Classic Poem

CANTO IV.

Behold the youth, just now set free
On land, immur'd again at sea;
Stow'd with his cargo in the hold,
In quest of other worlds for gold.
He who so late regal'd at ease,
On olios, soups, and fricassees,
Drank with the witty and the gay,
Sparkling champaign and rich tokay,
Now breaks his fast with Suffolk cheese,
And bursts at noon with pork and pease;
Instead of wine, content to sip,
With noisy tars, their nauseous flip;
Their breath with chew'd mundungus sweet,
Their jests more fulsome than their meat.
While thunder rolls and storms arise.
He snoring in his hammock lies;
In golden dreams enjoys the night,
And counts his bags with vast delight;
Mountains of gold erect his throne,
Each precious gem is now his own:
Kind Jove descends in golden sleet,
Pactolus murmurs at his feet;
The sea gives up its hoarded store,
Possessing all, he covets more.
O gold! attractive gold! in vain
Honour and Conscience would restrain
Thy boundless universal reign.
To thee each stubborn virtue bends;
The man oblig'd betrays his friends;
The patriot quits his country's cause,
And sells her liberty and laws;
The pious prude's no longer nice,
And ev'n lawn sleeves can flatter vice.
At thy too absolute command
Thy zealots ransack sea and land:
Where'er thy beams their pow'r display,
The swarming insects haste away,
To bask in thy refulgent ray.
Now the bold crew, with prosperous wind,
Leave the retreating land behind;
Fearless they quit their native shore,
And Albion's cliffs are seen no more;
Then on the wide Atlantic borne,
Their rigging and their tackle torn,
Danger in various shapes appears,
Sudden alarms and shivering fears.
Here might some copious bard dilate,
And shew fierce Neptune drawn in state,
While guards of Tritons clear his way,
And Nereids round his chariot play;
Then bid the stormy Boreas rise,
And forky lightning cleave the skies.
The ship, nigh foundering in the deep,
Or bounding o'er the ridgy steep;
Describe the monsters of the main,
The Phocae and their finny train,
Tornados, hurricanes, and rain,
Sponts, shoals, and rocks of dreadful size,
And pirates lurking for their prize;
Amazing miracles rehearse,
And turn all Dampier into verse:
My negligent and humble Muse
Less ambitious aims pursues;
Content with more familiar phrase,
Nor deals in such embroider'd lays;
Pleas'd if my rhyme just measure keeps,
And stretch'd at ease my reader sleeps.
Hiberman matrons thus of old
Their soporific stories told;
To sleep in vain the patient strove,
Perplex'd with business, cross'd in love,
Till soothing tales becalm'd his breast,
And lull'd his troubled soul to rest.
Suffice it only to recite,
They drank all day, they snor'd all night;
And after many moons were past,
They made the wish'd-for shores at last.
Frank, with his cargo in his hand,
Leap'd joyful on the golden strand;
Open'd his toyshop in the port,
Trinkets of various size and sort;
Bracelets and combs, bodkins and tweezers,
Bath-metal rings, and knives, and scissars;
And in one lucky day got more
Than Bubble-boy in half a score:
For Fortune now, no longer coy,
Smil'd on her darling favorite boy;
No longer from his arms retir'd,
But gave him all his heart desir'd.
Ah! thoughtless youth! in time beware,
And shun the treacherous harlot's snare;
The wiser savages behold,
Who truck not liberty for gold!
Proof against all her subtle wiles.
Regardless of her frowns or smiles;
If frugal Nature want supplies,
The lance or dart unerring flies:
The mountain boar, their prey, descends,
Or the fat kid regales their friends;
The jocund tribe from sun to sun,
Feast on the prize their valour won.
Cease, babbling Muse! thy vain advice,
'Tis thrown away on avarice:
Bid hungry lions quit their prey,
Or streams that down the mountains stray
Divert their course, return again,
And climb the steep from whence they came.
Unbless'd with his ill-gotten store,
The' insatiate youth still craves for more;
To counsel deaf, to' examples blind,
Scrapes up whatever he can find;
Now master of a vessel grown,
With all the glittering freight his own,
To Fortune still he makes his court,
And coasts along from port to port:
Each rolling tide brings fresh supplies,
And heaps on heaps delight his eyes.
Through Panama's delicious bay
The loaded vessel ploughs her way;
With the rich freight oppress'd she sails,
And summons all the friendly gales.
Frank on her deck triumphant stood,
And view'd the calm transparent flood:
" Let book-learn'd sots," said he, " adore
The' aspiring hills that grace thy sore;
Thy verdant isles, the groves that bow
Their nodding heads, and shade thy brow;
Thy face serene, thy gentle breast,
Where syrens sing and Halcyons rest,
Propitious flood! on me bestow
The treasures of thy depth below,
Which long in thy dark womb have slept,
From age to age securely kept."
Scarce had he spoke, when, strange surprise!
The' indignant waves in mountains rise,
And hurricanes invade the skies;
The ship against the shoals was struck,
And in a thousand pieces broke;
But one poor trusty plank, to save
Its owner from the watry grave:
On this he mounts, is cast on shore,
Half dead, a bankrupt as before:
Spiritless, fainting, and alone,
On the bare beach he makes his moan;
Then climbs the rugged rocks, to' explore
If aught was driving to the shore,
The poor remains of all his store;
With greedy diligence prepar'd
To save whate'er the waves had spar'd.
But, oh! the wretch expects in vain
Compassion from the furious main;
Men, goods, are sunk. Mad with despair.
He beat his breast, he tore his hair;
Then leaning o'er the craggy steep,
Look'd down into the boiling deep,
Almost resolv'd to cast himself,
And perish with his dear, dear pelf.