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But thou fhalt conquer: all thines eyes furvey, With all our various tribes, fhall own thy sway.

He spoke; and melting in a filvery stream Both disappear'd; when waking from his dream, The wondering monarch thrill'd with awe divine, Weighs in his lofty thoughts the facred fign.

Now morning bursting from the eastern sky Spreads o'er the clouds the blushing rose's dye; The nations wake, and at the fovereign's call The Lufian nobles crowd the palace hall. The vifion of his fleep the monarch tells; Each heaving breast with joyful wonder fwells : Fulfil, they cry, the facred fign obey,

And spread the canvas for the Indian fea.
Inftant my looks with troubled ardour burn'd,
When keen on me his eyes the monarch turn'd:
What he beheld I know not; but I know,

Big fwell'd my bosom with a prophet's glow:
And long my mind, with wondrous bodings fired,
Had to the glorious dreadful toil aspired:
Yet to the king, whate'er my looks betrayed,
My looks the omen of fuccefs displayed.
When with that sweetness in his mien expreft,
Which unrefifted wins the generous breast,
Great are the dangers, great the toils, he cried,
Ere glorious honours crown the victor's pride.

If in the glorious ftrife the hero fall,

He proves no danger could his foul appall;
And but to dare so great a toil, shall raise
Each age's wonder, and immortal praise.
For this dread toil new oceans to explore,
To spread the fail where fail ne'er flow'd before,
For this dread labour, to your valour due,
From all your peers I name, O Vasco, you.
Dread as it is, yet light the task shall be
To you, my GAMA, as perform'd for me..
My heart could bear no more——
-Let fkies on fire,
Let frozen feas, let horrid war confpire,
I dare them all, I cried, and but repine
That one poor life is all I can refign.
Did to my lot Alcides' labours fall,
For you my joyful heart would dare them all;
The ghaftly realms of death could man invade,
For you my steps fhould trace the ghaftly fhade.

While thus with loyal zeal my bofom fwell'd,
That panting zeal my prince with joy beheld:
Honour'd with gifts I ftood, but honour'd more
By that esteem my joyful fovereign bore.
That generous praise which fires the foul of worth,
And gives new virtues unexpected birth,
That praise even now my heaving bofom fires,
Inflames my courage, and each wish inspires.

VOL. II.

D

Moved

Moved by affection, and allured by fame,
A gallant youth, who bore the dearest name,
Paulus my brother, boldly fued to share

My toils, my dangers, and my fate in war;
And brave Coello urged the hero's claim
To dare each hardship, and to join our fame:
For glory both with restless ardour burn'd,
And filken ease for horrid danger spurn'd;
Alike renown'd in council or in field,

The fnare to baffle, or the fword to wield.
Through Lisboa's youth the kindling ardour ran,
And bold ambition thrill'd from man to man;
And each the meaneft of the venturous band
With gifts flood honour'd by the fovereign's hand.
Heavens! what a fury swell'd each warrior's breast,
When each, in turn, the smiling king addrest!
Fired by his words the direft toils they scorn'd,
And with the horrid luft of danger fiercely burn'd.

With fuch bold rage the youth of Mynia glow'd, When the first keel the Euxine furges plow'd; When bravely venturous for the golden fleece Orac❜lous Argo fail'd from wondering ↳ Greece. Where Tago's yellow ftream the harbour laves, And flowly mingles with the ocean waves,

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In

hOraclous Argo" According to fable, the vessel of the Argonauts spoke "and prophefied. The ancients, I fuppofe, by this meant to infinuate, "that those who truft their lives to the caprice of the waves have need of a "penetrating forefight, that they may not be surprised by sudden tempests.” Caftera:

In warlike pride my gallant navy rode,

And proudly o'er the beach my foldiers ftrode.
Sailors and land-men marshall'd o'er the strand,

In garbs of various hue around me stand,
Each earnest first to plight the facred vow,
Oceans unknown and gulphs untry'd to plow:
Then turning to the ships their sparkling eyes,
With joy they heard the breathing winds arife;
Elate with joy beheld the flapping fail,
And purple standards floating on the gale;
While each prefaged that great as Argo's fame,
Our fleet should give some starry band a name.

Where foaming on the shore the tide appears,
A facred fane its hoary arches rears:
Dim o'er the sea the evening fhades defcend,
And at the holy shrine devout we bend:
There, while the tapers o'er the altar blaze,

Our prayers and earnest vows to heaven we raise.
"Safe through the deep, where every yawning wave
"Still to the failor's eye difplays his grave;

"Through howling tempests, and through gulphs untry'd,
"O! mighty God! be thou our watchful guide."
While kneeling thus before the facred shrine,
In holy faith's most folemn rite we join,

Our peace with heaven the bread of peace confirms,
And meek contrition every bofom warms:

Sudden the lights extinguish'd, all around

Dread filence reigns, and midnight gloom profound;

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A facred horror pants on every breath,

And each firm breaft devotes itself to death,
An offer'd facrifice, fworn to obey

My nod, and follow where I lead the way.
Now proftrate round the hallow'd fhrine wei lie,
Till rofy morn bespreads the eastern sky;

Then, breathing fixt refolves, my daring mates
March to the fhips, while pour'd from Lisboa's gates,
Thousands on thousands crowding, prefs along,
A woeful, weeping, melancholy throng.

A thousand white-robed priests our steps attend,
And prayers, and holy vows to heaven afcend.
A scene so folemn, and the tender woe
Of parting friends, constrained my tears to flow.
To weigh our anchors from our native shore-
To dare new oceans never dared before-
Perhaps to fee my native coaft no more-
Forgive, O king, if as a man I feel,

I bear no bofom of obdurate steel

}

(The

i Now proftrate round the ballow'd shrine we lie-This folemn fcene is according to history: Aberat Olyfippone prope littus quatuor paffuum millia templum fanè religiofum et fanctum ab Henrico in honorem fanctiffimæ virginis edificatum . . . . . . In id Gama pridie illius diei, quo erat navem confcenfurus, fe recepit, ut noctem cum religiofis hominibus qui in ædibus templo conjunctis habitabant, in precibus et votis confumeret. Sequenti die cum multi non illius tantùm gratia, fed aliorum etiam, qui illi comites erant, conveniffent, fuit ab omnibus in fcaphis deductus. Neque folùm homines religiofi, fed reliqui omnes voce maxima cum lacrymis à Deo precabantur, ut benè & profperè illa tam periculofa navigatio omnibus eveniret, & univerfi re benè gefta incolumes in patriam redirent.

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