 
 
 * Engaging charms, no other art can give ; 
 
 ' Their cherub-forms, their rich and gay attire* 
 
 * The kindling breast with ardent passions fire ; 
 c And erring man, from Virtue prone to rore, 
 'Forsakes the wrong, and learns the right to love, 
 
ES&W. 49 
 
 ' Each other Science, Poesy subserves, 
 f Nor from her own peculiar object swerves : 
 ' No art so nice, her touches cannot reach 
 
 * No rules, her flowing numbers cannot teach. 
 
 8 Is moral man the theme ? see WATTS display 
 
 * The shining path that leads to endless day : 
 1 See YOUNG instruct the mortal how to die, 
 
 * And point his hopes to happiness on high. 
 
 ' Thus COWPER, POPE and PARNELL, sung of Man, 
 ' And show'd how just is Heaven's eternal plan, 
 1 How chaste the Morals, grateful to the Muse, 
 ' How pure the Piety her strains infuse. 
 
 * What NEWTON taught, in dull and tiresome prose, 
 
 * Could MILTON'S verse, with luring charm, disclose ; 
 1 Far into distant worlds he 'raps the soul, 
 
 { Where comets fly, or nearer planets roll. 
 
 'Not better rules could BOERHAVE'S self rehearse, 
 
 * Than pleasing flow, in ARMSTRONG'S mellow verse ; 
 
 * The husbandman no better rules of art 
 
 * Can learn, than VIRGIL'S rural lays impart* 
 
 E 
 
& ESSAY. 
 
 'Thus Poesy instructs th j inquiring mind, 
 f Enstarnps the thought, but leaves no pang behind; 
 ' O'er fields of toil Parnassian odour throws, 
 4 Avoids the thorn, but culls the blooming rose. 
 'But higher honours grace the Poet's art, 
 ' For Heaven employs it to attune the heart, 
 1 To sacred, blest devotion : WATTS and DWIGHT, 
 ' If Earth be not beyond a Seraph's flight, 
 6 May hear the hallow'd notes their Muse inspif'd ; 
 * See other bosoms by those numbers fir'd ; 
 ' From countless tongues may hear the song of Love 
 'They left on earth, to join the songs above, 
 
 c Such power, Oil Song ! and such success is thine, 
 1 That wond'ring mortals own thee all divine; 
 6 The passions throng to mingle in thy train, 
 c And,, lur'd by thee, all other charms are vain, 
 c Then let the soul at flowing numbers melt, 
 1 And be thy charms, Oh Music ! ever felt ; 
 i And while this Land has Virtue to be free, 
 ' May I, its guardian Genius, ever see 
 
ESSAY. !>l 
 
 t Some favt)ur'd Minstrel o'er the harp reclining, 
 1 And flow'ry garlands round his temples twining. 
 
 'Accept, ye sland'er'd Bards ! Columbia's song 
 ' Remotest realms shall all her strains prolong: 
 
 * The days will come, when smother'd Truth shall tell. 
 k The sleeping honours you deserve so well. 
 
 ' Some second ADDIS ON shall break the charm ; 
 r A blinded world shall catch the quick alarm, 
 1 Shall see, what Candour oft had seen before, 
 1 And Prejudice usurp the mind no more. 
 
 * The Critic-spell shall soon in air dissolve, 
 
 f And Genius in her native sphere revolve ; - 
 
 ( Intestine Faction then shall hide its head, 
 
 ' Unenvied laurels bloom around the dead; 
 
 1 A mighty Nation feel one common soul, 
 
 ' And bonds of mutual interest bind the whole : 
 
 1 Her blazing banner, Union shall unfurl, 
 
 ' And from his throne the monster Discord hurl ; 
 
 1 Each patriot-breast with highest transport burning, 
 
 * Feel heavenly peace again to earth returning. 
 
^ ESSAY. 
 
 4 No party names shall mar the Nation's bliss, 
 
 But all distinctions be dissolv'd in this ; 
 
 4 The good, the base, the wise man and the fool, 
 ; These to submit to law, and those to rule. 
 
 This name "AMERICAN" shall millions boast> 
 ' And this one name alone shall prove a host 5 
 
 Successful arms shall win a Nation's peace, 
 
 Indulgent Fortune bid her wealth increase 5 
 4 Her active Commerce whiten every sea, 
 
 ' And growing Virtue make her children free. 
 ' This temple then its tow'ring arch shall spread, 
 ' To guard the sacred relicks of the dead, 
 1 While grateful youth shall strew unfading roses 
 t Where WASHINGTON in balmy sleep reposes. 
 
 The Bard and Hero shall together rest, 
 
 ' The greenest turf shall press each generous breast, 
 
 ' Apollo chant his paeans o'er the brave, 
 
 4 While Mars heaps garlands on the Poet's grave. 
 
 ' Ye living Bards ! whose souls for glory burn, 
 ' To you with hope and confidence I turn; 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 "An injur'd Country calls for all your fire; 
 
 4 Her godlike deeds should noblest strains inspire. 
 
 * On you a Nation's fondest hope relies ; 
 
 1 She knows the aid the Poet's art supplies. 
 ; The sleeping Hero asks no marble bust, 
 
 * No scuiptur'd urn to consecrate his dust ; 
 
 1 If one sweet Bard consent to write his name, 
 ' He sleeps in peace, contented with his fame. 
 
 * What though no golden gain reward your toils, 
 
 * A prouder triumph swells with richer spoils. 
 1 More lasting honours deck the Poet's tomb, 
 
 ' Than Artists dig from Earth's productive womb, 
 
 1 Potosi's golden stores, from dross refin'd ; 
 
 'Are base, compar'd with what he leaves behind; 
 
 * Unfading flowers shall blossom o'er his dust, 
 
 ' While distant realms confess his honours just. 
 
 * Columbia's latest sons shall bless the skies, 
 1 And tell the stranger where the Poet lies ; 
 'Her virgin daughters wake their softest numbers, 
 
 1 Around the peaceful mansion where he slumbers. 
 E2 
 
W ESSAY. 
 
 c Then strike the harp, ye favour'd Sons of Song ! 
 ' Already has your music slept too long. 
 
 * The rising race shall learn to prize the art, 
 
 * That fosters Genius, and that mends the heart. 
 
 * Ere long, the Bard shall share the Miser's hoard, 
 
 The choicest wines shall sparkle on his board; 
 ' A competence of all that Nature gives, 
 
 Shall bless the cottage where the Poet lives j 
 
 ' In Freedom's sacred fane his name shall shine, 
 
 ; With thine, O FRANKLIN!. .WASHINGTON! with tl*ine$ 
 
 ; Admiring throngs shall lend the listening ear, 
 
 And smiling Beauties flatter as they hear. 
 
 4 Such, free-born Minstrel ! such the high reward. 
 4 Your Country shall bestow Oh ! then record, 
 
 * In living verse, what passing scenes disclose ; 
 
 Thus, as the mellow measure sweetly flows, 
 4 To latest time your memory shall live, 
 
 ; And Fame to you her lasting garlands give, 
 ' Till Fame and Memory from earth are driven, 
 ; And Virtue crown her sainted sons in Heaven, 
 
ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 AMERICAN POETRY. 
 
 PART THIRD. 
 
ARGUMENT. 
 
 Prospects of American Poetry. ...Encouragements to 
 cultivate it, Yi~RST,from natural Advantages.. ..The 
 superior Workmanship of Nature in the Forma- 
 tion of our Country. ...Its Lakes, Mountains, Riv- 
 erSj Tides, and Cataracts. ...Its Minimal and Vege 
 table Productions.... All these indicate the grand 
 Design of JVature.... SECONDLY, Its Artificial and 
 Political Advantages. ...Extended Territory. ..Free* 
 Government,... One Language.... Pure Religion...,. 
 An Invocation to the Nine of Parnassus, inviting 
 them to cultivate in our Country the particulaK 
 Arts and Scienca over which thty preside, 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 PART THIRD, 
 
 J.F Fame till now has rear'd no sacred fane. 
 Where WARREN and MONTGOMERY were slain. 
 Where GREEN and WASHINGTON, in Freedom's cause, 
 Subdu'd the foe, and gave a nation laws, 
 Ere long, Columbia! thou shalt share the bays, 
 And teach the world thy just desert of praise. 
 Thy eldest born bade Freedom's temple rise, 
 And saw its towery fabric reach the skies : 
 Thy younger sons shall soar with equal pride. 
 And Fame erect her temple by its side, 
 
58 ESSAY. 
 
 See Science now her palace-gates unfold, 
 Of orient pearl and occidental gold ! 
 Around her throne the Bards of Greece and Rome, 
 And modern Europe, crowd the spacious dome. 
 With beck'ning smile, she bids Columbia come 
 To claim her sons' hereditary home ; 
 Displays the verdant wreaths their wit has won, 
 And tells their deeds in aid of Virtue done. 
 The Guardian Genius of the Exile's Land, 
 Through ambient air escorts the shining band ; 
 Loud acclamations rend th' aerial hall ; 
 New trophies grace the decorated wall : 
 The magic mansion lengthens and ascends, 
 And Science welcomes home her free-born friends* 
 
 Ye Minstrel Choir ! behold the morning ray, 
 That cheers the Poet's soul with hope of day : 
 Thrice welcome to our sphere, approaching Light I 
 Oh ! 'chase away these hateful shades of night. 
 ? Tis done ! and lo ! Apollo's fiery car 
 Enlightens, cheers, and sparkles from afaH 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 To yon tall cliff, on Fancy's airy wing 
 I fly :-^Oh Muse ! inspirit every string 
 In this my humble Lyre ;-^let each vibration 
 Awake to life a mighty, slumb'ring Nation. 
 
 See cloudless suns illume these western skies ! 
 See flow'ry fields in smiling prospect rise ! 
 Enchanting scenes allure the raptur'd eye, 
 And Nature moves, in Panorama, by. 
 
 v 
 For holy Bards, here other Ganges roll, 
 
 And sacred groves inspire the pensive soul ; * 
 The broad cerulean lake, the forest dell, 
 The whiten'd plain, where foes to Freedom fell ; 
 The dashing flood, the coot and mossy fountain, 
 The flow'ry vale, the thunder-rifted mountain ; 
 All rise to view, in one grand scene united 
 The Eye surveys, and Fancy roves delighted. 
 
 Where meets the orient sun a lovelier scene. 
 Than in Columbia's fields of vernal green . ? 
 
00 ESSAY. 
 
 And where does Cynthia spread her midnight vision, 
 O'er land so like the fabled fields Elysian ? 
 
 Sure Nature here design'd immortal deeds, 
 As here her handywork all else exceeds. 
 Earth's broadest rivers here to ocean glide, 
 And bear her richest commerce on their tide; 
 Her loftiest mountains too, the gazer's wonder, 
 Sublimely scorn heaven's loudest, fiercest thunder ! 
 Where then, from Arctic to Antarctic Pole, 
 Do nobler objects fire the Poet's soul ? 
 
 In vain the world beside may boast its store, 
 Columbia boasts, and justly boasts of more. 
 In vain Golconda counts her hidden gold ; 
 Potosi's womb can richer stores unfold : 
 No wealth like that, can eastern Monarehs tell, 
 Which CorteE found, where Montezuma fell, (a) 
 
 Let China in her walls and vigils trust, 
 And Russia rear her Moscow from the dust ; 
 
JES&41'. 61 
 
 Let Rome preserve her temples from decay, 
 
 Her mouldering piles with conscious pride survey ; 
 
 Recall the riches of her golden age, 
 
 When Caesar reign'd, and Genius trod her stage ; 
 
 Rebuild her towers ; erect each fallen wall ; 
 
 Still Lima's silver pavement far exceeds them all. (b) 
 
 While Missisippi, like a Monarch, glides, 
 The boasted Thames would scarcely swell his tides. 
 Thy waters, Seine ! and thine, Italian Po ! 
 And yours, that through oppress'd Hibernia flow; 
 The Hudson, laving high the parted hills, 
 Would daily drink as tributary rills. 
 Not Egypt's Nile Hispania's Guadalqulver, 
 Euphrates primal Eden's nataHuver ; 
 Illissus, ever sacred to the Nine, 
 With Senegal beneath the burning line* 
 And Gallic Rhone, and Caledonian Forth, 
 Compare with Lawrence, Monarch of the North. 
 In vain does Ganges or the Danube roar, 
 
 To ape the floods that dash La Plata's shore ; 
 F 
 
62 ESSAY. 
 
 And Borumpooter but essays in vain, 
 
 Like Amazon, to breast the foaming Main, (c) 
 
 Ladoga, Ness, and Lomond, may contend ; 
 Geneva, Constance, Tay, their waters lend, 
 By all their tributary sources fed, 
 In vain to fill Superiour's mighty bed. (d) 
 
 Should Tenerifle exalt his airy peak, 
 And hoary Blanc more frozen regions seek 5 
 Should Snowdon's top in loftier grandeur rise, 
 And awe sublimer regions of the skies; 
 The raging storm on Andes' breast that blows, 
 Would leare their heads in undisturb'd repose. 
 Pile Alps on Appenines, and o'er the whole 
 Let Atlas rise to fright th' astonish'd soul ; 
 When Chimborazo looks through tempests down, 
 The mole-hill crumbles at his Gothic frown, (e) 
 
 While Fundy's tides (f) are roaring mountain-high, 
 And beat the heaving bosom of the sky, 
 
ESSAY. W 
 
 Balavia's sons can bind their rageless ocean, (g) 
 Nor Neptune dread in all his wild commotion. 
 
