Classic Poem

Superior Bards, the Pride of ancient Days,
Tuneful have honour'd with immortal Lays
The lowing Grazer, and the fleecy Flock;
The Goat, that brouzes on the shrubby Rock,
And generous Steed, that flying leaves behind
The panting Storm, and mocks the lagging Wind,
With Ears erect springs ardent to the War,
Or, proud in Triumph, draws the Hero's Car;
The feather'd Clans, that soar amidst the Clouds
Sublime, or perching sing in shady Woods;
And all the swift-finn'd Nations of the Floods:
Ev'n Infects too they rais'd, which artful form
Their waxen Caves; and the Silk-Weaver Worm.

Mean Time Heav'n's Viceroy, Man, whose wide Command
Controuls the spacious Realms of Sea and Land,
Is left unsung: Then, Muse, extend thy Wing
For unattempted Flight, and Humane Nature sing.

Tell, what distinguish'd Regions chief abound
With Wit and Sense, what Soil is most renown'd
For Strength athletic, what with Valour crown'd.
What different Virtues, and as different Crimes
Owe their Production to peculiar Climes.
Tell, whence a worthy Race does long endure,
And what Defects its Ruin will procure.

In various Countries, we with Wonder find
Birds, Beasts, and verdant Plants of various Kind:
The Golden Orange-Grove, and spreading Vine
Ask a hot Soil, a cold the Fir and Pine.
The Amaranth and odoriferous Rose
Abhor Arabia 's Sands, and Scythia 's Snows.
Few Realms, like that of fertile Britain , breed
The fair-horn'd Bullock, and the swift-heel Steed.

Bright Humane Nature does no less demand
An Air adapted, and peculiar Land.

In vain you hope Illustrious Youth will shine
Beneath th' Æquator , or th' Ecliptick Line;
Where Sun-burnt Nations, of a swarthy Skin,
Are sully'd o'er with blacker Clouds within.
Their Spirits suffer by too hot a Ray,
And their dry Brain grows dark with too much Day.
For while the Solar Orb , with Heat intense,
Concocts their Gold, it dissipates their Sense:
So much his Beam the Nerves of Moisture drains,
So draws transpiring Vapours from the Veins
Thro' gaping Pores, the Channels can't diffuse
O'er the partcht Head, sufficient gentle Dews.
Their Spirits burning with too fierce a Fire
Unqualify'd by proper Flegme, acquire
A Disposition so inept for Thought,
Few just Perceptions in their Minds are wrought.
The scorcht and pathless Desarts of the Brain,
Want proper Caves and Cells to entertain
A Crowd of airy Forms and long Ideal Train.

Observe the Realms from Congo 's Lands to those
Which Æthiopia 's Southern Seas inclose:
The Inland Tracts, that various Kings obey,
Which the white Mountains of the Moon survey;
Where, fabulous Atlas , thy vast Shoulders rise,
And constant Winter wear in Summer Skies:
Where Niger , wanton with his Silver Pride,
Rolls thro' the burning Land his fruitful Tide;
Benin 's and Zara 's unfrequented Plains,
Unblest with cooling Winds and genial Rains.

Each India 's spacious Monarchies survey,
Those at the Spring, these at the Ebb of Day,
O'er which the Sun describes his Spiral Way.
The various Realms disperst in Orient Seas,
The wild Philippine Isles , and barbarous Celebees:
Java, Sumatra , and Borneo 's Land,
And that which rude Golconda 's Kings command:
The Climes, where Siam 's Lords the Scepter sway,
And which Malacca 's Potentates obey.

Regard the Western-Indies , long unknown,
Controul'd by Europe 's Kings, or by their own.
The Kingdoms neighbour to the sandy Shores,
Where fam'd Hondura 's Gulph resisted roars.
The wealthy Regions of the Southern Soil,
Where Foreign Lords enjoy the Natives Toil,
And to Iberia 's Ports convey the precious Spoil.
And where the famous Amazonian Tide
Do's thro' the Sands, like their own Serpents, glide,

The various Nations of these various Lands,
Opprest with scorching Heats, and Desart-Lands,
Are, for the most, so ignorant and blind,
So unreflecting, and so dull of Mind,
They cast Reproach and Shame on Humane Kind.
So void of Sense the Hotentot is found,
Whose Speech is scarce articulated Sound,
That 'tis disputed, if his doubtful Soul
Augment the Humane or the Brutal Roll:
Nor do's the Cafres barb'rous Race express
More Marks of Wisdom, or of Dullness less.

