War follow'd for revenge, or to fupplant Mean felf-attachment, and scarce aught befide. And thus the rangers of the western world, Towards th' antarctic. Ev'n the favour'd ifles, Or inspiration teaches; and enclofed In boundless oceans, never to be pafs'd By navigators uninformed as they, Or plough'd perhaps by British bark again : Thee, gentle favage! whom no love of thee Or else vain glory, prompted us to draw The gifts of Providence, and fquander life. The dream is paft; and thou haft found again Thy cocoas and bananas, palms and yams, And homeftall thatch'd with leaves. But haft thou found Of equipage, our gardens, and our fports, * Omia. Rude as thou art, (for we return'd thee rude And ignorant, except of outward fhow) i 5 cannot think thee yet fo dull of heart And spiritlefs, as never to regret Sweets tasted here, and left as soon as known. For fight of fhip from England. Ev'ry fpeck Seen in the dim horizon turns thee pale With conflict of contending hopes and fears. But comes at last the dull and dusky `eve, We found no bait To tempt us in thy country. Doing good, Difinterested good, is not our trade. We travel far, 'tis true, but not for nought; By other hopes and richer fruits than your's. But, though true worth and virtue in the mild And genial foil of cultivated life Thrive most, and may perhaps thrive only there, And wantonness and gluttonous excefs. In cities vice is hidden with most ease, Or feen with leaft reproach; and virtue, taught Beyond th' achievement of fuccessful flight. I do confefs them nurs'ries of the arts, In which they flourish moft; where, in the beams Of warm encouragement, and in the eye Of public note, they reach their perfect fize. Such London is, by taste and wealth proclaim'd By riot and incontinence the worst. There, touch'd by Reynolds, a dull blank becomes A lucid mirror, in which Nature fees All her reflected features. Bacon there Gives more than female beauty to a stone, And Chatham's eloquence to marble lips. Nor does the chiffel occupy alone The pow'rs of fculpture, but the style as much; |