Classic Poem

And now with wealthy manufacture stow'd,
Launch'd on the tide their freighted vessels rode;
The pendants vainly point the favouring gale,
Court the weigh'd anchor, and the opening sail,
Till first the Fair Perfection they beheld,
Who all report, in fatal hour, excell'd:
For Syria then they ply the labouring oar,
And the crook'd keels divide their native shore.

Exulting now they touch the favourite land,
Unlade, and moor along the yielding strand.
Now duteous, on their youthful Sultan wait,
Unfold new treasures, and new tales relate.
With usual grace, and curious ear he hears;
With usual courtesy, and bounty cheers;
The strange, the wondrous narrative admires,
And all that's foreign, all that's new requires.

Ah, hapless prince, thy further search restrain;
Couch'd in the tale, death lurks to entertain!
C ONSTANTIA 's charms their raptured tongues disclose;
In every word some kindling beauty glows;
Her form, her features, mien, and soul they breathe,
Unpraise all praise, and leave all terms beneath.

Strong Eloquence can picture to the blind,
Create new forms, and people all the mind;
Can pain or mitigate, can heal or wound,
Enchant with sentences, and kill with sound.
The fancied sweets his ear impatient drinks;
Deep on his soul the Imaged Beauty sinks;
Thro' all his thoughts, his powers, she lives, she reigns,
Pants in each pulse, and thrills along his veins.

Sure, thro' the tracts of yon' celestial maze,
Where mystic planets dance, and glories blaze;
More wonders typical impress the sky,
Than e'er was traced with astrologic eye!
There haply, e're his natal hour exprest,
First burn'd the flame that glowed within his breast:
There might the Nymph with previous beauty bloom,
With previous languishment the Youth consume;
Expire the victim of successless care;
Die e're he lived, and e're he loved despair.
There the dear friendly stream, e're Julius bled,
Great Brutus to his dearer country shed;
With destined tyranny there Pride enslaves,
With destined virtue there the Patriot saves;
There Pompey glow'd for freedom and for fame,
There Socrates, of Greece the pride and shame:
Alcides there each horrid monster slew;
There triumph'd Sampson, the heroic Jew;
There All, or doom'd to save, or to destroy,
The chiefs who fought at Thebes, or fought at Troy!