So when the rival gods at Athens strove,
By wondrous works their pow'r divine to prove,
As Neptune's trident strook the teeming earth,
Here the proud horse upstarted to his birth;
And there, as Pallas bless'd the fruitful scene,
The spreading olive rear'd its stately green;
In dumb surprise the gazing crowds were lost,
Nor knew on which to fix their wonder most.
ON HER ARRIVAL AT JAMAICA, 1715.
THRO' yielding waves the vessel swiftly flies
That bears Urania from our eager eyes;
A prize more rich than Spain's whole fleets could boast
From fam'd Peru, or Chili's golden coast:
Deaf to our call, the billows waft her o'er,
With speed obsequious, to a distant shore;
There the glad natives, on the crowded strand,
With wonder see the matchless stranger land;
Transported glories in her features smile,
And a new dawn of beauty gilds their isle.
So from the sea when Venus rose serene,
And by the Nymphs and Tritons first was seen,
The wat'ry world beheld, with pleas'd surprise,
O'er its wide waste new tracks of light arise;
The winds were hush'd, the floods forgot to nove, 15 And Nature own'd th' auspicious queen of Love.
WHILE O'er the cloth thy happy pencil strays,
And the pleas'd eye its artful course surveys,
Behold the magic pow'r of shade and light
A new creation opens to our sight.
Here tufted groves rise boldly to the sky,
There spacious lawns more distant charm the eye;
The crystal lake, in borrow'd tinctures shine,
And misty hills the far horizon join,
Lost in the azure borders of the day,
Like sounds remote, that die in air away.
The peopled prospect various pleasure yields,
Sheep grace the hills, and herds or swains the fields; Harmonious Order o'er the whole presides,
And Nature crowns the work which Judgment guides.
Nor with less skill display'd by thee appear
The diff'rent products of the fertile year,
While fruits with imitated ripeness glow,
And sudden flow'rs beneath thy pencil blow.
Such and so various thy extensive hand,
Oft' in suspense the pleas'd spectators stand,
Doubtful to choose, and fearing still to err,
When to thyself they would thyself prefer,
So when the rival gods at Athens strove,
By wondrous works their pow'r divine to prove,
As Neptune's trident strook the teeming earth,
Here the proud horse upstarted to his birth;
And there, as Pallas bless'd the fruitful scene,
The spreading olive rear'd its stately green;
In dumb surprise the gazing crowds were lost,
Nor knew on which to fix their wonder most.
ON HER ARRIVAL AT JAMAICA, 1715.
THRO' yielding waves the vessel swiftly flies
That bears Urania from our eager eyes;
A prize more rich than Spain's whole fleets could boast
From fam'd Peru, or Chili's golden coast:
Deaf to our call, the billows waft her o'er,
With speed obsequious, to a distant shore;
There the glad natives, on the crowded strand,
With wonder see the matchless stranger land;
Transported glories in her features smile,
And a new dawn of beauty gilds their isle.
So from the sea when Venus rose serene,
And by the Nymphs and Tritons first was seen,
The wat'ry world beheld, with pleas'd surprise,
O'er its wide waste new tracks of light arise;
The winds were hush'd, the floods forgot to nove, 15 And Nature own'd th' auspicious queen of Love.
Henceforth no more the Cyprian isle be nam'd,
Tho' for th' abode of that bright goddess fam'd;
Jamaica's happier groves, conceal'd so long
Thro' ages past, are now the poets' song:
The Graces there and Virtues fix their throne;
Urania makes th' adopted land her own.
The Muse, with her in thought transported, sees
The op'ning scene, the bloomy plants and trees,
By brighter skies rais'd to a nobler birth,
And fruits deny'd to Europe's colder earth.
At her approach, like courtiers doubly gay,
To grace the pomp of some lov'd prince's day,
The gladden'd soil in all its plenty shines,
New spreads its branching palms, and new adorns its
With gifts prepares the shining guest to meet,
And pours its verdant off'rings at her feet.
As in the fields with pleasure she appears,
Smiles on the lab'rers, and their labours cheers,
The luscious canes with sweeter juices flow,
The melons ripen, and the citrons blow,
The golden orange takes a richer dye,
And slaves forget their toil while she is by.
Not Ceres' self more blessings could display,
When thro' the earth she took her wand'ring way, 40
Far from her native coast, and all around
Diffus'd ripe harvests thro' the teeming ground.
Meanwhile our drooping vales deserted mourn,
Thappy years bring on her wish'd return;
New honours then, Urania! shall be thine,
And Britain shall again the world outshine.
So when of late our sun was veil'd from sight
In dark eclipse, and lost in sudden night,
A shiv'ring cold each heart with horror thrill'd,
The birds forsook the skies, the herds the field;
But when the conqu'ring orb, with one bright ray,
Broke thro' the gloom, and reinthron'd the day,
The herds reviv'd, the birds renew'd their strains,
Unusual transports rais'd the cheerful swains,
And joy returning echo'd thro' the plains.
AROUND your couch while sighing lovers view
Wit, beauty, goodness, suff'ring all in you,
So mournful is the scene, 't is hard to tell
Which face betrays the sick, or who is well,
They feel not their own pains while your's they share,
Worse tortur'd now than lately by despair.
For bleeding veins a like relief is found,
When iron red-hot by burning stops the wound. "Grant, Heav'n!" they cry, "this moment our de
"To see her well, tho' we the next expire."
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