 Behold Niagara's grand floods descend, 
 And Earth's firm axle 'nealh the torrent bend; (h) 
 See Funza from the lofty Andes pour, 
 And at its base like distant thunder roar, (i) 
 
 See Nature's master-touches too display'd, 
 In Amazonia's native forest shade > 
 The songsters there, no pencil's hue can reach ; 
 Tis Nature's tint, which Art can never teach, (k) 
 
 See too, on broad Ohio's yerdant bank, 
 Leviathan, who once its waters drank, 
 And scarcely able there to quaff his fill, 
 Leaps o'er the Lakes, and bounds from hill to hill. (1) 
 
 Behold, on Florida's luxuriant plains, 
 The peerless monarch of the forest reigns; 
 
64 ESSAY. 
 
 His spreading arms o'er flowery fields he throws. 
 And in their shade the panting flocks repose, (m) 
 
 With marks like these, has Nature stampt our land, 
 And bids the world admire her master hand 5 
 In equal scale has weigh'd the free-born mind, 
 And bids it soar and leave a world behind. 
 Say, Critic ! canst thou view her noble plan, 
 And think it not design'd to reach to man ? 
 Has Nature thus her noblest work deluded, 
 And, from her scale, her creature man excluded ? 
 Say ! dost thou think her golden chain is broke ? 
 Seest thou the orange blushing on the oak ; 
 The tender fig on thorny thistles growing ; 
 On Winter's frozen breast the lily blowing? 
 Do violets bloom on banks of drifted snows, 
 Or nodding rushes bend beneath the rose ? 
 Then mark her grand design ; if towVing high, 
 Columbia's mountains prop th' incumbent sky, 
 Her native mind shall soar to equal height, 
 Where play the effluent beams of intellectual light. 
 
 - 
 
ESSAY* G5 
 
 If Nature here on noblest plan has wrought, 
 And all her works to pure perfection brought, 
 'Tis chaos all, a mass without a soul, 
 If Man be not design'd to crown the whole. 
 
 To Man I turn, in Virtue's lap caress'd, 
 
 
 
 And to Fredonia's virgin bosom prest. 
 
 Let facts disclose, and pasf experience show, 
 
 If noble minds in Freedom's cradle grow. 
 
 Slow up the west the cloud of summer rolls 5 
 The distant thunder rocks the trembling poles ; 
 Bright arrowy flames enkindle night to day, 
 And round the heavens on forky pinions play. 
 But hark ! the thunders cease ! the deaf 'ning roar, 
 And vivid flashes, fright the soul no more. 
 The cloud dissolves ! Behold that blazing ball 
 Descend to earth, at Franklin's magic call, 
 And, like a meteor, harmless lightnings falL 
 
 F2 
 
to ESSAY. 
 
 On Carolina's plain, and Bunker's height. 
 What are those sounds ? that flash of sudden light r 
 What mean those flaming arms and foaming steeds r 
 Alas ! 'tis War a friend, a brother bleeds ! 
 Around the foe a feeble band unites, 
 To guard their country, home, and sacred rights. 
 Untaught in lesson'd art of hostile arms, 
 And uninur'd to war's malign alarms. 
 What form is that, that strides along the line ? 
 Is it a mortal or some power divine ? 
 Some guardian Angel of a Nation's peace, 
 Some Seraph, sent to bid the slaughter cease ? 
 No ! 'tis Columbia's Son the heir of fame, 
 Creation's Hero ! WASHINGTON his name. 
 
 What voice resounds in yonder crowded hall ? 
 What lips are those from which such accents fall ? 
 That form Demosthenes ! is that thine own ? 
 Or Chatham's, thundering at Oppression's throne ? 
 Not thine, Demosthenes ! nor Chatham ! thine ; 
 In AMES, alone, your blended virtues shine. 
 
ESSAY. 
 
 Such gifts, indulgent Nature ! from thy store, 
 Adorn Atlantic's western slander'd shore : 
 With lavish hand thy blessings round are strovvn, 
 As if thou here hadst fixt thine everlasting throne. 
 
 To Nature's works primeval, all sublime, 
 That still survive the mouldering wreck of time, 
 And still invite the Muse ; Science and Art, 
 Their own peculiar loveliness impart ; 
 Religion Empress reigns; and o'er the three. 
 Presides the Guardian Monarch, LIBERTY. 
 
 A boundless prospect rises to the sight ; 
 Gay vernal scenes, array'd in loveliest light, 
 Disclose the flowers that promise Autumn's board, 
 The richest fruits that Nature's stores afford. 
 Four circling oceans lash Columbia's shore ; 
 Earth's noblest rivers from her mountains pour ;. 
 Earth's broadest realm demands the Poet's song ; 
 Retiring forests lure" his steps along; 
 
68 ESSAY. 
 
 Till soon, th' Atlantic Bard his art shall teach 
 To cultivated man, on California's beach. 
 
 Oppression here has rear'd no bloody throne ; 
 Celestial Freedom claims, as all her own, 
 This sacred home, to exil'd Virtue given, 
 The legacy of ever bounteous Heaven. 
 No Monarch's frown the gen'rous thought suppresses, 
 No partial Prince a Laureat Bard caresses ; 
 But free as mountain air, the Poet's mind 
 Sails with the breeze, or rushes with the wind. 
 A common language soon shall join the whole, 
 From torrid Darien to th' Arctic Pole ; 
 And mutual friendship clothe the land in smiles, 
 From California to th' Atlantic Isles. 
 
 Religion, ransorn'd from the gloomy cells, 
 Where monkish, lonely Superstition dwells, 
 Shall here repose, array'd in comely guise, 
 Or journey onward to her native skies. 
 
ESSAY. M 
 
 No longer forc'd in mountain caves to dwell, 
 
 O 
 
 Or fly for refuge to the hermit's cell ; 
 
 No more confiVd to light of midnight lamps, 
 
 To desert air, or sickening cloister damps, 
 
 Her native sun shall light her heaven!} 7 way, 
 
 And on her pathway pour effulgent day ; 
 
 Shall dry her dewy robe, her falling tear, 
 
 While Seraphs guard her through her blight career. 
 
 Her Father now regards her filial prayer; 
 
 Now graze her flocks beneath her shepherd's care ; 
 
 Shielded from Persecution's arrowy storm, 
 
 The rack no more distorts her angel form ; 
 
 The flames are quench'd the stake to ashes falls, 
 
 And Ruin stalks around her dungeon walls. 
 
 Ye sacred Nine ! to this fair land of ours, 
 Transfer your groves, your fountains, and your bowers; 
 On earthly couches court celestial ease ; 
 Drink dewy nectar from the balmy breeze ; 
 Ambrosial fruits shall crowd your earthly board, 
 Nor high Olympus richer sweets afford* 
 
TO ESSAY. 
 
 EUTERPE ! () Mistress of the tuneful choir. 
 That strike the mellow lute and sounding lyre, 
 Or harmless flocks to verdant pastures lead, 
 With rustic pipe, or shepherd's simple reed ; 
 Descend, and teach us how the Muses feel, 
 When to the he_art celestial numbers steal. 
 
 CALLIOPE ! that rul'st the hall of state, 
 And guides! senates in the high debate, 
 J Tis thou alone must nicest rules impart, 
 To form a Tully's and a Chatham's art. 
 In Freedom's temple, when her sons assemble, 
 Let tyrants hear, and proud invaders tremble ! 
 
 And CLIO ! guide to the historic pen, 
 'Tis thine t' eternalize the deeds of men ; 
 To note the present, and the past recall, 
 Select, arrange, preserve, and order all. 
 Thy art can bid the sleeping hero live, 
 And long forgotten merit shall revive, 
 
ESSAY. 71 
 
 Columbia asks thy aid descend and tell 
 Her latest sons, how once their fathers fell. 
 
 MELPOMENE ! Inventress of the Stage ! 
 Thy art has charm'd mankind in every age ; 
 By thee was Shakespeare's mighty genius fed, 
 And, in thy school, immortal Garrick bred ; 
 
 Teach thou Columbia's youth her stage to tread. 
 j 
 
 And thee, URANIA ! shall my strains invite, 
 Who dwell'st in circling orbs of radiant light ; 
 Thou didst instruct a Newton how to soar 
 To fields of Science never trod before ; 
 Didst give to Milton's fancy airy wings, 
 And wake celestial music on his strings. 
 
 And sportive THALIA ! Mirth's facetious queen ! 
 Let Wit and Laughter crowd the Comic scene, 
 While bending age forgets corroding care, 
 And cheerful youth finds entertainment there. 
 
7.2 ESSAY. 
 
 Thou, TERPSICHORE ! the mazy dance shalt lead 
 Around the hall, or on the flowery mead, 
 While nymph and swain, on "light fantastic toe," 
 With rural mirth and harmless pleasure glow. 
 
 Young; ERATO ! the Maiden's favourite Muse ! 
 
 OD 
 
 With early love the youthful breast infuse ; 
 
 In happy wedlock kindred spirits join ; 
 
 For Virtue, Beauty, Youth, and Wealth, are thine 
 
 Thou, POLYHYMNIA ! o'er the whole preside ; 
 Thy Sisters aid ; their various tasks divide ; 
 To Earth escort them, borne on dewy pinion, 
 And mortals, pleas'd, shall hail your blest dominion ! 
 
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 
 
 ON A 
 
 VARIETY OF SUBJECTS. 
 
 G 
 
AD VER TISEMEJVT. 
 
 IN the following Fugitives, it has been the ex 
 press design of the Author to cultivate variety. 
 He has introduced between forty and fifty different 
 kinds of measure not only to relieve the reader, 
 but also to exemplify the most approved diversi 
 ties of English metre. Several species of verse 
 have been necessarily omitted, lest the volume 
 should exceed its intended size. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 THE Hermit of Wysox....a Tale - - 77 
 
 Contentment. ...an Ode - 81 
 
 Fare Thee Well...To Lord Byron - - 87 
 
 To a Pair of Butterflies - - - 91 
 
 The Royal Exile - 93 
 
 Summer Evening Walk - - 95 
 
 The Friendly Foe 99 
 
 The Temple of Freedom - - 1 03 
 
 Virtue - - . . - 107 
 
 To a Friend lost at Sea - . 109 
 
 The Battle of Champlain - - 1 1 1 
 
 United States Navy. ...a Sapphic Ode - 117 
 
 The Plough Boy 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Compassion - 121 
 
 The Emigrant's Farewell < 123 
 
 The Emigrant's Address - 127 
 
 The Tear - - 131 
 
 Lines on President Dwight - - 133 
 
 Solution of an Enigma - 139 
 
 An Original Enigma - . - 143 
 
 Mary's Grave - 145 
 
 The Maiden's Choice - - 147 
 
 Reply to the Choice - 149 
 
 The True Story 153 
 
 The Power of Love....an Ode - 159 
 
 The Portrait - 169 
 
 The Soldier's Repose - - 173 
 
 Paul and Virginia ~ 175 
 
 Just like Man - - - - - 1 79 
 

 THE HERMIT OF WYSOX 
 
 A TALE, (a) 
 
 W HERE Susquehannah rolls his silver tide, 
 And drinks the wave of many a crystal flood, 
 
 I sought, at eve, the mountain's leafy side, 
 Where liv'd an ancient Hermit of the wood. 
 
 Fast by his mossy cabin, overgrown 
 
 With mantling vines, I met his bending form, 
 
 When eighty winters o'er his locks had thrown 
 The broad and frosty mantle of the storm. 
 
 G2 
 
78 HERMIT OF WYSOX, 
 
 Far from the world and all its noisy strife, 
 He crav'd no more than simple nature gave : 
 
 Estrang'd from all the charities of life, 
 One only blessing needed 'twas a grave ! 
 
 *' Forgive," I cried, " and, venerable Sire ! 
 
 11 Forbid me not this hallow'd spot to tread ; 
 " Thy home is sacred as the vestal's fire, 
 
 " Or mould'ring ashes of the honour'd dead. 
 
 ; * By chance, as roving on the mountain's side, 
 " Allur'd by Nature's loveliness along ; 
 
 i; I find the home where Peace and you reside, 
 " Lull'd by the charms of Philomela's song," 
 
 The Sire replied >" Approach and hear, my child, 
 " The simple story of the hermit's wo ; 
 
 * l And how, within this dark, sequester'd wild, 
 " I end my race of wretchedness below. 
 
itERMIT OF WYSOX. 79 
 
 ' I once was happy on the banks of Tay ; 
 
 " A wife, a daughter, crovvn'd my little store ; 
 : None kinder, fairer, lovelier, than they 
 
 "Alas ! but wife and daughter are no more. 
 
 Before I sought this solitary gloom, 
 " The mother left her sorrows for the skies 5 
 And now, the starless midnight of the tomb 
 " For ever hides the daughter from my eyes, 
 
 : By yonder willow, bending o'er the brook, 
 " The ashes of my dear Amanda sleep ; 
 In early youth her soul its clay forsook, 
 " And left me here to suffer and to weep." 
 
 . manly tear bedew'd his wither'd cheek, 
 And down the father's aged bosom stole ; 
 
 lis anguish'd heart forbade his lips to speak, 
 And mighty grief subdu'd the Hermit's soul, 
 
80 HERMIT OF WYSOX. 
 
 His tott'ring steps soon brought him to his cell, 
 Beside the couch where, once, Amanda lay ; 
 
 There, lifeless, on the mountain-moss he fell, 
 And Death, in kindness, wip'd his tear away. 
 
AN ODE 
 ON CONTENTMENT. 
 
 A.H ! happy, happy is the mind 
 To no ambitious schemes inclin'd 
 
 The ruin of the Great j 
 Contented with the good that's giv'n, 
 And satisfied that righteous Heaven 
 
 Should fix the creature's fate : 
 Repining not at scenes of wo, 
 
 That force the bitter sigh ; 
 The scale that yesterday was low, 
 To-morrow may be high : 
 
 Then tearless, and fearless, 
 
 I'll smile at Fortune's frown ; 
 Since coming days, perhaps, may raise 
 The scale that now is down. 
 
82 CONTENTMENT* 
 
 II. 
 
 Let others seek for Fame and Wealth ; 
 I ask but Competence and Health ; 
 
 What more can mortal need ? 
 For me, no Slave shall wear the chain, 
 No Navies ride the dang'rous main, 
 
 Nor warring Armies bleed : 
 Be this the use of all my store, - 
 
 To give the hungry food ; 
 This all my Fame I ask no more.-^ 
 
 The PRAISE OP DOING GOOD. 
 
 I fear not I care not 
 For puff of empty Pride ; 
 
 Such breath will, my sails fill, 
 As down Life's stream I glide. 
 
CONTENTMENT* 83 
 
 III. 
 
 If Providence should kindly send 
 Its richest earthly Gift a FRIEND, 
 
 Thrice grateful would I prove ; 
 Such Gift will ev'ry loss retrieve, 
 And Gift, and Giver, shall receive 
 
 My undissembled love. 
 Thus blest, the world no more I'd roam, 
 
 Well pleas'd with favours lent ; 
 But set me down, and make my home 
 The dwelling of CONTENT. 
 
 Caressing, and blessing, 
 
 Should be our sweet employ ; 
 Thus living, and giving 
 All earth can give of joy. 
 
34 CONTENTMENT. 
 
 > 
 
 IV. 
 
 His shining heaps of hoarded gold, 
 For which celestial bliss is sold, 
 
 The Miser may adore ; 
 The Hero find a soldier's grave, 
 And Seamen plough the ocean-wave 
 
 Where naval thunders roar ; 
 I envy not the Miser's care 
 
 Nor yet the Hero's grave ; 
 Contented, though I never share 
 The laurels of the brave ; 
 
 Though fameless, yet blameless, 
 
 I'll tread this mortal shore ; 
 
 My breast then, shall rest, when 
 
 The storm of Life is o'er. 
 
CONTENTMENT. 85 
 
 V. 
 
 In Death, will hope to find a friend, 
 Who all the ills of life shall end, 
 
 And give the bosom rest ; 
 With pleasure quit the shores of Time, 
 And seek in Heaven a kindlier clime 
 
 Companion of the blest : 
 There pleasures rise, without alloy, 
 
 And tears no longer flow ; 
 And there, with more than mortal joy, 
 Shall ev'ry bosom glow ; 
 
 Still singing, and bringing 
 
 New honours to the Lamb 
 Still soaring adoring 
 The INFINITE "I AM!" 
 
 H 
 
FAHE THEE WELL 
 
 TO LORD BYRON. (&) 
 
 1? 
 
 JT ARE thee well^inconstant Lover .! 
 
 If thy fickle flame was love ; 
 Though our transient joys are over, 
 I can can ne'er inconstant prove, 
 
 Man may boast a deathless passion, 
 Swear his love shall ne'er decline ; 
 
 Yet, unfix'd as changing fashion, 
 
 Woman's fate may change like mine ! 
 
88 FARE THEE WELL, 
 
 Once I thought I might believe thee ; 
 
 Might on Byron's oath rely ; 
 But my arms do scarce receive thee, 
 
 Ere thy oaths, unheeded, die. 
 
 From paternal arms you took me, 
 Stole me from a mother's care ; 
 
 Then in wantonness forsook me 
 For a less admiring fair. 
 
 Prayers and tears were unavailing, 
 Nought thy purpose could beguile ; 
 
 Not a Wife, her woes bewailing, 
 Nor a lovely Infant's smile. 
 
 Heav'n had form'd thee for unkindness, 
 Steel'd thy soul to all that's mild ; 
 
 Dimm'd thy moral sight with blindness. 
 Left thee Nature's wayward child. 
 

 FARE THEE WELL. 89' 
 
 Stay ! I must not cannot chide thee ; 
 
 What thou hast not, who can blame ? 
 Virtue is what Heav'n denied thee. 
 
 And the world has done the same. 
 
 Think not I can e'er forget thee ; 
 
 No, thy griefs will all be mine ; 
 I shall weep when foes beset thee, 
 
 Smile when Fortune's sun shall shine. 
 
 Must I can I shall a Mother 
 
 Hate the Father of her Child ? 
 Gracious Heaven ! my anguish smother,--* 
 
 At that name, my Infant smil'd ! 
 
 Smil'd to think she had a Father 
 
 To protect her growing years j - 
 " Unsuspecting Orphan, rather 
 
 u Drown thine eye in flood of tears 1 
 
 H2. 
 
90 FARE THEE WELL. 
 
 " Father, now. sweet Babe, tbou bast not 
 " All bis care you must forego ; 
 
 " Otber woes thy peace may blast not. 
 " Yet thou hast this keenest wo ! 
 
 " Orphan Babe ! my care shall ever 
 " Guard thee from the ills of life ; 
 " Death alone hath power to sever 
 "Byron's Babe and constant Wife]" 
 
TO A PAIR OF BUTTERFLIES, 
 
 AT THE SUMMIT OF THE ALPS, (c) 
 
 A RETTY, fluttering, wandering Insects ! 
 
 What could tempt your wings so high ? 
 Why forsake the flowery valley, 
 
 For a bleak and wintry sky ? 
 
 Come ye here to show your betters^ 
 Who aspire to Glory's wreath, 
 
 How absurd are erring mortals, 
 That forsake the vale beneath ? 
 
92 TO A PAIR OF BUTTERFLIES. 
 
 Must we learn, by your presumption, 
 That 'tis madness to aspire ; 
 
 Better court a humbler pleasure, 
 Than to steal the Muses' fire ?' 
 
 Jtfo ! the lesson that ye teach us, 
 May, if learnt, our state improve : 
 
 What in you we call presumption, 
 Shows the power of mighty Love. 
 
 Man, alone the sport of Fortune, 
 Bends beneath his sorrows rife ; 
 
 But, if blest with meet Companion, 
 Braves the winter-storms of Life. 
 
THE ROYAL EXILE. 
 
 HE mountain was wrapt in the cloud of the ocean 5 
 The wind roar'd aloud in the cave of the shore ; 
 r hen Helena's Exile, in wildest emotion, 
 In thought climb'd the cliff, 'mid the tempest's loud roar, 
 
 fe dream'd of his birth-night, when Nature stood weeping, 
 With sackcloth enshrouded, by Corsica's wave ; 
 lien Furies approach'd, as the ''n&nl lay sleeping, 
 And fed him with gall, and the blood of the grave* 
 
94 THE ROYAL EXILE. 
 
 The tempest then howling, with Nile's awful thunders, 
 Reminded the Exile of Britain's bright arms ; 
 
 Of the bull-dogs of .England, old Ocean's proud wondei 
 That spread, through his fleet, horror, death and alan 
 
 Here yawn the dark graves where, in Death's frozen slumbeii 
 Ten thousand brave heroes have sunk to repose ; 
 
 Where youth, without honour, aud countless in numbers, 
 By yielding to Nature, have fled from her foes. 
 
 Now bursts on his vision, proud Moscow, wide flaming, 
 His comrades in arms strew'd on Russia's chill snows; 
 
 Their wounds lately op'd, and their blood newly streaming. 
 And Death's hollow voice mounts the blast, as it blows, 
 
 A shriek sent his spirit to Death's cold embraces 
 " Adieu!" cried the Exile, " my country ! Adieu ! 
 
 " Ah ! horror ! that life which my mem'ry disgraces, 
 " Oh ! had I but left it with thee WATERLOO !" 
 
A SUMMER EVENING WALK 
 
 WHEN silver Cynthia bares her breast, 
 And forest warblers sink to rest, 
 And ev'ning zephyr gently blows, 
 And dew-drops sparkle on the rose, 
 
 That breathes so fragrantly 
 
 When Philomela wakes her notes, 
 And distant music softly floats, 
 And Echo mocks the dashing flood, 
 From mountain side and hollow wood f 
 I muse delightfully. 
 
96 SUMMER EVENING WALE. 
 
 'Tis then I feel for others' wo ; 
 'Tis then Compassion learns to glow ; 
 Then Virtue all the soul inspires, 
 And Love awakes her vestal fires, 
 
 That glow so fervently. 
 
 'Tis then departed pleasures pass, 
 In mem'ry's time-restoring glass, 
 Then Fancy treads the airy road 
 To Virtue's last and bright abode, 
 In Immortality. 
 
 'Tis then, departed Parent dear ! 
 I 'dew the turf with many a tear, 
 That on a Mother's breast is laid 
 And then I trace thy sainted shade 
 To pure Felicity. 
 
SUMMER EVENING WJLLKi 97 
 
 There too, with philosophic 
 The soul surveys the azure sky ; 
 Enlarging still her ravish'd view, 
 She thinks to glance Creation through, 
 And scan Immensity. 
 
 But stay presumptuous, erring man ! 
 Thy mortal ken is but a span ; 
 Beyond that span what prospects rise ! 
 Ah ! there, unthinking creature, lies 
 Untried Eternity ! 
 
THE FRIENDLY FOE. 
 
 IS life a scene of sorrow ? 
 
 And can we ever say, 
 The woes will come to-morrow, 
 
 Which do not come to-day ? 
 Yes ! sorrows mark our progress, 
 
 Whatever path we go ; 
 But still we have one solace dear, 
 
 One ever friendly Foe ! 
 
100 
 
 THE FRIENDLY 
 
 The mortal born to languishj 
 
 Nor taste the joys of health ; 
 To spend his days in anguish,-^ 
 
 His patience all his wealth ; 
 The offspring of Misfortune, 
 
 Doom'd all its pangs to know, 
 Beneath the green and welcome sod 
 
 Will find a friendly Foe ! 
 
 When Beauty's base deceiver 
 
 Has triumph'd o'er his prey, 
 One charm may still relieve her 
 
 Whom art has led astray : 
 Within the narrow mansion, 
 
 Where tears no longer flow, 
 She'll find the potent conqueror, 
 
 Who proves a friendly Foe ! 
 
THE FRIENDLY FOEf, 
 
 The broken-hearted Mother, 
 
 The weeping, widow'd Wife, 
 May all her anguish smother, 
 
 By yielding up her life : 
 Yes, Death, that balm of sorrow. 
 
 That solace of our wo, 
 Shall prove the Widow's comforter, 
 
 Her kind and friendly Foe ! 
 
 The firm and zealous Martyr, 
 
 In prison or in flame, 
 Will not his conscience barter, 
 
 For wreaths of earthly fame ; 
 But onward sends his vision, 
 
 Where wreaths immortal grow 5 
 And bids a welcome, with a smile, 
 
 To Death, the friendly Foe } 
 
 I 
 
102 THE FRIENDLY FOE. 
 
 The Saint on earth a stranger 
 
 Though bound a prize to win, 
 Expos'd to ev'ry danger, 
 
 And prone to ev'ry sin ; 
 Can tell to all survivors, 
 
 Who tread this maze below, 
 That Death has wip'd each tear away. 
 
 And prov'd a friendly Foe ! 
 
THE TEMPLE OF FREEDOM, 
 
 JL HE battles were o'er, and the Heroes retir'd 
 From fields clad in carnage, and war's awful thunder? 
 They sought a retreat, and, with triumph inspired, 
 Found Freedom's proud Temple political wonder! 
 They saw, with surprise, 
 The fair fabric arise, 
 
 Till it bulwark'd the sea, and supported the skies : 
 Then let the broad banner be proudly unfurl'd, 
 When tyrants invade us, or wars rock the world ! 
 
104 TEMPLE OF FREEDOM. 
 
 This blood-purchas'd temple its portal flung wide, 
 When WASHINGTON enter'd the pride of his nation ; 
 His comrades in arms took their seats at his side. 
 Like the first happy pair, on the morn of Creation ; 
 When Peace, like a dove, 
 Took her flight from above, 
 
 And brought her rich gifts from the mansion of Love : 
 Then let the broad banner be proudly unfurl'd, 
 When tyrants invade us, or wars rock the world ! 
 
 Around the brave band stood a Nation in tears; 
 Joy, Gratitude, Love, rose in mingled emotion ; 
 Each soul bade eternal farewell to its fears, 
 And joy rolPd its flood, like the tide of the ocean : 
 It was Heaven's bequest, 
 That the Heroes should rest, 
 
 And the nation with peace and with commerce be blest : 
 Then let the broad banner be proudly unfurl'd, 
 When tyrants invade us, or wars rock the world ! 
 
TEMPLE OF FREEDOM. 105 
 
 Mid the tombs of lost Heroes great Washington stood ; 
 (Their spirits were join'd to the great congregation ;) 
 His sword left its scabbard, unwash'd of its blood, 
 And flash 'd its fierce wrath against foreign invasion : 
 " Let the enemy know, 
 " That America's Foe," 
 
 Cried the Hero, " will surely in death be laid low : 
 " Then let the broad banner be proudly unfurl'd, 
 " When tyrants invade you, or wars rock the world ! 
 
 " Ye sons of Columbia!" the Hero rejoin'd, 
 While millions of bosoms with rapture were swelling, 
 " Your councils united, your hearts all combin'd, 
 f This temple of Freedom may long be your dwelling; 
 " Your efforts must all 
 " Obey Liberty's call, 
 " For united you stand, but divided you fall : 
 
 " Then let the broad banner be proudly unfurl'd, 
 " When tyrants invade you, or wars rock the world ! 
 
106 TEMPLE OP FREEDOM. 
 
 " Your God ha* designed you for greatness of soul ; 
 "Your mountains ascend to the clouds' stormy region; 
 " Your rivers majestic, their broad waters roll, 
 " And your sons shall increase to a numberless legion; 
 " Your Commerce shall spread 
 " Over Ocean's broad bed, 
 " And your Heroes shall ever to glory be led : 
 " Then let the broad banner be proudly unfurl'd, 
 " When tyrants invade you, or wars rock the world !" 
 
VIRTUE. 
 
 r LORA's lips of coral hue, 
 
 Breathing fragrance like the rose- 
 Flora's eyes of azure blue 
 
 These may grace the Poet's song, 
 
 But, ere long, 
 Pale shall be as winter-snows. 
 
 Flora now may sweetly sing, 
 
 As the soft JEolian Lyre, 
 Fann'd by Zephyr's silken wing : 
 But her sweet and charming song, 
 
 Shall, ere long, 
 Mid the wrecks of Time, expire. 
 
108 VIRTUE. 
 
 Flora's VIRTUE never dies ! 
 
 Though from earth her soul be driven, 
 J Tis as lasting as the skies 5 
 
 Ev'ry note in Virtue's song 
 Shall, ere long, 
 Wake to higher strains in Heaven ! 
 
TO A FRIEND LOST AT SEA. 
 
 JlLL-FATED man ! from home and country torn, 
 From Parents, Children, Friends, and weeping Wife ; 
 And sunder'd from the charities of life ; 
 
 Oh say to what lone region wast thou borne ? 
 
 Perhaps on Greenland's ice-invested shore, 
 Where hoary Winter holds his ancient reign, 
 And chains the roaring billows of the main, 
 
 Thy shatter'd bark was sunk to rise no more ! 
 
 K 
 
110 TO A FfclEND LOST AT SEA. 
 
 Or wast thou on some savage island tost, 
 To pine in hunger on a rocky bed ? 
 Or wast thou there to cruel slaughter led, 
 
 Or in the Ocean's dreary caverns lost ? 
 
 Say didst thou brave the fury of the storm, 
 With one kind friend, in some ill-fitted boat, 
 And o'er the trackless waves unrescu'd float, 
 
 Till hunger prey'd upon thy wasted form ? 
 
 But ah ! perhaps a harder fate is thine ; 
 Some Moor, I fear, has dragg'd thee from the surge, 
 And now thou bleed'st beneath the monster's scourge, 
 
 Condemn'd, in hunger, heat and thirst, to pine. 
 
 But Fancy ! cease, nor longer shalt pursue 
 Thy visions, fraught with bitterness arid pain 
 I ne'er shall see the friend I lov'd again- 
 Then fare thee well, thou long-lost friend adieu ? 
 
BATTLE OF CHAMPLAIN. 
 
 JL^O ! Neptune, wat'ry god, ascen,ds 
 
 From Ocean's coral bed : 
 To brave MACDONOUGH'S patriot host, 
 Their Country's glory, and her boast, 
 
 His godlike aid extends : * 
 
 Heroes brave, 
 O'er the wave, 
 Are on to glory led. 
 While the banners of England gleam'd far o'er the tide, 
 
 And her Lion his voice lifted high on the shore, 
 Our tutelar Eagle his pinions spread wide, 
 
 mounted aloof from the deafening roar. 
 
BATTLE OF 
 
 Now see the foemen stare, 
 
 As our Eagle cuts the air, 
 And wheels in his magical maze; 
 
 Now high, and more high, 
 
 He soars through the sky, 
 And mounts from the reach of their gaze ! 
 
 Silence and awe pervade Britannia's host 5 
 Dumb is the tongue that lisp'd an empty boast ; 
 The trembling bands their guardian gods invoke, 
 When thus a voice from realms of ether spoke : - 
 
 " Ye Sons of Columbia ! the day is your own ; 
 " With trust in high Heaven, for conflict prepare ; 
 
 "Your Bird to the Temple of Justice is flown, 
 (i Arid GOD has regarded the Patriot's prayer : 
 " Britannia shall know, 
 C That Columbia's foe 
 
 " Shall e'er in the slumbers of Death be laid low : 
 "Now let ev'ry sail to the wind be unfurl'd, 
 
 " And the fame of your valour shall blaze through the 
 world." 
 
J 
 
 ' 
 
 BATtLE OF CHAMPLAIN. 113 
 
 In crescent form, our Navy lay, 
 Like heaven's resplendent bow ; 
 
 Bright as that bow shall live the day, 
 
 When, in immortal battle fray, 
 IV! ACDONOUGH met the foe. 
 
 They met ; but not till Heavenly aid 
 
 The Hero had implor'd ; 
 He trusted not in burnish'd blade, 
 
 In cannon, nor in sword : 
 Willing to live, and fit to die, 
 To Heaven he rais'd a prayerful eye ; 
 Nor did his soul his words belie, 
 
 Nor unregarded cry : 
 Angels, to the realms of day, 
 Bore this fervent prayer away ;- 
 " Parent ! enthron'd in yonder sky, 
 
 "" Possessor of Eternity ! 
 w Look down from shining worlds on high, 
 "And send us Victory!' 7 
 
114 BATTLE OF CHAMPLAIN. 
 
 He spoke ! and heaven resounded with applause ; 
 
 The battle affray, 
 By land and by tide. 
 In patriot pride 
 
 And shining array, 
 Now spread its ranks in Freedom's injur'd cause* 
 
 The sails of the foe are unfurl'd to the wind, 
 To leave their lov'd country for ever behind : 
 
 Though for glory they burn, 
 
 They shall never return ; 
 The Lake's crystal deep shall their ashes inurn. 
 
 Seraphs pure, and angels bright, 
 Bending from the worlds of light, 
 Wait to see the battle close, 
 And MACDONOUGH rout his foes. 
 
BATTLE OF CHAMPLAIN. 115 
 
 Now o'er the wide wave rolls the cannon's loud roar; 
 The death-burden'd thunder resounds from the shore; 
 In direful collision the armies unite, 
 And by land and at sea are commingled in fight. 
 
 Look ! the foe man's flag is down,- ' 
 See ! the victory is won : 
 Ere the work of Death began, 
 Quick to Heaven the message ran, 
 And prescient Fate had wove a laurel crown* 
 For Fortune's fav'rite Son. 
 
 Now sound through earth the brazen trump of 
 To spread the honours of MACDONOUGH'S name ; 
 
 While Britain rules the main, 
 
 The vict'ry of Champlain 
 Shall flourish in her memory ; 
 
116 / BATTLE OF CHAMPLAlN". 
 
 And while the world shall stand. 
 Or ocean's lave the shore, 
 Or naval thunders roar, 
 MACDONOUGH'S slpendid victory 
 To Englishmen shall teach, tho' never taught before, 
 
 That, strange as it may be, 
 While others conquer'd them by land, 
 HE vanquish'd them at sea ! 
 

 UNITED STATES NAVY 
 
 A SAPPHIC ODE, 
 
 of Columbia ! destin'd to be Freemen, 
 Born on a soil which Patriots defended, 
 Sprung from the Heroes of the Revolution, 
 
 Valour your birth-right ! 
 
 Nature has plac'd you where her proudest wonders 
 Point to the measure of your future greatness : 
 Broad as your rivers, lofty as your mountains, 
 Should be your Virtues, 
 
118 UNITED STATES NAVY. 
 
 Freedom's proud Temple is your ark of safety ; 
 Boisterous Oceans are the floods you ride on ; 
 And hope you cannot, always, to escape the 
 
 Thunders of Battle. 
 
 Foes will assail you agitate your waters, 
 Harrass your Commerce, and insult your Honour; 
 But on the Ocean, you must meet and send them 
 
 Quick to the bottom. 
 
 Give to your Seamen, men of war and cannon - 
 Neptune already owns their mighty prowess ; 
 Then will old Ocean tremble beneath, while 
 
 Foes lop the flag-staff. 
 
 Hull and M'Donough, Perry and Decatur, 
 Join'd to a band of brave and hearty Sailors, 
 Burn to be riding every ocean's billows, 
 
 Guarding your Commerce, 
 
THE PLOUGH-BOY. 
 
 MoBERT, rising with the sun, 
 Wakes from many a pleasing dream 
 
 Now, his early breakfast done, 
 Drives afield his sturdy team. 
 
 See him on the furrow'd plain, 
 Listening to the Linnet's note ; 
 
 Wond'ring how so sweet a strain 
 Issues from her little throat* 
 
 Now, beneath the cooling shade, 
 While his cattle, grazing, stray. 
 
 On his grassy pillow laid, 
 
 Thus he tuneg his rustic lay : 
 
120 THE 
 
 " Misers ! boast your swelling store 3 
 " Daily count your hoarded wealth, 
 
 " While the plough-boy asks no more 
 " Than a competence, with health. 
 
 " Man of pleasure ! court your ease, 
 " Rob the world of every joy ; 
 
 "Virtue shall the plough-boy please ; 
 " Virtue's pleasures never cloy. 
 
 " Heirs of Fame ! for glory toil, 
 
 " Reap your laurels, wear your bays 
 
 * Jl 
 
 " Robert's hands shall till the soil, 
 
 " Labour bless his peaceful days. 
 
 " Circling Seasons ! swiftly fly 
 :t Time ! your hasty chariot roll 
 
 " Fearless shall the plough-boy die, 
 " Heav'n receive his parting soul." 
 
COMPASSION. 
 
 WHEN friends forsake thee, 
 When woes o'ertake thee, 
 
 Oh Man ! whoe'er thou be 
 If tear-drops, stealing, 
 From fellow-feeling, 
 Have aught that's healing, 
 
 I'll shed one tear for thee; 
 Yes, Heaven reject me, 
 And friends neglect me, 
 
 If I shed no tear for thee. 
 L 
 
COMPASSION. 
 
 Is Fortune frowning ; 
 Thy last hope drowning, 
 
 In life's tumultuous sea ? 
 Is Care depressing, 
 No Friend caressing, 
 No solace blessing ? 
 
 I'll shed one tear for thee ; 
 Yes, anguish seize me, 
 And palsies freeze me, 
 
 If I shed no tear for thee. 
 
 Before thee lying, 
 All pale and dying, 
 
 A Partner dost thou see ? 
 Didst thou adore her ? 
 Though bending o'er her 
 Will not restore her, 
 
 I'll shed one tear for thee 
 Yes ! life-blood fail me, 
 And Death assail me, 
 
 If I shed no tear for thee* 
 
THE EMIGRANT'* FARKWELI* 
 
 FAREWELL to the land that my fathers defended 5 
 Farewell to the fields which their ashes inurn ; 
 
 The holiest flame on their altars descended, 
 Which, fed by their sons, shall eternally burn : 
 
 Ah ! soft be the bed where the hero reposes ; 
 
 And light be the green turf that over him closes 
 
 Gay Flora shall deck, with her earliest roses, 
 
 The graves of my Sires, and the land of my birtu-. 
 
124 EMIGRANT'S FAREWELL. 
 
 * 
 Adieu to the scenes which my heart's young emotions 
 
 Have drest in attire so alluringly gay ; 
 Ah ! never, no never, can billowing oceans, 
 
 Nor time, drive the fond recollections away ! 
 From days that are past, present comfort I borrow; 
 The scenes of to-day shall be brighter to-morrow j 
 fn age I'll recall, as a balm for my sorrow, 
 
 The graves of my Sires, and the land of my birth. 
 
 I go to the West, where the forest, receding, 
 
 Invites the adventurous axe-man along ; 
 J go to the groves where the wild deer arc feeding, 
 
 And mountain-birds carol their loveliest song : 
 Adieu to the land that my Fathers defended, 
 Adieu to the soil on which Freemen contended, 
 Adieu to the Sons who from Heroes descended, 
 The graves of mv Sires, 'and the land of my birth. 
 
EMIGRANT'S FAREWELL. 12& 
 
 . When far from my home,and surrounded by strangers, 
 My thoughts shall recall the gay pleasures of youth; 
 Tho' life's stormy ocean shall threaten with dangers, 
 
 My soul shall repose in the sunshine of truth: 
 While streams to their own native ocean are tending, 
 And forest oaks, swept by the tempest, are bending, 
 My soul shall exult, as she's proudly defending 
 The graves of my Sires, and the land of my birth. 
 
THE EMIGRANT'S ADDRESS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 TUTELAR GENIUS OF THE FOREST, 
 
 A.LL hail ! retiring Spirit, hail I 
 
 1 seek thy kind embraces ; 
 Disgusted at the city's pride, 
 
 That God's last work disgraces : 
 From selfish, vain, and slandering man, 
 
 To tyranny aspiring ; 
 Oh take me to thy friendly gloom ; 
 
 From mortal broils retiring ! 
 
1&8 EMIGRANT'S ADDRESS. ' 
 
 I hate the sordid, grovelling soul, 
 
 At Mammon's altar bending ; 
 1 loathe the rusty, hoarded dust, 
 
 From sire to son descending : 
 I love the herart in friendship warm, 
 
 With seraph-mercy glowing ; 
 A fountain pure, by Heaven supplied. 
 
 Whence purest streams are flowing ! 
 
 Ah ! sacred gloom of forest dell, 
 Where Innocence reposes ! 
 Indulgent Spirit ! lay me there, 
 
 On Nature's thornless roses : 
 The woodland choir shall aid the song 
 
 My thankful bosom raises, 
 And waft to Heaven's indulgent ear 
 
 My undissemhled praise^. 
 

 129 
 
 When night, in starry mantle clad, 
 
 Invites to gentle slumbers, 
 The murm'ring rill shall, distant, die 
 
 In Philomela's numbers : 
 Around me fairy Sylphs shall dance, 
 
 O'er sweetest sleep presiding ; 
 The Queen of Night shall gild the stream 
 
 That down the dell is gliding. 
 
 f 
 
 I ask thee not for wealth or fam^; 
 
 I seek for other blessing ; 
 A competence of daily stores 
 
 Is all that's worth possessing ; 
 A little farm, a little flock, 
 
 In verdant pastures grazing ; 
 An evening fire, with faggots trimm'd,, 
 
 In cheerful flashes blazing. 
 
A Wife that, deckt in beauty's smile, 
 
 The morning viand dresses ; 
 And when the cheerful evening comes 
 
 Her infant Babe caresses : 
 A Friend to share our frugal cheer, 
 
 Our sorrow and our pleasure ; 
 Indulge me these in forest glade ; 
 
 I ask no other treasure. 
 
THE TEAR, (d) 
 
 ?? HEN first my infant breath I drew. 
 Ere good or evil deed I knew, 
 Devoid of fear ; 
 
 If aught should threaten instant harm, 
 Well could I give the quick alarm ; 
 For well I knew the siren charm 
 An Infant's Tear ! 
 
132 THE TEAR. 
 
 And when, in years and knowledge grown, 
 To make young Edwin's heart my own, 
 
 That heart so dear ; 
 Scorning to act a borrovv'd part, 
 To win e'en lovely Edwin's heart, 
 I us'd 'twas but the Woman's art-^- 
 
 A crystal Tear ! 
 
 
 And now, long blest with mutual love ; 
 For nameless acts of kindness prove 
 
 His soul sincere ; 
 
 Well can I urge each humble claim, 
 And all the Fair may do the same, 
 With what my honest Muse shall name 
 
 A Woman's Tear ! 
 
LINES TO THE MEMORY OF 
 DR. I) WIGHT, e 
 
 A HE Scholar, Bard, Divine, and Patriot, 
 
 Is now no more : In thee, immortal DWIGHT ! 
 
 United ev'ry name that Virtue knows, 
 
 Earth weeps to lose, or Heaven rewards with bliss I 
 
 Columbia ! tbou wilt bathe thy fav'rite's urn 
 With tears of sorrow ! Honour'd by his birth, 
 And blest in him, by all that Worth can give, 
 Or Genius, Science, Virtue, leave behind ! 
 
 M 
 
134 LINES TO THE MEMORY 
 
 His early years were thine ; his infant 
 
 Prophetic, sang thy rising greatness ; fir'd 
 
 At Freedom's call ; and, with unrivall'd lay, 
 
 Awoke to deeds of fame the Hero's rage. 
 
 He too, array'd in heavenly panoply, 
 
 Inspir'd thy sons with courage, while they dash'd 
 
 Oppression from thy shores 5 and, from abov r e, 
 
 Call'd down the aid of Heaven's avenging arm ! 
 
 His riper Muse and later life were thine : 
 
 For thee he liv'd ; and thine will be the fame 
 
 Of all his greatness ! But, alas ! his Muse 
 
 Shall charm no more : She sleeps! and midnight winds 
 
 Blow roughest winter through the silent strings 
 
 Of his suspended lyre. His eloquence 
 
 Delights no more the list'ning, ravish'd ear, 
 
 Nor mends the wayward heart : His lip? are seal'd, 
 
 And never never more shall Youth, well pleas'd, 
 
 Be led by him to cull Arcadian flowers, 
 
 Or quaff delights at the Pierian spring ! 
 
OF DR. D WIGHT. 135 
 
 jtf- 
 
 Religion ! thou thou too hast lost a friend : 
 Not lost ! Thou dost not lose what Heaven has gain'd ; 
 And surely Heaven knows best, if here, or there, 
 He most can aid the cause of God and man. 
 Thou, then, canst weep, in lioly confidence 
 That all is right ; since Heaven itself directs ; 
 And that which Heaven decrees, is ever best. 
 He that could aid thy cause so much on earth, 
 Can aid it more in heav'n, where he shall mount 
 On seraph's wings, to do the will of God. 
 
 And Science, thou ! through all thy flowery paths, 
 Shalt find the footsteps where pale Death has. 
 Here fades an opening blossom ; there a plant, 
 Neglected, withers ; nourish'd once by him, 
 Whose fostering hand no longer props the s f alk, 
 Or showers the root with water from the spring. 
 
136 LINES TO THE MEMORY 
 
 
 Thou Fount of Knowledge ! thou hast cause to weep ! 
 Thy halls resound no more with wonted voice 
 Of thy once honour'd Head ! His footsteps there 
 No more approach the sacred place, to lift 
 The voice of prayer to ear of holy Heaven, 
 Or feed his flock with manna from the skies. 
 
 And thou, so justly fam'd, delightful Hill, 
 So honour'd by his Muse ; thou shalt transmit 
 Thy emerald green to deck the Poet's grave. 
 Your Shepherd too Oh ! ye who once receiv'd 
 From him a Pastor's care has gone before, 
 To take possession of th' eternal fold. 
 
 Farewell, blest Shade ! for thee to die was gain : 
 Nay, more'twas heav'n ! Earth needed much thy aid; 
 But heav'n deserv'd it more : and worth like thine 
 Will there receive more adequate reward 
 
OF DR. D WIGHT. 137 
 
 ' 
 
 Than this ungrateful earth did ever give ! 
 Thy name shall live when heroes are forgot^. 
 And all the host of self-enkindled stars 
 That shun the day, shall set to rise no more ! 
 Like Orpheus' fabled lyre, thy name shall charm 
 The Profligate to Virtue ; lure the steps 
 Of devious Folly into Wisdom's ways ; 
 And while thy name, on earth, shall live and shine 
 With Virtue's favourite sons, Cowper and Watts ; 
 In heaven thy ransom'd spirit, pure as theirs, 
 Shall sing with David, and converse with Paul 
 
 
ENIGMA. 
 
 BY MISS SEWARD. 
 
 _!_ HE noblest object in the works of Art, 
 The brightest gem that Nature can impart ; 
 The point essential in a lawyer's lease ; 
 The well-known signal in the time of peace ; 
 The ploughman when he drives his plough ; 
 The soldier's duty, and the lover's vow ; 
 The planet seen between the earth and sun ; 
 The prize which merit never yet has won ; 
 The miser's treasure, and the badge of Jews ; 
 The wife's ambition, and the parson's dues, 
 
140 SOLUTION Or AN ENIGMA. 
 
 Now, if your nobler spirit can divine 
 A corresponding word for every line, 
 By all these letters clearly shall be shown, 
 An ancient City of no small renown. 
 
 SOLUTION. 
 
 J. IMPROVEMENT of the growing mind, 
 
 Man's pure, immortal part, 
 Reason decides, leaves far behind 
 All other ^ works of Art." 
 
 E. The Eye, undoubting I suspect, 
 Is " Nature's brightest gem :" 
 How would its lightning-glance protect 
 The monarch's diadem ? 
 
 R. The " lawyer's lease," 'tis ever told, 
 
 And left on long record, 
 Must always a Reversion hold, 
 Back to the ancient lord. 
 
SOLUTION OF AN ENIGMA. 141 
 
 0. The weeping mother lulls her care, 
 
 When war's commotions cease ; 
 
 
 
 And war-worn " soldiers" homeward bear 
 The " Olive-branch of Peace." 
 
 o. The ploughman, whistling as he goes, 
 
 Is (though the thought may seem 
 No more than every stripling knows) 
 The Sovereign of his team. 
 
 0. Obedience in his daily task, 
 
 Insures the " soldier" fame ; 
 This boon does every lover ask. 
 And promises the same. 
 
 L. Luna, the modest queen of night. 
 
 While circling ages run, 
 Preserves her swift ethereal flight 
 :{ Between the earth and sun." 
 
142 SOLUTION OF AN ENIGMA. 
 
 17. That prize which " merit" cannot gain. 
 
 Nor mortal vision see, 
 
 * 
 But will with Deity remain, 
 
 Must be Ubiquity. 
 
 M. The "Miser's" Money and his shame. 
 Though they disgrace but few, 
 
 * 
 
 Have ever rank'd his odious name 
 With the poor outcast " Jew." 
 
 Jl. A nobler zeal inspires the " wife/' 
 
 Who seeks Affection pure ; 
 The "parson" too devotes his life 
 To make this blessing sure. 
 
AN ORIGINAL ENIGMA. 
 
 Jl HAT which has damn'd the memory of Paine; 
 That which is gain'd by those who nothing gain.; 
 A boon for which the sailor plough* the ocean ; 
 
 That for which some, tho' vain, decline promotion ; 
 A river flowing near the burning line ; 
 An honour'd sister of the tuneful Nine ; 
 
 The grave of thousands, and the home of more ; 
 A Hero sung by Homer's Muse of yore ; 
 A Bard who well could paint the human heart; 
 A digit which of others forms no part 
 
144 ORIGINAL ENIGMA, 
 
 A stage on which all players must have trod ; 
 A thing by thousands worship'd as a god ; 
 And that which ever reigns beneath the sod. 
 
 Now, courteous reader ! should the skill be thine, 
 To find a word describ'd by every line 
 And should th' initials of those words, combined, 
 Disclose a trait of every honest mind, 
 That trait, discover'd in the female heart, 
 Decks every charm, and proves her void of art 
 
 Solve thou my riddle, and the task be mine, 
 In turn, hereafter, to unriddle thine. 
 
 
 
MARY'S GRAVE. 
 
 ! whither gone ? To yonder shore, 
 Which heavenly oceans lave ; 
 And though she dwells on earth no more, 
 I'll weep at Mary's Grave ! 
 
 When I recall the rosy smile, 
 
 H<er youthful sweetness gave, 
 I g<. and all rny woes beguile, 
 
 With tears, at Mary's Grave ! 
 
 N 
 
146 
 
 I think upon the bashful " Yes," 
 Bestow'd my heart to save ; 
 
 I think on many a nectar'd kiss ; 
 Then weep at Mary's Grave. 
 
 And when I lay me down at night, 
 
 This blessing first I crave ; 
 To wake with morning's opening light, 
 
 To weep at Mary's Grave. 
 
 So, when my prattling orphans cry, 
 And swell my sorrow's wave, 
 
 " Ah ! why did dearest mamma die ?'* 
 I weep at Mary's Grave. 
 
THE CHOICE. 
 
 AM I doom'd long to sail 
 With the swift-winged gale, 
 High toss'd on life's sorrowful seaj? 
 
 o 
 
 Ye Powers ! who provide 
 E'en the poor with a bride, 
 Oh ! grant the dear treasure to me. 
 
 I would not be told 
 
 
 Of her silver or gold, 
 
 How honoured or great she may be ; 
 Nor more do I care 
 For Beauty's gay glare 
 
 Such trappings are trifles to me. 
 
J48 THE CHOKfc. 
 
 Her manners must please, 
 
 With a soft, winning ease, 
 From negligent carelessness free : 
 
 If art should deface 
 
 One natural grace. 
 That art is offensive to me, 
 
 Her bosom must know 
 
 How to feel for the wo, 
 Which in others around she may see ; 
 
 And oft to the heart 
 
 She must solace impart, 
 Or never be partner with me. 
 
 Her kindness and love 
 
 
 
 Must rival the dove, 
 If not in their kind, in degree : 
 
 Religion shall rear 
 
 The flower, while here, 
 Then bear it to heaven from me ! 
 
REPLY TO THE CHOICE, 
 
 SHOULD Hymen's soft band 
 
 Join my heart and my hand ' 
 In wedlock, the- Eden of life ; 
 
 Instruct me, ye Powers, 
 
 To gladden the hours 
 Of him who shall make me his wife* 
 
 And aid me, ye Nine, 
 This wreath to entwine, 
 For him whom my fancy approves ? 
 His soul is sincere 
 As the patriot's tear, 
 
 I the sole fair that he loves. 
 
 N2 
 
150 REPLY TO THE CHOICE. 
 
 From pride far remov'd, 
 
 With a mind well improv'd, 
 And manners from coarseness refin'd ; 
 
 With tears that can flow, 
 
 To compassionate wo 
 A heart to relieve for he's kind. 
 
 If wealth be his lot, 
 
 Or if wealth he have not, 
 
 'Tis equal for Heav'n will provide > 
 And if Heaven increase 
 Our contentment and peace, 
 
 Pray what could it .give us beside ? 
 
 In tenderest love, 
 
 My faults he'll reprove, 
 Nor frown, though I chance to offend 
 
 Kind Heaven ! bestow 
 
 Such a blessing below, 
 As pattern, instructor, and friend L 
 
REPLY TO THE CHOICE. 151 
 
 Then, should cares rend the breast, 
 
 On his bosom I'll rest, 
 And lull every pang to repose ; 
 
 Each grief-burden'd fear 
 
 Shall be drown'd in a tear, 
 And the tear deck a smile, as it flows, 
 
 At the close of our day, 
 Life's evening ray, 
 
 That darts from the isles of the west> 
 
 x 
 
 Shall sink from the sight, 
 Not to regions of night. 
 But to beam on the realms of the 
 
A TRUE STORY, 
 
 JjRAVE Malred was chief of the sons of the west* 
 Three hundred his hatchet had slain ; 
 
 Six scars from the foe had sunk deep in his breast ; 
 
 Still Victory's banners wav'd high o'er his crest. 
 And he shouted to battle again. 
 
154 A TRUE STORTR. 
 
 An army of heroes, in savage array, 
 
 At Malred's loud war-whoop appear : 
 The sons of the forest remember the day 
 For Rolder, their foe, is advancing that way. 
 And the horrors of battle are near. 
 
 This Rolder was son of Menalcus the Brave, 
 
 Whom Malred in battle had slain : 
 He swore, in revenge, to make Malred his slave., 
 Or find on the field an illustrious grave, 
 Where his fathers for ages bad lain. 
 
 An arrow from Rolder's infrangible bow, 
 
 Death-barb'd, to his heart was convey'd ; 
 The chief of the forest was prostrated low. 
 And, falling, he cried, " Go and conquer the foe"- 
 The mandate his warriors obey'd. 
 
A TRUE STORY. lB5 
 
 Then rush'd out of ambush, fierce, frantic, and dire. 
 
 Six hundred wild warriors or more ; 
 The shades of their fathers with courage inspire 
 A spark from the ashes of Mai red takes fire 
 Such carnage was never before. 
 
 The war-whoop resounds, and the arrows are sped 
 
 From Malred's invincible band ; 
 Three hundred or more of the foemen lie dead, * 
 And Rolder himself a poor captive is led, 
 
 With Menalcus's bow in his hand. 
 
 The war-song is sung, and the faggots are bound 5 
 Young Rolder is lash'd to the tree ; 
 
 The frolicksome conquerors rally around ; 
 
 The woods -and the valleys with triumph resound^ 
 And the Savage exults in his Glee. 
 
156 A TRUE STORT. 
 
 Around him they dance while the faggots flame wide. 
 
 When lo ! from the thicket appears 
 A Damsel distracted 'Tis Holder's young Bride 
 l O, save him ! O, save him !" the angel-form cried c 
 
 And sunk in an ocean of tears. 
 
 A Savage, who ever exults over wo, 
 And triumphs when Pity should save, 
 
 Rejoicing that now he could torture his foe 
 
 Uplifting his hatchet, directed a blow 
 That sent the fair Bride to the grave. 
 
 Young Rolder, indignant, in frantic despair. 
 
 Swore revenge for his innocent bride 
 His bow, (which his father before him did wear,) 
 To torture his fancy, they forc'd him to bear, 
 
 And caus'd to be placed at his side. 
 
i 
 
 A TRUE STORI. 157 
 
 This bow the young hero instinctively drew 
 
 Seiz'd an arrow of fire from the flame ; 
 To the heart of the. Savage like lightning it flew 
 Farewell, luckless Savage ! Young Rolder, adieu ! 
 And adieu to the Heroine's name ! 
 
 O 
 
THE POWER OF LOVE, 
 
 ^V ODE O.Y VALE3VT1NE-DAY. 
 
 
 JL HOU Queen of Love ! descend and tell, 
 
 What bliss thy poison'd shaft inspires; 
 This heart already knows too well 
 
 The anguish of thy fires. 
 Bid thy little truant son 
 Quick dispatch his work begun. 
 
160 THE POWER OF LOVE. 
 
 From thy palace on high, 
 
 In the star-spangled sky, 
 
 Let the swift arrow fly, 
 While Cupid, conscious of the deed, 
 Exults to see a mortal bleed. 
 
 Hark! I hear the notes of Love, 
 Softly stealing from the grove; 
 Now sweeter and yet sweeter flow, 
 Making earth a heaven below. 
 From mountain and forest, from valley and plain, 
 Forth issues the trembling and ravishing strain, 
 Till, wearied by the lengthen'd day, 
 The music flies, 
 Sinks and dies, 
 In a melting, melting lay. 
 
THE POWER OF LOVE:. 1G1 
 
 In Love do souls inconstant pleasure know^ 
 'Tis bliss to-day to-morrow, wo. 
 Successful Love is bliss without alloy ; 
 'Tis but to wish, to hope, and to enjoy ; 
 But when she meets with cruel crosses, 
 Anguish keen the bosom tosses. 
 
 The Soldier owns the mighty power of Love, 
 And from a vulture he becomes a dove. 
 
 Fierce Ambition quits his prize ; 
 
 Av'rice from her coffer flies; 
 
 Well-earn'd Merit drops her bays, 
 
 Careless of the breath of Praise. 
 Pale-ffac'd Disease a fresh carnation wears, 
 And wo-worn sufferers love away their cares,, 
 
J.62 THE POWER OP LOVE. 
 
 When War commands us to the tented fields, 
 What power, like Love, resistless valour yields 
 So, when Columbia spurn'd a foreign yoke, 
 And from Oppression's foul embraces broke, 
 She srnil'd to see the Lover come, 
 At sound of trumpet and of drum, 
 To guard the Maid his bosom lov'd. 
 
 The treasure of his soul ; 
 The fair was ever at his side, 
 A weeping, wooing, winning bride 
 
 'Twas then that Love most clearly prov'd 
 Omnipotent control. 
 
 When Winter's chilling blasts are blown, 
 And songsters from the forest flown. 
 All music dies upon the ear, 
 For Death has struck the rolling year * 
 
THE POWER OF LOVK, 163 
 
 What tempests rise, 
 
 To wreck the skies, 
 Through all the trembling world ! 
 
 Whirlwinds blow ; 
 
 Hail and snow, 
 
 Mingling, fall ; 
 
 Nature all 
 Seems to ruin hurl'd ! 
 