Ye Frontier Kingdoms, stretch'd on Guinea 's Shore,
Enrich'd with Ivory Wealth, and golden Oar;
Ye Spicy-Isles , lav'd by the Indian Main,
Count what your Losses are, and what your Gain:
And will your Gold and Spices recompence
Your Want of Thought, your Penury of Sense?
Will ye your cruel Benefactor own,
And bless th' immoderate Bounty of the Sun?

As Rays direct are hurtful to the Mind,
So by their Heat our Nature is inclin'd
To various Passions, of destructive Kind.
The vital Ferments they exalt so high,
Their Dews exhal'd, the Channels grow so dry,
That fiery Spirits rising from the Blood,
Adust Extraction of the boiling Flood,
Thro' all their fib'rous Paths malignant dart,
Furious extend the Limbs, and fierce impel the Heart.
The Fire, untemper'd with proportion'd Flegme,
Scorches their Veins, and burns the Meagre Frame,
These Spirits rais'd from Choler to the Brain,
Like those extracted from the basest Grain,
Impure and crude, produce unnatural Heat,
And an ignoble Flame of Life create.
The Natives hence no tender Motions find,
No generous Passions agitate their Mind.
Fierce is their Rage, and all the Savage Beast
Reigns in their Soul, and haunts their desart Breast;
Where Hate, Revenge, and Jealousy are bred,
And livid Envy hides her spleenful Head.

The Brute and Humane Animals acquire
From these hot Skies alike intemperate Fire.
The swarthy Nations near the Sun partake
Of the fierce Viper, pois'nous Rattle-Snake,
And Dragon, Bird obscene, which dreadful flies,
Shoots forth his forked Tongue, and licks the Skies.

Such was the Plague, that in Arabia 's Sand,
Stung Hebrews rescu'd from proud Pharoah 's Hand;
And round their Limbs in turgid Volumes clung,
While with their Noise rehissing Mountains rung.
Yet not Arabia 's Sands, nor Lybia 's Soil,
Not Zara 's Desart, nor the Banks of Nile ,
Fruitful of Terrors, yield a Savage Race,
Which Ægypt 's King in Cruelty surpass.

See where the Sun wastes his intenser Ray,
The Cannibal , a Humane Beast of Prey,
With more than brutal Fierceness drinks the Blood
Of his own Kind, and makes their Limbs his Food.
Th' Æthiopian , and the Inland Moor ,
From Zanguebar 's to Africk 's adverse Shore,
Merchants of Humane Nature still maintain
Detested Trade, and sell their Race for Gain:
Send their own Offspring Slaves to Foreign Soil,
To sweat in Mines, or with incessant Toil
To plant for British Lords some Indian Isle.

Nor is the Glebe to Humane Nature kind,
Between the Circles and the Poles confin'd.
Nor the North Regions of the temperate Zone,
Nor Southern Lands presumptive, tho' unknown
Where while th' unfriendly Sun do's Visits pay,
So cold and short, he saves his precious Ray,
And parsimonious makes the least Expence of Day,
Mean Time in dark Abodes the Natives mourn
His quick Departure, and his slow Return.

See Nova Zembla 's unfrequented Shores,
Whence Scythia 's Main reverberated roars:
Iseland , a wild inhospitable Place,
Which the North Sea's circumfluent Waves embrace.
Greenland survey, on whose unfaithful Coast,
Oft fixt in Ice th' advent'rous Ship is lost:
Where the vast Lord of the Mute Clans, the Pride,
As well as Terror, of the Ocean's Tide,
Rolls in the troubled Deep, or wanton lies,
Spouting the missive Seas against the Skies.
Tartaria 's Eastern Regions, and the Land
Which far and wide Muscovia 's Kings command;
Where in unlightsome Caves the Nations pray
For the short Comfort of returning Day;
And Norway 's Hills, whose Pines arise sublime,
Which when transplanted to Britannia 's Clime,
Wing'd in her fleets o'er all the Ocean roam,
Export her Growth, and fetch the Indies Home.

In all these Regions, from the Source of Light
Remote and doom'd to long prevailing Night,
See, Cold extream clasps in its rigid Arms
Dishonour'd Nature, of their Strength disarms
Her wither'd Limbs, and blasts her blooming Charms.
See how she sickens by the chill Embrace,
Behold her squallid Looks and ruin'd Face!
While all her genial Ferments are detain'd
With Ice coercive, and in Frost-work chain'd.
Here Hyperborean Winds, that constant blow
From crystal Caves, and Hoards immense of Snow,
Tempestuous range the dreary Plains, and sweep
The glaz'd Apartments of th' unactive Deep:
Where cutting Sleet, bleak Gales, and beating Rain,
Drive thro' the Air, and sweep along the Plain.
This fruitless Soil, opprest with Cold intense,
Is barren too of Wit, and void of Sense.
Th' unsprightly, coarse, and unfermented Blood,
Form'd of base Juices and unwholsome Food,
Flows thick and lazy in the Venal Road.
From this impure and unsubacted Mass,
By a weak Fire sublim'd the Spirits pass.
Thro' the trajected Strainers of the Brain,
And sluggish to the Nerves their Passage gain.
Unlabour'd, unrefin'd, and slow of Course,
They act the brawny Limbs, and give athletick Force.
While thro' the nervous tough and subborn Thread
Of larger Size and Bore they are convey'd,
Vig'rous they move the lab'ring Heart, and warm,
The winding Veins, with Strength the Muscles arm.
Hence the hard Natives of the frozen Soil
Robust of Sinew, and prepar'd for Toil,
Patient of Pains, can unexhausted bear
The Soldier's Buckler, or the Huntsman's Spear.

These Spirits too, Guests of a torpid Brain,
Will ling'ring Life prolong, and Health maintain.
For with its hard constringent Grasp the Cold
Shuts up the Pores, and do's their Flight with-hold;
Which else expanded with a warmer Ray,
Thro' larger Meshes soon would wing their Way,
Defraud the Limbs, and lost in Æther stray.
Fed sparingly with Oyl, and dim with Fumes,
The Vital Lamp by slow Expence consumes:
While in hot Climes, unthrifty of its Fires,
It blazes high, and wasting swift expires.
But then these Spirits gross and unrefin'd,
Slow Ministers, and Envoys of the Mind,
Can ne'er on Vital Messages proceed,
Or for Reports return with proper Speed;
Swift thro' their nervous Channels cannot dart,
No Touches bold or delicate impart:
With no bright Figures furnish Fancy's Train,
Nor grace with curious Imag'ry the Brain.
The noble Functions of the Soul require
A brighter Flame, and more exalted Fire.

Mean Time the Realms, where Beams indulgent shine
From the North Circle to the Tropic Line,
Exempt from each Extream of Cold and Heat,
To Human Nature prove a kinder Seat.

The Sun here darts an oblique gentle Ray,
Nor prodigal of Glory do's display
Immoderate Splendor, or destructive Day.

Here from the tepid Glebe sweet Vapours rise;
Mild is the Air, and clement are the Skies.
Soft Winds their balmy Burden here unload,
And scatter genial Juices all Abroad.
Prolifick Heat fermenting Nature warms,
Gladdens her Face, and calls forth all her Charms.
By this her teeming Bosom is supply'd
With gay Abundance, and with verdant Pride.
Flocks cloath'd with Fleeces crown the Mountain's Brow,
And Herds beneath with Duggs distended low.
In these propitious Climes th' embody'd Mind
Do's happy Instruments, of various Kind,
For all her noble Operations find.

Here proper Ferments animate the Blood,
And give just Vigour to the bounding Flood.
The vital Streams with due impulsive Force
Spring from the Heart, and triumph in their Course;
Rarely a dull unagitated Mass
Do's lazy linger in its circling Race:
Nor do's a flaming rapid Torrent fry
The winding Tubes, and leave the Muscles dry;
While the mild Dews, forc'd with too great a Fite,
Desert the Limbs, and thro' the Pores perspire.
The Purple Streams, warm to a just Degree,
From Dregs and unconcocted Juices free,
As they pervade the Channels of the Brain,
Their purer Parts thro' the fine Meshes strain.
These active Liquors, which Admission find
Thro' the strait Paths, and leave the coarse behind,
Swift to the inmost Rooms their Passage beat,
And crowd around the Soul's Imperial Seat;
Of subtile Matter form'd, refin'd and bright,
As Light'ning sprightly, and serene as Light,
Watching their Soveraign's Nod, they ready stand
Apt to perform the Mind's supream Command.
Such noble Vital Instruments are fit
For Reason's Works, and beauteous Turns of Wit.
With finer Strokes they move the tender Strings
Tun'd in the Brain, whence clear Perception springs.
Fancy makes superior Flight her Aim,
Wing'd with this vig'rous, clear seraphick Flame,
She ranges Nature's universal Frame;
Bright Seeds of Thought from various Objects takes,
Whence her fair Scenes and Images she makes;
Spirits so swift, so fine, so bold, so strong,
Gave Milton Genius fit for Milton 's Song.