Lately I faw her fighing part from thee:
(Alas that fuch the laft farewel fhould be!)
So look'd ASTRA, her remove defign'd,
On those diftreffed friends the left behind
Confent in virtue knit your hearts so fast,
That still the knot, in fpight of death, does laft :
For, as your tears, and forrow-wounded foul,
Prove well that on your part this bond is whole :
So, all we know of what they do above,
Is, that they happy are, and that they love.
Let dark oblivion, and the hollow grave,
Content themselves our frailer thoughts to have :
Well chofen love is never taught to die,
But with our nobler part invades the sky.
Then grieve no more, that one fo heav'nly fhap'd
The crooked hand of trembling age escap'd.
Rather, fince we beheld her not decay,
But that the vanish'd fo entire away,

Her wond'rous beauty, and her goodness, merit
We should fuppofe, that fome propitious spirit
In that cœleftial form frequented here;
And is not dead, but ceases to appear.

The Battel of the SUMMER-ISLANDS.

CANTO

I.

What fruits they have, and how heav'n fmiles
Upon thofe late-difcover'd ifles.

A Betwixt a nation, and two whales, I write :
ID me, BELLONA! while the dreadful fight
Seas ftain'd with goar I fing, advent'rous toil!
And how these monsters did difarm an ifle.

BERMUDA wall'd with rocks who does not know?
That happy island! where huge lemons grow;
And orange trees, which golden fruit do bear,
Th' HESPERIAN garden boafts of none so fair :
Where fhining pearl, coral, and many a pound,
On the rich shore, of amber-greece is found.

The

The lofty cedar, which to heav'n aspires,
The Prince of trees! is fewel for their fires:
The fmoke, by which their loaded spits do turn,
For incenfe might on facred altars burn :
Their private roofs on od'rous timber born,
Such as might palaces for Kings adorn.
The sweet palmitoes a new BACCHUS yield,
With leaves as ample as the broadeft fhield:
Under the fhadow of whose friendly boughs
They fit, carowfing where their liquor grows.
Figs there unplanted thro' the fields do grow,
Such as fierce CATO did the ROMANS fhow;
With the rare fruit inviting them to spoil
CARTHAGE, the miftrefs of fo rich a foil.
The naked rocks are not unfruitful there,
But, at fome constant seasons ev'ry year,
Their barren tops with lufcious 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 mould, that the bleft tenant feeds
On precious fruits, and pays his rent in weeds.
With candy'd plantains, and the juicy pine,
On choiceft melons, and fweet grapes, they dine :
And with potatoes fat their wanton fwine.
Nature these cates with fuch a lavish hand
Pours out among them, that our coarfer land
Taftes of that bounty; and does cloth return,
Which not for warmth, but ornament, is worn:
For the kind fpring, which but falutes us here,
Inhabits there, and courts them all the year :
Ripe fruits, and bloffoms, on the fame trees live;
At once they promife, what at once they give.
So fweet the air, fo moderate the clime;
None fickly lives, or dies before his time.
Heav'n fure has kept this spot of earth uncurft,
To fhew how all things were created first.
The tardy plants in our cold orchards plac'd,
Referve their fruit for the next age's taste :

}

There,

There, a fmall grain, in fome few months, will be
A firm, a lofty, and a fpacious tree.
The Palma-Christi, and the fair papà,
Now but a feed (preventing nature's law)
In half the circle of the hafty year
Project a shade, and lovely fruits do wear.
And as their trees, in our dull region fet,
But faintly grow, and no perfection get;
So, in this northern tract, our hoarfer throats
Utter unripe, and ill-constrained Notes :
While the fupporter of the Poets' style,
PHOEBUS, on them eternally does fmile.
Oh! how I long my careless limbs to lay
Under the plantain's fhade; and all the day
With amorous airs my fancy entertain;
Invoke the Mufes, and improve my vein !
No paffion there in my free breast should move,
None but the fweet, and beft of paffions, love.
There will I fing, if gentle LOVE be by,
That tunes my lute, and winds the string so high;
With the fweet found of SACHARISSA's name,
I'll make the lift'ning favages grow tame.--

T

But while I do thefe pleafing dreams indite,
I am diverted from the promis'd fight.