 But see ! the blissful morn returns, 
 And Love again for pleasure burns ; 
 
 'Tis Nature's bridal day ; 
 The chilling blasts are felt no more ; 
 The sleep of Love again is o'er, 
 
 And Winter hies away : 
 
 The tempest retires to the cave of the mountain, 
 And fresh waters burst from the opening fountain, 
 
264 THE POWEtf OF LOVE. 
 
 Nature now to 'Love invites ; 
 
 Opens all her dear delights, 
 Ail her Elysian bowers ; 
 
 Bids the lovely Spring return, 
 
 Holding out her golden urn, 
 
 FilPd with the fairest flowers. 
 "By the red-breast's matin note, 
 " Warbling from her tuneful throat; 
 f: By the fish that swim the stream, 
 "Darting from the watery gleam; 
 
 " By the beasts that range the plain, 
 
 . 
 
 "Lovely Spring! return again! 
 * ; Restore ! restore the halcyon days of Love, 
 " And liken earth to happy heaven above *" 
 
 She cried and Spring, advancing, 
 
 Brought blessings all divine. 
 
THE POWER OP LOVE. 
 
 That season so entrancing, 
 The day of Valentine. 
 
 Thus Love could repay. 
 
 On Valentine's Day, 
 What merciless Winter had blasted ; 
 
 Exertions so glorious, 
 
 Had made her victorious, 
 If Winter for ever had lasted. 
 
 Thus fish and fowl, and beasts that range the plain. 
 Were in one day fast bound in Hymen's chain ; 
 But hapless Damon cried, in vain, to Jove, 
 To wake his blue-ey'd Cynthia to love. 
 Now, over hill and mountain, 
 He sought his lovely fair ; 
 He sought her by the fountain, 
 But found no lover there. 
 
166 THE POWER OF LOVi) 
 
 Neglected. 
 Dejected, 
 Lone he cries. 
 Breathing sighs 
 On the empty air. 
 
 Ah ! see the rosy steps of am'rous May, 
 Advancing, meet young Damon on his way 
 
 She plac'd in his hand, 
 
 A magical wand, 
 And swore that the nymph could no longer withstand, 
 
 He found the fair his magic tried, 
 And made young Cynthia his bride ! 
 Thus Love can conquer hearts of steel. 
 And make the coldest marble feej. 
 
THE POWER OF LOVE. 1&7 
 
 If Valentine Day 
 Should not vanquish the charmer, 
 
 The love-kindling May 
 Will surely disarm her. 
 This Damon found, 
 And Cynthia too, who felt the wound. 
 Of Music, now, no more let Poets tell, 
 Since Love ean wield a more effective dart* 
 
 Though that possess a magic spell, 
 This wins a Maiden's heart, 
 
THE PORTRAIT. 
 
 Muse shall seek the fountain; 
 
 Where purest waters flow; 
 .Not climb the lofty mountain, 
 
 But tread the vale below ; 
 The vale where zephyrs wander, 
 
 And gentle breezes play ; 
 Where Spring's unfolding blossoms 
 
 Perfume the breath of May. 
 
THE PORTRAIT. 
 
 I'll sing the tender graces, 
 
 That deck the Maiden's heart } 
 Where Nature's softest traces 
 
 Display her peerless art ; 
 And where, in richest beauty, 
 
 Her glowing colours shine: 
 Where Virtue, Truth and Honour. 
 
 And Gentleness, combine. 
 
 I'll paint her full of meekness, 
 
 Not puffd with causeless pride ; 
 For why should female weakness 
 
 Its sex's softness hide f 
 She shall not be an Houri, 
 
 Whose beauty soon must fade ; 
 I'll mingle in the picture, 
 
 Proportion'd light and shade. 
 
THE PORTRAIT. 171 
 
 Her manners shall be Nature, 
 
 Untouch'd by hand of Art ; 
 A smile in every feature, 
 
 The transcript of her heart : 
 A form by nature comely ; 
 
 Averse to gaudy drr 
 For she who worships trifles, 
 
 Was never form'd to bless. ' 
 
 Her heart shall feel affection. 
 
 Increasing as it glows ; 
 Unchang'd in its direction, 
 
 And blessing where it flows j 
 Her soul shall know compassion- 
 
 For every creature's pain ; 
 
 when she meets with Friendship. 
 
 Return like Love again. 
 
THE PORTRAIT. 
 
 She shall not love a stranger, 
 
 Nor smile in every face 5 
 For Beauty's greatest danger, 
 
 Is not to know its place. 
 Thus, when her morn is ended, 
 
 The childhood of her life, 
 She'll prove a constant Lover, 
 
 And then a loving Wife. 
 

 THE SOLDIER'S REPOSE. 
 
 JL HE shadowy moon o'er the hill-tops arose. 
 
 The beauties of Nature disclosing, 
 And gilding the stream, as it silently flows 
 
 Through the field where the brave are reposing, 
 
 " Ah ! cruel the tale of that bodyless shade, 
 * l That told me my soldier was dying : 
 
 " Some Spirit direct the lost steps of a Maid 
 " To the grave where my Henry is lying !" 
 
174 THE SOLDIER'S REPOSE* 
 
 So spoke, as she stray'd through the echoing wood, 
 
 In wildest distraction of fancy; 
 Then motionless, gazing and listening, stood 
 
 The poor and disconsolate Nancy. 
 
 The spirit of Henry replied from the gale, 
 That hreath'd through her tremulous tresses 
 
 " Your glimmering lamp lights the clod of the vale 
 " On Henry's cold bosom it presses." 
 
 The lamp, by a glance of her vigilant eye, 
 She spied in the shade of a willow 
 
 "Ah! there," she exclaim d, " will I lay me and die-* 
 " Oh ! Henry ! thy grave is my pillow." 
 
 Now Maidens their annual offerings bring, 
 
 In garlands of earliest roses ; 
 And Spirits, at midnight, their requiem sing. 
 
 Where Nancy with Henry reposes. 
 
PAUL AND VIRGINIA, 
 
 OOW fragrant the zephyr that breath'd 
 
 Through the vale of the wave-circled isle. 
 Where Nature to Paul had bequeath'd 
 
 The lovely Virginia's smile ! 
 No tyrant polluted their soil ; 
 
 No crime had extorted a tear ; 
 Abundance rewarded their toil, 
 
 And Health cheer'd the circling year- 
 
176 PAUL AND VIRGINIA, 
 
 From childhood to youth they had grown, 
 
 Endear'd by each soul-winning art ; 
 Misfortune they never had known, 
 
 Nor dream'd they were ever to part. 
 One eve, by their favourite stream, 
 
 Along as they carelessly stray'd, 
 The lover thus v.'hisper'd his dream, 
 
 Jn the ear of the listening maid. 
 
 t( 'Twas morn, and the songsters awoke 
 
 " Their earliest notes in the grove ; 
 " I met thee, and bashfully spoke 
 
 " The soul-telling language of love : 
 -< Virginia blush'd at the tale ; 
 
 " I could not await her reply, 
 '- But stole it, all trembling and pale, 
 
 *' From a languishing glance of her eye, 
 
PAUL AND VIRGINIA. 177 
 
 :{ Then tell me, Virginia ! say ! 
 
 " That vision ah ! could it be true ? 
 "May Hope chase my anguish away, 
 
 " And Fancy her visions renew . ? " 
 He turn'd and a languishing look 
 
 Betray'd the consent of the maid ; 
 His breast the encouragement took, 
 
 Yet sigh'd that his bliss was delay'd. 
 
 But soon 'twas the fiat of Fate, 
 
 Which mortals must ever obey, 
 That Virginia's distant estate 
 
 Should call her, reluctant, away : 
 O'er dangerous seas she was borne, 
 
 While Paul ey'd the lessening sail 5 
 Then return'd to his valley to mourn., 
 
 And tell his complaints to the galq, 
 
175 *AUL AND YI11GINU. 
 
 Three lingering summers were o'er. 
 
 Nor solace nor peace could he find ; 
 While he breath'd on the desolate shore, 
 
 The breeze that had left her behind : 
 At length the wish'd vessel appear'd 
 
 But oh ! the hoarse tempest was nigh 
 Deep-bellowing thunders were heard, 
 
 And storms wreck'd the darkening sky. 
 
 Half merg'd in the tempest-tost tide. 
 
 In accents of wildest despair, 
 Young Paul to the mariners cried, 
 
 " Oh ! is my Virginia there ?" 
 The angel-form flew to the deck 
 
 She cast a last look to the shore ; - 
 The storm drove the vessel a-vvreck; 
 
 She sunk and he saw her no more J 
 
JUST LIKE MAN. 
 
 tl UST like man is yonder Sea, 
 Tost by tempests rudely beating j 
 
 Never once from tumult free; 
 Now advancing, now retreating, 
 Just like Man. 
 
 Silver Cynthia. Queen of Night, 
 Orb with beams inconstant shining^ 
 
 Fills her horn with borrowed light, 
 Waxing now, and now declining, 
 Just like Mae, 
 
ISO JUST LIKE MAN, 
 
 Though the deeply-rooted Oak 
 
 Scorns the scath of lightning flashes 
 
 Time, with sure and silent stroke, 
 All its pride in ruin dashes, 
 
 fust like Man. 
 
Notes to the Essay, 
 
 PART I. 
 
 (a) PARADISE Lost, on its first appearance, was damned to 
 a temporary infamy, on account of the political sentiments of 
 its author. He had ventured, in his writings, to execrate Ty 
 ranny, and give a preference to a republican form of govern 
 ment. 
 
 (6) The late conduct of -this noble Lord, whichJed to the dis 
 memberment of his family, affords an explanation of this epistle. 
 
 (c) The justice of these remarks will be best recognized by read 
 ing a little volume of Walter Scott's, entitled " Waterloo ;" in 
 which the great Reviewer of the North, has succeeded in wri 
 ting a poem, without conveying one solitary idea. 
 
 (d) Chatterton put an end to his own existence, through mere 
 hunger, when but 18 years of age. He was one of the finest 
 geniuses that England can boast. 
 
 (e) The Critique on " Paradise Lost," found in AddisonVs Spec 
 tator, was the first honorable mention of that immortal work, 
 and gave it immediate celebrity. 
 
 (/) It is confidently believed, that if such a course, as is here 
 described, were pursued by American Reviewers, many of the 
 evils of which we now complain, would shortly disappear ; and 
 a patriot, in the study, is no less deserving of the gratitude of his 
 country, than a patriot in the field, or in the senate. 
 
 Q 
 
382 
 
 JfOTES. 
 
 PART TI. 
 
 (a) Perhaps the most useful part of Dr. D wight's poetical 
 works, is found in his version of various Psalms, together with a 
 volume of Hymns, designed for religious worship. 
 
 (6) The following patriotic song, may convince us that the gen 
 ius of Dwight, was equal to the proudest poetical undertaking. 
 
 COLUMBIA ! Columbia ! to glory arise, 
 The queen of the world, and the child of the skies ; 
 Thy genius commands thee with rapture behold ; 
 \Vhile ages on ages thy splendours 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 incrimson thy name- 
 Be freedom, and science, and virtue thy fame. 
 
 To conquest and slaughter let Europe aspire, 
 'Whelm nations in blood, and wr#p 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 thy empire, and just as thy cause ; 
 On freedom's broad basis, that empire shall rise, 
 Extend with the main, and dissolve with the skies. 
 
 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 unrivall'd shall soar, 
 To fame unextinguish'd when time is no more ; 
 To thee, the last refuge of virtue designed, 
 Shall fly from all nations, the best of mankind ; 
 .Here, grateful to Heaven, with transport shall bring, 
 Their incense more fragrant than odors 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 still enliven the fire ; 
 Their sweetness unmingled, their manners refined, 
 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 th aspect of wo. 
 
NOTES. 183 
 
 Thy neeta to all regions thy power shall display, 
 The nations admire, and the ocean obey ; 
 Each shore to thy glory it? tribute unfold, 
 And the East and the South yield their spices and gold ; 
 As the day spring unbounded thy splendors shall flow, 
 And earths little kingdoms before thee shall bow ; 
 While the ensigns of union, in triumph unfurl'd, 
 Hush the tumults 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 strayed, 
 The gloom from the face of fair heaven retired, 
 The winds ceased to murmur, the thunders expir'd, 
 Perfumes, as of Eden, rlow'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. 
 
 (c) The " Columbiad," a work which we trust will be reaS 
 with pleasure, at no distant period of our national existence. 
 
 (d) The following patriotic song, will convey a more adequate 
 idea of this briliant genius than any description which I shall be 
 able to give. 
 
