Hence beauteous wretches (beauty's foul difgrace!)
Though born the pride, the shame of human race;
Fair wretches hence, who nightly streets annoy,
Live but themselves and others to destroy.
Hence robbers rife, to theft, to murder prone,
First driven by want, from habit defperate grown ;
Hence for ow'd trifles oft our jails contain
(Torn from mankind) a miserable train;
Torn from, in fpite of nature's tenderest cries,
Parental, filial, and connubial ties :
The trader, when on every fide distrest,
Hence flies to what expedient frauds suggest ;
To prop his question'd credit's tottering ftate,
Others he first involves to share his fate;
Then for mean refuge must self-exil'd roam,
Never to hope a friend, nor find a home,
This Public Spirit fees, the fees and feels! Her breast the throb, her eye the tear reveals; (The patriot throb that beats, the tear that flows 195 For others welfare, and for others woes)—
And what can I (the faid) to cure their grief?
Shall I or point out death, or point relief?
Forth fhall I lead them to fome happier soil,
To conqueft lead them, and enrich with spoil? -200
Bid them convulfe a world, make nature groan,
And spill, in fhedding others blood, their own?
No, no-fuch wars do thou, Ambition, wage!
Go fterilize the fertile with thy rage!
Whole nations to depopulate is thine;
To people, culture, and protect, be mine!
Then range the world, Discovery !-Strait he goes
O'er feas, o'er Libya's fands, and Zembla's snows;
He fettles where kind rays till now have fmil'd
(Vain smile!) on fome luxuriant houseless wild.
How many fons of want might here enjoy
What Nature gives for age but to destroy?
Blush, blush, O fun (fhe cries) here vainly found,
To rife, to fet, to roll the feasons round!
Shall heaven distil in dews, descend in rain,
From earth gush fountains, rivers flow—in vain ?
There fhall the watery lives in myriads stray,
And be, to be alone each other's prey?
Unfought shall here the teeming quarries own
The various fpecies of mechanic ftone?
From ftructure this, from fculpture that confine ?
Shall rocks forbid the latent gem to shine?
Shall mines, obedient, aid no artist's care,
Nor give the inartial sword, and peaceful fhare?
Ah! fhall they never precious ore unfold,
To fmile in filver, or to flame in gold?
Shall here the vegetable world alone,
For joys, for various virtues, rest unknown?
While food and phyfic, plants and herbs supply,
Here must they shoot alone to bloom and die ?
Shall fruits, which none but brutal eyes furvey,
Untouch'd grow ripe, untafted drop away?
Shall here th' irrational, the favage kind,
Lord it o'er ftores by heaven for man defign'd,
And trample what mild funs benignly raise,
While man must lose the use, and heaven the praise ?
Shall it then be ?-(Indignant here she rofe,
Indignant, yet humane, her bofom glows)
No! By each honour'd Grecian, Roman name,
By men for virtue deify'd by fame,
Who peopled lands, who model'd infant state,
And then bade empire be maturely great;
By these I swear (be witness earth and skies!)
Fair Order here fhall from Confufion rife.
Rapt, I a future colony furvey!
Come then, ye fons of Mifery! come away!
Let thofe, whofe forrows from neglect are known, (Here taught, compell'd, empower’d) neglect atone! Let thofe enjoy, who never merit woes,
In youth th' induftrious wifh, in age repofe!
Allotted acres (no reluctant foil)
Shall prompt their industry, and pay their toil.
Let families, long strangers to delight,
Whom wayward fate difpers'd, by me unite
Here live enjoying life; fee plenty, peace;
Their lands increasing as their fons increase.
As nature yet is found, in leafy glades,
To intermix the walks with lights and fhades;
Or as with good and ill, in chequer'd ftrife,
Various the goddess colours human life:
So, in this fertile clime, if yet are seen
Moors, marshes, cliffs, by turns to intervene;
Where cliffs, moors, marshes, defolate the view, Where haunts the bittern, and where fcreams the
Where prowls the wolf, where roll'd the serpent lies, 265.
Shall folemn fanes and halls of justice rife,
And towns fhall open (all of structure fair!)
To brightening profpects, and to pureft air;
Frequented ports, and vineyards green fucceed,
And flocks increasing whiten all the mead.
On science science, arts on arts refine;
On these from high all heaven fhall smiling shine,
And Public Spirit here a people show,
Free, numerous, pleas'd, and bufy all below.
Learn, future natives of this promised land,
What your forefathers ow'd my faving hand!
Learn, when Defpair fuch fudden blifs shall fee,
Such blifs must fhine from Oglethorpe or me!
Do you the neighbouring blameless Indian aid,
Culture what he neglects, not his invade,
Dare not, oh dare not, with ambitious view,
Force or demand fubjection never due..
Let, by my fpecious name, no tyrants rife,
And cry, while they enflave, they civilize?
Know, Liberty and I are ftill the fame,
Congenial!-ever mingling flame with flame!
Why must I Afric's fable children fee
Vended for flaves, though form'd by nature free,
The nameless tortures cruel minds invent,
Those to subject, whom nature equal meant ? 290,
If these you dare (albeit unjust success
Empowers you now unpunish'd to oppress)
Revolving empire you and your's may doom
(Rome all subdued, yet Vandals vanqish'd Rome),
Yes, empire may revolve, give them the day,
And yoke may yoke, and blood may blood repay.
Thus (ah! how far unequal'd by my lays, Unfkill'd the heart to melt, or mind to raise), Sublime, benevolent, deep, fweetly-clear, Worthy a Thomson's Muse, a FREDERICK's ear, 300 Thus fpoke the Goddefs. Thus I faintly tell
In what lov'd works heaven gives her to excel.
But who her fons, that, to her intereft true,
Converfant lead her to a prince like you?
Thefe, Sir, falute you from life's middle ftate,
Rich without gold, and without titles great:
Knowledge of books and men exalts their thought,
In wit accomplish'd, though in wiles untaught,
Careless of whispers meant to wound their name,
Nor fneer'd nor brib'd from virtue into shame;
In letters elegant, in honour bright,
They come, they catch, and they reflect delight.
Mixing with these, a few of rank are found,
For councils, embaffies, and camps renown'd.
Vers'd in gay life, in honeft maxims read,
And ever warm of heart, yet cool of head.
From thefe the circling glafs gives wit to fhine,
The bright grow brighter, and ev'n courts refine ;
From these fo gifted, candid, and upright,
Flows knowledge, foftening into ease polite.
Happy the men, who fuch a prince can please!
Happy the prince rever'd by men like these !
His condefcenfions dignity display,
Grave with the wife, and with the witty gay;
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