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(The godlike hero here fuppreft the figh,
And wiped the tear-drop from his manly eye;
Then thus refuming-) All the peopled shore
An awful, filent look of anguish wore;
Affection, friendship, all the kindred ties
Of spouse and parent languish'd in their eyes:
As men they never fhould again behold,
Self-offer'd victims to deftruction fold,
On us they fix'd the eager look of woe,
While tears o'er every cheek began to flow;
When thus aloud, Alas! my fon, my fon!
An hoary fire exclaims; oh, whither run,
My heart's fole joy, my trembling age's stay,
To yield thy limbs the dread fea-monster's prey!
To feek thy burial in the raging wave,

And leave me cheerless finking to the grave!
Was it for this I watch'd thy tender years,
And bore each fever of a father's fears!
Alas! my boy!-his voice is heard no more,
The female shriek refounds along the shore:
With hair dishevell'd, through the yielding crowd
A lovely bride springs on, and screams aloud;
Oh! where, my husband, where to feas unknown,
Where would'st thou fly me, and my love difown!
And wilt thou, cruel, to the deep confign

That valued life, the joy, the foul of mine:
And muft our loves, and all the kindred train

Of rapt endearments, all expire in vain!

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All

All the dear transports of the warm embrace,
When mutual love infpired each raptured face;
Muft all, alas! be scatter'd in the wind,
Nor thou bestow one lingering look behind!

Such the lorn parents' and the spouses' woes,
Such o'er the strand the voice of wailing rofe;
From breaft to breaft the foft contagion crept,
Moved by the woeful found the children wept;
The mountain echoes catch the big-swoln fighs,
And through the dales prolong the matron's cries;
The yellow fands with tears are filver'd o'er,
Our fate the mountains and the beach deplore.
Yet firm we march, nor turn one glance aside
On hoary patent, or on lovely bride.
Though glory fired our hearts, too well we knew
What foft affection and what love could do.
The laft embrace the bravest worst can bear:

The bitter yearnings of the parting tear
Sullen we fhun, unable to sustain

The melting paffion of such tender pain.

Now on the lofty decks prepared we stand,
When towering o'er the crowd that veil'd the strand,
A reverend figure fixt each wondering eye,
And beckoning thrice he waved his hand on high,

And

A reverend figure.By this old man is perfonified the populace of Portugal. The endeavours to discover the East-Indies by the fouthern

ocean

And thrice his hoary curls he fternly shook,

While grief and anger mingled in his look;

Then to its height his faultering voice he rear'd,
And through the fleet these awful words were heard:

O frantic thirst of honour and of fame, The crowd's blind tribute, a fallacious name;

What

ocean, for about eighty years had been the favourite topic of complaint; and never was any measure of government more unpopular than the expedition of Gama. Emmanuel's council were almost unanimous against the attempt. Some dreaded the introduction of wealth, and its attendants, luxury and effeminacy; while others affirmed, that no adequate advantages could arise from fo perilous and remote a navigation. Others, with a forefight peculiar to politicians, were alarmed, left the Egyptian fultan, who was powerful in the east, should fignify his displeasure; and others forefaw, that fuccefs would combine all the princes of Christendom in a league for the destruction of Portugal. In short, if glory, intereft, or the propagation of the gospel, were defired, Africa and Ethiopia, they said, afforded both nearer and more advantageous fields. The expreffions of the thousands who crouded the shore when Gama gave his fails to the wind, are thus expreffed by Oforius, from whom the above facts are felected.-A multis tamen interim is fletus atque lamentatio fiebat, ut funus efferre viderentur. Sic enim dicebant: en quo miferos mortales provexit cupiditas et ambitio? Potuitne gravius fupplicium hominibus iftis conftitui, fi in fe fceleftum aliquod facinus admififfent? Est enim illis immenfi maris longitudo peragranda, fluctus immanes difficillima navigatione fuperandi, vitæ difcrimen in locis infinitis obeundum. Non fuit multò tolerabilius, in terra quovis genere mortis abfumi, quàm tam procul à patria marinis fluctibus fepeliri. Hæc et alia multa in hanc fententiam dicebant, cùm omnia multò triftiora fingere præ metu cogerentur.-The tender emotion and fixt resolution of Gama, and the earneft paffion of the multitudes on the fhore, are thus added by the fame venerable historian: Gama tamen quamvis lacrymas fuorum defiderio funderet, rei tamen benè gerendæ fiducia confirmatus, alacriter in navem fauftis omnibus confcendit... Qui in littore confiftebant, non prius abfcedere voluerunt, quàm naves vento fecundo pleniffimis velis ab omnium confpectu remote funt.

.....

What ftings, what plagues, what secret scourges curst,
Torment those bofoms where thy pride is nurft!
What dangers threaten, and what deaths destroy
The hapless youth, whom thy vain gleams decoy!
By thee, dire tyrant of the noble mind,

What dreadful woes are pour'd on human kind;
Kingdoms and empires in confufion hurl'd,

What ftreams of gore have drench'd the hapless world!

Thou dazzling meteor, vain as fleeting air,

What new dread horror doft thou now prepare!
High founds thy voice of India's pearly fhore,
Of endless triumphs and of countless store :
Of other worlds fo tower'd thy fwelling boaft,
Thy golden dreams, when Paradife was loft,
When thy big promise steep'd the world in gore,
And fimple innocence was known no more.
And say, has fame so dear, so dazzling charms?
Muft brutal fiercenefs and the trade of arms,
Conqueft, and laurels dipt in blood, be prized,
While life is fcorn'd, and all its joys despised!
And fay, does zeal for holy faith inspire
To fpread its mandates, thy avow'd defire?
Behold the Hagarene in armour ftands,

Treads on thy borders, and the foe demands:

A thousand cities own his lordly fway,

A thousand various fhores his nod obey.

'Through all these regions, all thefe cities, fcorn'd Is thy religion, and thine altars spurn'd.

A foc

A foe renown'd in arms the brave require;

That high-plumed foe, renown'd for martial fire,
Before thy gates his fhining spear displays,

Whilft thou wouldst fondly dare the watery maze,
Enfeebled leave thy native land behind,

On fhores unknown a foe unknown to find.
Oh! madness of ambition! thus to dare
Dangers fo fruitless, fo remote a war!
That fame's vain flattery may thy name adorn,
And thy proud titles on her flag be borne:
Thee, lord of Perfia, thee, of India lord,

O'er Ethiopia's vaft, and Araby adored!

Curst be the man who first on floating wood,

Forfook the beach, and braved the treacherous flood!

Oh! never, never may the facred Nine,

To crown his brows, the hallowed wreath entwine;

Nor may his name to future times refound,
Oblivion be his meed, and hell profound!

Curst be the wretch, the fire of heaven who stole,
And with ambition first debauch'd the foul!
What woes, Prometheus, walk the frighten'd earth!
To what dread flaughter has thy pride given birth!
On proud ambition's pleafing gales upborne,
One boasts to guide the chariot of the morn:

4I

And

1 One boafts to guide the chariot of the morn, &c.—Allucing to the fables of Phaeton and Icarus.

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