 YE sons of Columbia, who bravely have fought, 
 
 For those rights which unstain'd from your sires had descended^. 
 May you long taste the blessings your valour has bought, 
 And your sons reap the soil, which your fathers defended, 
 'Mid the reign of mild peace, 
 May your nation increase, 
 
 With the glory of Rome, and the wisdom of Greece. 
 And ne'er may the sons of Columbia be slaves, 
 While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. 
 
 In a clime, whose rich vales feed the marts of the world, 
 
 Whose shores are unshaken by Europe's commotion. 
 The trident of Commerce should never be hurl'd 
 T' incense the legitimate powers of the ocean, 
 But should pirates invade, 
 Though in thunder array'd, 
 
 Let your cannon declare the free charter of trade. 
 For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, 
 While the earth bears a plant, or th sea rolls its waves.. 
 
't&4 NOTES. 
 
 The fame of our arms, of our laws the mild sway, 
 
 Had justly ennobled our nation in story, 
 Till the dark clouds of faction obscurM our young day, 
 And envelop'd the sun of American glory, 
 But let traitors be told, 
 Who their country have sold, 
 And barter'd their God for his image in Gold 
 That ne'er will the sons of Columbia be slaves, 
 While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its leaves^ 
 
 While France her huge limbs bathes recumbent in blood^ 
 
 And society's base threats with wide dissolution, 
 May peace, like the dove, who returned from the flood,, 
 Find an ark of abode in our mild constitution I 
 But though peace is our aim, 
 Yet the boon we disclaim, 
 If bought by our sovereignty, justice, or fame. 
 For ne^er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, 
 While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its 
 
 'Tis the fire of the flint each American 
 
 Let Rome's haughty victor's beware of collision I 
 Let them bring all the vassals of Europe in arms ; 
 We're a world by ourselves, and disdain a division ! 
 While with patriot pride, 
 To our laws we're allied, 
 No foe can subdue us, no faction divide. 
 For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, 
 While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its wanes. 
 
 Our mountains are crown'd with imperial oak, 
 
 Whose roots, like our liberties, ages have nourish'd, 
 But long ere our nation submits to the yoke, 
 
 Not a tree shall be left on the field where it flourish'd. 
 Should invasion impend, 
 Every grove would descend 
 
 From the hill-tops they shaded, our shores to defend. 
 For ne^er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves. 
 While (he earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. 
 
 Let our patriots destroy Anarch's pestilent worm, 
 
 Lest our Liberty's growth should be check'd by corrosion 
 
 Then let clouds thicken round us, we heed not the storm ; 
 Our realm fears no shock but the earth's own explosion . 
 
NOTE5. 183 
 
 Foes assail us in vain, 
 Though their fleets bridge the main, 
 For our altars and laws with our lives we'll maintain ! 
 And ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, 
 While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its waves. 
 
 See the tempest of war freedom's temple invade, 
 
 While a light breaks from heaven, through clouds rent asunder, 
 On glory's bright furlough 'tis WASHINGTON'S shade 
 Descends through the whirlwind to vanquish the thunder ; 
 His sword from the sleep 
 Of its scabbard shall leap, 
 And conduct, with its point, every flash to the deep. . 
 
 For ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, 
 
 While the earth bears a plant) or the sea rolls its leaves. 
 
 Let fame thro* the world sound America's voice ; 
 
 No intrigue can her sons from their government sever ; 
 Her pride is her FREEDOM her laws are her choice. 
 And shall flourish till liberty slumber forever ! 
 Then unite, heart and hand, 
 Like Leonidas' band, 
 
 And swear to the God of the ocean and land, 
 That ne'er shall the sons of Columbia be slaves, 
 While the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls its leaves. 
 
 His patriotism was strikingly exemplified in the abhorrence 
 with which he contemplated the character and memory of Thom 
 as Payne, after whom he was named by his parents ; and so just 
 ly did he deprecate the odium which would ever attach to that 
 name, that he applied to the Legislature of Massachusetts and 
 his name was changed to that of Robert Treat Payne. 
 
li>6 NOTE:?. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 (a) We may form some idea of the wealth of Aboriginal 
 America, by recurring to the effects of American gold on the 
 kingdoms of Portugal and Spain. After the conquest of Ameri 
 ca by Cortez and Pizarro, the influx of wealth into those kingdoms 
 was so immense, that business became stagnant Commerce and 
 agriculture were annihilated, and with them, their political inde 
 pendence. 
 
 (Li) On the entrance of the Spanish Viceroy into that city in 
 1632, the streets were paved with ingots of silver. The wealth 
 of their churches and convents, is said to exceed all computa 
 tion. In their churches are many images of the saints of massy 
 gold, adorned with jewels,, 
 
 () The rivers of America, are without a parallel in any other 
 country. It will be hardly necessary to observe, that, the fore 
 going comparisons are not poetical fictions, when it is remem 
 bered that the Amazon, St. Lawrence and. La Plata, are each, 
 150 miles in breadth compared with which, the rivers of Eu 
 rope, Asia and Africa, are but inconsiderable streamlets. 
 
 (d) This immense body of fresh water, the largest in the world, 
 is 1600 miles in circumference ; and may easily be supposed to 
 contain more than all the lakes of fresh water in Europe. The 
 Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Eric, are seas, compared with 
 the lakes of any other country. 
 
 (e) Chimborazo, the highest elevation of land on the globe, is 
 nearly under the equator in SouIJi America. His head is ele 
 vated forever beyond the reach of storms, which beat with una 
 vailing fury on his invulnerable breast. This mountain is 22,000 
 feet, or nearly four miles above the level of the sea, and is 7000 
 feet higher than Mont Blanc; 8000 feet higher than Teneriffe,. 
 and two miles higher than Atlas. His summit must remain'inac- 
 eessible to any human being : and m.an must be contented tc 
 
NOTES. 187 
 
 hear from his top only by the cooling breeze he is constantly 
 breathing on the billows of adjacent oceans. 
 
 (/) The tides in the bay of Fund ay, often rise to the height 
 of 80 feet. 
 
 (g) Alluding to the Dykes of Holland, by which the ocean is 
 excluded from vast tracts of territory containing cities, rivers, 
 lakes and mountains. 
 
 (A) The concussion which the earth receives from the fall of all 
 the superfluous waters of Superior, Huron, Michigan and Erie, 
 from the height of 150 feet, is sensibly felt at a distance from the 
 cataract ; and the torrent is heard, dashing on the rocky bed o 
 Niagara, upwards of twenty miles. 
 
 (i) The fall of this river from the Andes, is 600 feet perpen- 
 
 (fe) The beauty of the birds in South America, exceeds any 
 thing ever witnessed in the animal creation. They have been 
 beautifully described, in a late workj by John Pierpont, Esq. 
 which does honor to the accomplished poet. They are there ex 
 hibited to us, 
 
 :i While, in the broad Magnolia's cups of snow, 
 
 44 They quaff the perfumes from those cups that flow." 
 
 (/) Whether the Mammoth, whose bones were found on the 
 banks of the Ohio, and its branches, were the Leviathan of 
 scripture or not, he was the largest animal, of which we have^ 
 any account. The bones of one of them were found to weigh 12 
 tons. 
 
 (m) The Laurel of Florida, is sometimes 36 feet in circumfer 
 ence, and 100 feet to the branches. 
 
 (n) This, and the eight following proper names, are those giv- 
 *n to the Muses. Their various offices, are here described, as 
 oonceived by the ancients. 
 
Notes to the Miscellanies. 
 
 (a) In the town of Wysox, Bradford County, state of Penn?yl- 
 rania, is the ' ci-devant' residence of a Hermit. It is a beautiful 
 valley, embosomed with mountains, and refreshed by a fine 
 river, which loses itself in. the waters of the Susquehannah. The 
 name of the solitary old man, who was, a few years since, found 
 dead in his cabin, and buried under an apple tree, planted by bis 
 own hand, in the midst of his garden, was " Fencellor." 
 Hence the place still does, and probably ever will, retain the 
 name of " Fencellor Castle." This sequestered spot, replete 
 with the most delightful scenery, is now occupied by a gentle 
 man of taste and fortune, an emigrant from Connecticut, who 
 recently transplanted into that garden of Nature, " Earth's fair 
 est flower," an amiable wife ; where, under -the smiles of a benefi 
 cent Providence, they enjoy a home admirably suited to that ro 
 mantic sp?rit of enterprize, before which the western forest is re 
 tiring and at whose magic touch, the haunt of the savage is con 
 verted into the " Garden of Hesperia." In this poem, I have 
 supposed the Hermit once to have had a wife and daughter, lest 
 the cold insensibility- of a stoical recluse, should rob Mm of the 
 reader's sympathy. , 
 
 (w) This poem'is a reply to Lord Byron's farewell to his wife., 
 shall insert for the amusement of the reader. 
 
 FARE thee well ! and if forever- 
 Still forever, fare thee well 
 
 Even though unforgiving, never 
 'Gainst thee shall my heart rebel 
 
NOTES. .189 
 
 Would that breast were bared before thee, 
 
 Where thy head so oft hath lain, 
 While that placid sleep came o'er thee 
 
 Which thou ne'er canst know%gain 
 
 Would that breast by thee glanc'd over, 
 
 Every inmost thought could show ! 
 Then, thou would'&t at last discover 
 
 'Twas not well to spurn it so 
 
 Though the world for this commend thee 
 
 Though it smile upon the blow, 
 Even its praises must offend thee ? 
 
 Founded on another's wo 
 
 Though my many faults defaced me, 
 
 Could no other arm be found 
 Than the one which once embraced me, 
 
 To inflict a cureless wound ? 
 
 Yet oh, yet thyself deceive not 
 
 Love may sink by clow decay, 
 But by sudden wrench, believe not, 
 
 Hearts can thus be torn awaj, 
 
 Still thine own its life retaineth 
 Still must mine though bleeding - 
 
 And the undying thought which paineth 
 Is that we no more may meet 
 
 These are words of deeper sorrow 
 Than the wail above the dead : 
 
 Both shall live but every morrow 
 Wake us from a widowed bed. 
 
 And when thou would'st solace gather 
 When our child's first accents flow- 
 Wilt thou teach her to say" Father" 
 Though his care she must forego ? 
 
 When her little hands shall press thee 
 
 When her lip to thine is prest 
 Think of him whoec prayer shall bless thee 
 
 Think of him thy love bad bless'd. 
 
NOTE*. 
 
 Should her lineaments resemble 
 
 Those thou never more may'st see 
 
 Then thy heart will softly tremble 
 With a pulse yet true to me.' 
 
 All my faults perchance thou knowest 
 All my madness none can know ; 
 
 All my hopes where'er thou goest 
 Whither yet with thee they go 
 
 Every feeling hath been shaken, 
 
 Pride which not a world could bow 
 
 Bows to thee by thee forsaken 
 Even my soul forsakes me now. 
 
 But His done all words are idle- 
 Words from me are vainer still : 
 
 But the thoughts we cannot bridle 
 Force their way without the will. 
 
 Fare thee well I thus disunited 
 Torn from every nearer tie 
 
 Sear'd in heart and lone and blighted 
 More than this I scarce can die. 
 
 (c) M. De Saussure and others, who ascended with him to the 
 summit of Mont Blanc, (the highest mountain on the eastern 
 continent) saw a pair of Butterflies on the wing, unchilled by the 
 extreme cold of that almost impenetrable region, which is 15,380 
 feet, or almost three English miles above the level of the sea, 
 though provisions were frozen in their pockets, their faces exco 
 riated, and their lips swelled with the cold. These lines are ad 
 dressed to the little Alpine adventurers. 
 
 (d~) The ladies will doubtless pardon the writer for this seem 
 ing aspersion upon the fair sex, since he accuses them of using no 
 other weapons in accomplishing their triumphs, but a smile and a 
 tear. 
 
 (e) The reader will excuse the solicitude of a pupil of the 
 much lamented subject of this Eulogy, for wishing to ejirich his 
 
NOTES. 191 
 
 volume with a humble tribute to departed worth. These lines 
 were written in haste, on the arrival of the afflictive intelligence 
 of Dr. Dwight's death, and committed immediately to the press, 
 and it was thought proper not to vary from the original, even 
 though labour might have improved them, 
 
sr/