The Columbiad: A Poem Part 22

Tell then, my Seer, if future earthquakes sleep, Closed in the conscious caverns of the deep, Waiting the day of vengeance, when to roll And rock the rending pillars of the pole.

Or tell if aught more dreadful to my race In these dark signs thy heavenly wisdom trace; And why the loud discordance melts again In the smooth glidings of a tuneful strain.

The guardian G.o.d replied: Thy fears give o'er; War's hosted hounds shall havoc earth no more; No sore distress these signal sounds foredoom, But give the pledge of peaceful years to come; The tongues of nations here their accents blend.

Till one pure language thro the world extend.

Thou know'st the tale of Babel; how the skies Fear'd for their safety as they felt him rise, Sent unknown jargons mid the laboring bands, Confused their converse and unnerved their hands, Dispersed the bickering tribes and drove them far, From peaceful toil to violence and war; Bade kings arise with b.l.o.o.d.y flags unfurl'd, Bade pride and conquest wander o'er the world, Taught adverse creeds, commutual hatreds bred, Till holy homicide the climes o'erspread.

--For that fine apologue, writh mystic strain, Gave like the rest a golden age to man, Ascribed perfection to his infant state, Science unsought and all his arts innate; Supposed the experience of the growing race Must lead him retrograde and cramp his pace, Obscure his vision as his lights increast, And sink him from an angel to a beast.

Tis thus the teachers of despotic sway Strive in all times to blot the beams of day, To keep him curb'd, nor let him lift his eyes To see where happiness, where misery lies.

They lead him blind, and thro the world's broad waste Perpetual feuds, unceasing shadows cast, Crush every art that might the mind expand, And plant with demons every desert land; That, fixt in straiten'd bounds, the l.u.s.t of power May ravage still and still the race devour, An easy prey the hoodwink'd hordes remain, And oceans roll and sh.o.r.es extend in vain.

Long have they reign'd; till now the race at last Shake off their manacles, their blinders cast, Overrule the crimes their fraudful foes produce, By ways unseen to serve the happiest use, Tempt the wide wave, probe every yielding soil, Fill with their fruits the hardy hand of toil, Unite their forces, wheel the conquering car, Deal mutual death, but civilize by war.

Dear-bought the experiment and hard the strife Of social man, that rear'd his arts to life.

His Pa.s.sions wild that agitate the mind, His Reason calm, their watchful guide designed, While yet unreconciled, his march restrain, Mislead the judgment and betray the man.

Fear, his first pa.s.sion, long maintain'd the sway, Long shrouded in its glooms the mental ray, Shook, curb'd, controll'd his intellectual force, And bore him wild thro many a devious course.

Long had his Reason, with experienced eye, Perused the book of earth and scaled the sky, Led fancy, memory, foresight in her train, And o'er creation stretch'd her vast domain; Yet would that rival Fear her strength appal; In that one conflict always sure to fall, Mild Reason shunn'd the foe she could not brave, Renounced her empire and remained a slave.

But deathless, tho debased, she still could find Some beams of truth to pour upon the mind; And tho she dared no moral code to scan, Thro physic forms she learnt to lead the man; To strengthen thus his opening orbs of sight, And nerve and clear them for a stronger light.

That stronger light, from nature's double codes, Now springs expanding and his doubts explodes; All nations catch it, all their tongues combine To hail the human morn and speak the day divine.

At this blest period, when the total race Shall speak one language and all truths embrace, Instruction clear a speedier course shall find, And open earlier on the infant mind.

No foreign terms shall crowd with barbarous rules The dull unmeaning pageantry of schools; Nor dark authorities nor names unknown Fill the learnt head with ignorance not its own; But wisdom's eye with beams unclouded s.h.i.+ne, And simplest rules her native charms define; One living language, one unborrow'd dress Her boldest flights with fullest force express; Triumphant virtue, in the garb of truth, Win a pure pa.s.sage to the heart of youth, Pervade all climes where suns or oceans roll, And warm the world with one great moral soul, To see, facilitate, attain the scope Of all their labor and of all their hope.

As early Phosphor, on his silver throne, Fair type of truth and promise of the sun, Smiles up the orient in his dew-dipt ray, Illumes the front of heaven and leads the day; Thus Physic Science, with exploring eyes, First o'er the nations bids her beauties rise, Prepares the glorious way to pour abroad Her Sister's brighter beams, the purest light of G.o.d.

Then Moral Science leads the lively mind Thro broader fields and pleasures more refined; Teaches the temper'd soul, at one vast view, To glance o'er time and look existence thro, See worlds and worlds, to being's formless end, With all their hosts on her prime power depend, Seraphs and suns and systems, as they rise, Live in her life and kindle from her eyes, Her cloudless ken, her all-pervading soul Illume, sublime and harmonize the whole; Teaches the pride of man its breadth to bound In one small point of this amazing round, To shrink and rest where nature fixt its fate, A line its s.p.a.ce, a moment for its date; Instructs the heart an ampler joy to taste, And share its feelings with each human breast, Expand its wish to grasp the total kind Of sentient soul, of cogitative mind; Till mutual love commands all strife to cease, And earth join joyous in the songs of peace.

Thus heard Columbus, eager to behold The famed Apocalypse its years unfold; The soul stood speaking thro his gazing eyes, And thus his voice: Oh let the visions rise!

Command, celestial Guide, from each far pole, John's vision'd morn to open on my soul, And raise the scenes, by his reflected light, Living and glorious to my longing sight.

Let heaven unfolding show the eternal throne, And all the concave flame in one clear sun; On clouds of fire, with angels at his side, The Prince of Peace, the King of Salem ride, With smiles of love to greet the bridal earth, Call slumbering ages to a second birth, With all his white-robed millions fill the train, And here commence the interminable reign!

Such views, the Saint replies, for sense too bright, Would seal thy vision in eternal night; Man cannot face nor seraph power display The mystic beams of such an awful day.

Enough for thee, that thy delighted mind Should trace the temporal actions of thy kind; That time's descending veil should ope so far Beyond the reach of wretchedness and war, Till all the paths in nature's sapient plan Fair in thy presence lead the steps of man, And form at last, on earth's extended ball, Union of parts and happiness of all.

To thy glad ken these rolling years have shown The boundless blessings thy vast labors crown, That, with the joys of unborn ages blest, Thy soul exulting may retire to rest, But see once more! beneath a change of skies, The last glad visions wait thy raptured eyes.

Eager he look'd. Another train of years Had roll'd unseen, and brighten'd still their spheres; Earth more resplendent in the floods of day a.s.sumed new smiles, and flush'd around him lay.

Green swell the mountains, calm the oceans roll, Fresh beams of beauty kindle round the pole; Thro all the range where sh.o.r.es and seas extend, In tenfold pomp the works of peace ascend.

Robed in the bloom of spring's eternal year, And ripe with fruits the same glad fields appear; O'er hills and vales perennial gardens run, Cities unwall'd stand sparkling to the sun; The streams all freighted from the bounteous plain Swell with the load and labor to the main, Whose stormless waves command a steadier gale And prop the pinions of a bolder sail: Sway'd with the floating weight each ocean toils, And joyous nature's full perfection smiles.

Fill'd with unfolding fate, the vision'd age Now leads its actors on a broader stage; When clothed majestic in the robes of state, Moved by one voice, in general congress meet The legates of all empires. Twas the place Where wretched men first firm'd their wandering pace; Ere yet beguiled, the dark delirious hordes Began to fight for altars and for lords; Nile washes still the soil, and feels once more The works of wisdom press his peopled sh.o.r.e.

In this mid site, this monumental clime, Rear'd by all realms to brave the wrecks of time A s.p.a.cious dome swells up, commodious great, The last resort, the unchanging scene of state.

On rocks of adamant the walls ascend, Tall columns heave and sky-like arches bend; Bright o'er the golden roofs the glittering spires Far in the concave meet the solar fires; Four blazing fronts, with gates unfolding high, Look with immortal splendor round the sky: Hither the delegated sires ascend, And all the cares of every clime attend.

As that blest band, the guardian guides of heaven, To whom the care of stars and suns is given, (When one great circuit shall have proved their spheres, And time well taught them how to wind their years) Shall meet in general council; call'd to state The laws and labors that their charge await; To learn, to teach, to settle how to hold Their course more glorious, as their lights unfold: From all the bounds of s.p.a.ce (the mandate known) They wing their pa.s.sage to the eternal throne; Each thro his far dim sky illumes the road, And sails and centres tow'rd the mount of G.o.d; There, in mid universe, their seats to rear, Exchange their counsels and their works compare: So, from all tracts of earth, this gathering throng In s.h.i.+ps and chariots shape their course along, Reach with unwonted speed the place a.s.sign'd To hear and give the counsels of mankind.

South of the sacred mansion, first resort The a.s.sembled sires, and pa.s.s the s.p.a.cious court.

Here in his porch earth's figured Genius stands, Truth's mighty mirror poizing in his hands; Graved on the pedestal and chased in gold, Man's n.o.blest arts their symbol forms unfold, His tillage and his trade; with all the store Of wondrous fabrics and of useful lore: Labors that fas.h.i.+on to his sovereign sway Earth's total powers, her soil and air and sea; Force them to yield their fruits at his known call, And bear his mandates round the rolling ball.

Beneath the footstool all destructive things, The mask of priesthood and the mace of kings, Lie trampled in the dust; for here at last Fraud, folly, error all their emblems cast.

Each envoy here unloads his wearied hand Of some old idol from his native land; One flings a paG.o.d on the mingled heap, One lays a crescent, one a cross to sleep; Swords, sceptres, mitres, crowns and globes and stars, Codes of false fame and stimulants to wars Sink in the settling ma.s.s; since guile began, These are the agents of the woes of man.

Now the full concourse, where the arches bend, Pour thro by thousands and their seats ascend.

Far as the centred eye can range around, Or the deep trumpet's solemn voice resound, Long rows of reverend sires sublime extend, And cares of worlds on every brow suspend.

High in the front, for soundest wisdom known, A sire elect in peerless grandeur shone; He open'd calm the universal cause, To give each realm its limit and its laws, Bid the last breath of tired contention cease, And bind all regions in the leagues of peace; Till one confederate, condependent sway Spread with the sun and bound the walks of day, One centred system, one all-ruling soul Live thro the parts and regulate the whole.

Here then, said Hesper, with a blissful smile, Behold the fruits of thy long years of toil.

To yon bright borders of Atlantic day Thy swelling pinions led the trackless way, And taught mankind such useful deeds to dare, To trace new seas and happy nations rear; Till by fraternal hands their sails unfurl'd Have waved at last in union o'er the world.

Then let thy steadfast soul no more complain Of dangers braved and griefs endured in vain, Of courts insidious, envy's poison'd stings, The loss of empire and the frown of kings; While these broad views thy better thoughts compose To spurn the malice of insulting foes; And all the joys descending ages gain, Repay thy labors and remove thy pain.

Notes.

Tho it would be more convenient to the reader to find some of these notes, especially the shorter ones, at the bottom of the pages to which they refer, yet most of them are of such a length as would render that mode of placing them disadvantageous to the symmetry of the pages and the general appearance of the work. It seemed necessary that these should be collected at the end of the Poem; and it was thought proper that the others should not be separated from them.

The notes will probably be found too voluminous for the taste of some readers; but others would doubtless be better pleased to see them still augmented, as several of the philosophical subjects and historical references are left unexplained. Were I to offer apologies in this case, I should hardly know on which side to begin. I will therefore only say that in this appendage, as in the body of the work, I have aimed, as well as I was able, at blending in due proportions the useful with the agreeable.

No. 1.

_One gentle guardian once could s.h.i.+eld the brave; But now that guardian slumbers in the grave._

Book I. Line 105.

The death of queen Isabella, which happened before the last return of Columbus from America, was a subject of great sorrow to him. In her he lost his only powerful friend in Spain, on whose influence he was accustomed to rely in counteracting the perpetual intrigues of a host of enemies, whose rank and fortune gave them a high standing at the court of Valladolid.

Their situation and connexions must havee commanded a weight of authority not easily resisted by an individual foreigner, however ill.u.s.trious from his merit.

It was a grievous reflection for Columbus that his services, tho great in themselves and unequalled in their consequences to the world, had been performed in an age and for a nation which knew not their value, as well as for an ungrateful monarch who chose to disregard them.

No. 2.

_As, awed to silence, savage lands gave place, And hail'd with joy the sun-descended race._

Book I. Line 243.

The original inhabitants of Hispaniola were wors.h.i.+ppers of the sun. The Europeans, when they first landed there, were supposed by them to be G.o.ds, and consequently descended from the sun. See the subject of solar wors.h.i.+p treated more at large in a subsequent note.

No. 3.