So, all we know of what they do above,
Is, that they happy are, and that they love.
Let dark oblivion, and the hollow grave,
Content themselves our frailer thoughts to have:
Well-chofen love is never taught to die,
But with our nobler part invades the sky.
Then grieve no more, that one so heavenly shap'd
'The crooked hand of trembling age escap'd.
Rather, since we beheld her not decay,
But that the vanish'd fo entire away,
Her wondrous beauty, and her goodness, merit
We fhould fuppofe, that fome propitious fpirit
In that cœleftial form frequented here;
And is not dead, but ceases to appear.
THE BATTLE OF THE SUMMER-ISLANDS.
What fruits they have, and how heaven smiles
Upon those late-difcover'd iles.
AID me, Bellona! while the dreadful fight
Betwixt a nation, and two whales, I write :
Seas ftain'd with gore I fing, adventurous toil!
And how these monsters did difarm an ifle.
Bermuda wall'd with rocks who does not know?
That happy island! where huge lemons grow;
And orange trees, which golden fruit do bear
Th' Hefperian garden boasts of none so fair : ́
Where shining pearl, coral, and many a pound,
On the rich shore, of amber-gris, is found.
The lofty cedar, which to heaven aspires,
The Prince of trees! is fuel for their fires :
The smoke, by which their loaded fpits do turn,
For incenfe might on facred altars burn:
Their private roofs on odorous timber borne,
Such as might palaces for Kings adorn.
The sweet palmitoes a new Bacchus yield,
With leaves as ample as the broadest shield:
Under the fhadow of whofe friendly boughs
They fit, caroufing where their liquor grows.
Figs there unplanted through the fields do grow,
Such as fierce Cato did the Romans show;
With the rare fruit inviting them to spoil
Carthage, the mistress of so rich a foil.
The naked rocks are not unfruitful there,
But, at fome constant seasons every year,
Their barren tops with lufcious food abound;
And with the eggs of various fowls are crown'd.
Tobacco is the worst of things, which they
To English landlords, as their tribute, pay.
Such is the mould, that the bleft tenant feeds
On precious fruits, and pays his rent in weeds.
With candy'd plantains, and the juicy pine,
On choiceft melons, and fweet grapes, they dine:
And with potatoes fat their wanton fwine.
Nature these cates with fuch a lavish hand
Pours out among them, that our coarfer land
Taftes of that bounty; and does cloth return,
Which not for warmth, but ornament, is worn:
For the kind spring, which but falutes us here,
Inhabits there, and courts them all the year:
Ripe fruits and bloffoms on the fame trees live;
At once they promife, what at once they give.
So fweet the air, fo moderate the clime,;
None fickly lives, or dies before his time.
Heaven fure has kept this spot of earth uncurft,
To fhew how all things were created first.
The tardy plants in our cold orchards plac'd,
Referve their fruit for the next age's taste :
There, a small grain, in fome few months, will be
A firm, a lofty, and a spacious tree.
The Palma-Chrifti, and the fair papà,
Now but a feed (preventing nature's law)
In half the circle of the hafty year
Project a fhade, and lovely fruits do wear.
And as their trees, in our dull region fet,
But faintly grow, and no perfection get;
So, in this northern tract, our hoarfer throats
Utter unripe and ill-conftrained notes :
While the fupporter of the Poet's style,
Phoebus, on them eternally does fmile.
Oh! how I long my carelefs limbs to lay
Under the plantain's shade; and all the day
With amorous airs my fancy entertain ;
Invoke the Mufes, and improve my vein!
No paffion there in my free breast should move,
None but the sweet, and beft of paffions, love.
There will I fing, if gentle Love be by,
That tunes my lute, and winds the string so high;
With the sweet found of Sachariffa's name,
I'll make the listening favages grow tame.-
But while I do these pleasing dreams indite,
I am diverted from the promis'd fight.
HOUGH rocks fo high about this ifland rife,
That well they may the numerous Turk despise;
Yet is no human fate exempt from fear;
Which shakes their hearts, while through the isle they hear A lafting noise, as horrid and as loud
As thunder makes, before it breaks the cloud.
Three days they dread this murmur, ere they know From what blind cause th' unwonted found may grow a At length two monsters of unequal size,
Hard by the shore, a fisherman efpies ;
Two mighty whales! which fwelling feas had toft,
And left them prifoners on the rocky coast.
One, as a mountain vaft; and with her came
A cub, not much inferior to his dam.
Here in a pool among the rocks engag`d,
They roar'd, like lions caught in toils, and rag`d.
The man knew what they were, who heretofore
Had seen the like lie murther'd on the fhore :
By the wild fury of fome tempeft cast,
The fate of ships, and ship-wreck'd men, to taste.
As carelefs dames, whom wine and fleep betray
To frantic dreams, their infants overlay :
So there fometimes the raging ocean fails,
And her own brood exposes; when the whales
Against fharp rocks, like reeling veffels, quafh'd,
Though huge as mountains, are in pieces dash'd :
Along the shore their dreadful limbs lie fcatter'd ;
Like hills with earthquakes, fhaken, torn, and shatter'd.
Hearts fure of brafs they had, who tempted first
Rude feas, that spare not what themselves have nurst.
The welcome news, through all the nation spread,
To fudden joy, and hope, converts their dread:
What lately was their public terror, they
Behold with glad eyes as a certain prey:
Dispose already of th' untaken spoil;
And, as the purchase of their future toil,
These share the bones, and they divide the oil.
So was the huntsman by the bear oppreft,
Whose hide he fold-before he caught the beast!
They man their boats, and all the young men arm With whatsoever may the monsters harm;
Pikes, halberts, fpits, and darts that wound fo far;
The tools of peace, and inftruments of war.
Now was the time for vigorous lads to show
What love, or honour, could invite them to:
A goodly theatre! where rocks are round
With reverend age, and lovely laffes, crown'd.
Such was the lake which held this dreadful pair,
Within the bounds of noble Warwick's fhare:
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