And beckons to the willing dame, While her high pride does scarce descend So the tall stag, upon the brink THE BATTLE OF THE SUMMER-ISLANDS. A CANTO I. What fruits they have, and how Heav'n smiles ID me, Bellona! while the dreadful fight Betwixt a nation and two whales I write. Seas stain'd with gore I sing, adventrous toil! And how these monsters did disarm an isle. Bermuda, wall'd with rocks, who does not know? That happy island where huge lemons grow, And orange trees, which golden fruit do bear, The' Hesperian garden boasts of none so fair; Where shining pearl, and coral, many a pound, On the rich shore, of ambergris is found. The lofty cedar, which to Heav'n aspires, The prince of trees! is fuel for their fires : The smoke by which their loaded spits do turn, For incense might on sacred altars burn: Their private roofs on odorous timber borne, Such as might palaces for kings adorn. The sweet palmettos a new Bacchus yield, With leaves as ample as the broadest shield, Under the shadow of whose friendly boughs They sit, carousing where their liquor grows. Figs there unplanted through the fields do gra Such as fierce Cato did the Romans show, With the rare fruit inviting them to spoil Carthage, the mistress of so rich a soil. The naked rocks are not unfruitful there, But at some constant seasons, every year Their barren tops with luscious 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 mold that the blest tenant feeds On precious fruits, and pays his rent in weeds. With candied plantains and the juicy pine, On choicest melons and sweet grapes they dine, And with potatoes fat their wanton swine. Nature these cates with such a lavish hand Pours out among them, that our coarser land Tastes of that bounty, and does cloth return, Which not for warmth, but ornament, is worn: For the kind Spring, which but salutes us here, Inhabits there, and courts them all the year. Ripe fruits and blossoms on the same trees live ; At once they promise, what at once they give. So sweet the air, so moderate the clime, None sickly lives, or dies before his time. } Heav'n sure has kept this spot of earth uncurst, Project a shade, and lovely fruits do wear. That tunes my lute, and winds the string so high, I'll make the listening savages grow tame.→→ CANTO II. Of their alarm, and how their foes THOUGH rocks so high about this island rise, 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 lasting 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 the' unwonted sound may grow: At length two monsters of unequal size, Hard by the shore, a fisherman espies; Two mighty whales! which swelling seas had tost, Here in a pool, among the rocks engag'd, Hearts sure of brass they had who tempted first nurst. The welcome news through all the nation spread, Pikes, halberts, spits, and darts that wound so far, Whose brave adventures have transferr'd his name, And through the new world spread his growing fame. But how they fought, and what their valour gain'd, Shall in another Canto be contain❜d. THE CANTO III. The bloody fight, successless toil, boat which on the first assault did go, Strook with a harping-iron the younger foe; Who, when he felt his side so rudely gor'd, Loud as the sea that nourish'd him he roar'd. As a broad bream, to please some curious taste, While yet alive, in boiling water cast, Vex'd with unwonted heat, he flings about The scorching brass, and hurls the liquor out; So with the barbed javelin stung, he raves, And scourges with his tail the suffering waves. Like Spenser's Talus with his iron flail, He threatens ruin with his ponderous tail; Dissolving at one stroke the batter'd boat, And down the men fall drenched in the moat; Vol. I. K |