Classic Poem

Hail! led by science to explore,
P IOZZI ! welcome to our shore,
Thou ornament of female kind,
Above thy sex how far refin'd,
With ev'ry softer virtue grac'd,
Improv'd by knowledge and by taste!
Here came thy Johnson, but inclin'd
The saults believ'd unseen to find;
Could vulgar errors thus retain
A mind so vig'rous in their chain?
Mean prejudice and party-rage
Obscure the lustre of his page.
But thou, prepar'd with candid eye
More beauties than defects to spy,
The progress of the arts shalt view,
And pleas'd bestow the praises due.
Nor think these realms unknown to fame,
Unworthy of attention's claim:
'Tis ours to boast a race of old,
Hardy, unconquerable, bold,
Secure of Roman pow'r who stood,
And pour'd in freedom's cause their blood:
Here science dawn'd with early ray,
Here shines in all the blaze of day;
And arts, which, long obstructed, rose
At last triumphant o'er their foes,
More flourish, than in climes, that ly
Beneath a brighter milder sky.
These praises you'll bestow as due,
You'll others teach to think them true,
And bid in Britons be forgot
The mean distinction, — English, — Scot.