CANT O II.

Of their alarm, and how their foes
Discover'd were, this CANTO Shows.

HO' rocks fo high about this island rise,

That well they may the num'rous Turk despise;

Yet is no human fate exempt from fear;

Which shakes their hearts, while thro' the ifle they hear
A lafting 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 caufe th' unwonted found may grow :
At length two monfters of unequal fize,

Hard by the fhore, a fifherman efpies;

Two

Two mighty whales! which fwelling feas bad toft,
And left them pris'ners on the rocky coast.
One, as a mountain vaft; and with her came
A cub, not much inferior to his dam.
Here in a pool among the rocks engag'd,

They roar'd, like lion's caught in toils, and rag'd.
The man knew what they were, who heretofore
Had feen the like lie murther'd on the shore :
By the wild fury of fome tempeft caft,

The fate of fhips, and fhip-wreck'd men, to taste.
As careless dames, whom wine and fleep betray
To frantic dreams, their infants overlay :
So, there fometimes the raging ocean fails,
And her own brood expofes; when the whales
Against sharp rocks, like reeling veffels, quafh'd;
Though huge as mountains, are in pieces dafh'd:
Along the fhore their dreadful limbs lie fcatter'd ;
Like hills with earthquakes, fhaken, torn, and shatter'd.
Hearts fure of brafs they had, who tempted first
Rude feas, that spare not what themselves have nurst.
The welcome news through all the nation spread,
To fudden joy, and hope, converts their dread :
What lately was their public terror, they
Behold with glad eyes as a certain prey :
Difpofe already of th' untaken fpoil;
And, as the purchase of their future toil,
These share the bones, and they divide the oil.
So was the huntsman by the bear opprest,

Whose hide he fold,before he caught the beast !
They man their boats, and all the young men arm
With whatsoever may the monsters harm;
Pikes, halberts, fpits, and darts that wound fo far;
The tools of peace, and inftruments of war.
Now was the time for vigorous lads to show
What love, or honor, could invite them to:
A goodly theatre ! where rocks are round
With reverend age, and lovely laffes, crown'd.
Such was the lake which held this dreadful pair,
Within the bounds of noble WARWICK'S fhare:

WAR

WARWICK's bold Earl! than which no title bears
A greater found among our BRITISH Peers.
And worthy he the memory to renew,
The fate, and honor, to that title due;

Whofe brave adventures have transfer'd his name,
And thro' the new world spread his growing fame.-
But how they fought, and what their valor gain'd,
Shall in another Canto be contain'd.

T

CANTO III.

The bloody fight fuccefslefs toil,
And how the fishes fack'd the isle.

HE boat, which on the first affault did go,
Strook with a harping-ir'n the younger foe:
Who, when he felt his fide fo rudely goar'd,
Loud, as the fea that nourish'd him, he roar'd.
As a broad bream to please some curious tafte,
While yet alive, in boiling water caft;
Vex'd with unwanted heat, he flings about
The fcorching brass, and hurls the liquor out:
So, with the barbed javelin ftung, he raves;
And fcourges with his tail the fuff'ring waves.
Like SPENSER'S TALUS with his iron flail,
He threatens ruin with his pond'rous tail;
Diffolving at one ftroke the batter'd boat,
And down the men fall drenched in the moat:
With ev'ry fierce encounter they are forc'd
To quit their boats, and fare like men unhors'd.

The bigger whale like fome huge carrack lay,
Which wanteth fea-room with her foes to play:
Slowly the fwims, and when provok'd she wou'd
Advance her tail; her head falutes the mud:
The fhallow water doth her force infringe,
And renders vain her tail's impetuous fwinge:
The fhining steel her tender fides receive,

And there, like bees, they all their weapons leave.
This fees the cub, and does himself oppose
Betwixt his cumber'd mother, and her foes: