Adversity, companion of his way,

Still o'er the Victim hung with iron sway,

Bade new distresses every instant grow,

Marking each change of place with change of Woe;
In regions where th' ALMIGHTY's chastening hand
With livid Pestilence afflicts the land,

Or where pale Famine blasts the hopeful year,
Parent of want and misery severe;

Or where, all-dreadful in th' embattled line,
The hostile Ships in flaming combat join,
Where the torn Vessel Wind and Waves assail,
Till o'er her Crew distress and death prevail.—
Such joyless Toils, in early youth endured,
Th' expanding dawn of mental day obscured,
Each genial passion of the Soul opprest,

And quenched the ardour kindling in his breast:

Then censure not severe the Native Song,

Though jarring sounds the measured verse prolong,
Though terms uncouth offend the softer ear,
Yet Truth, and human anguish deign to hear:
No laurel wreaths these lays attempt to claim,
Nor sculptured brass to tell the Poet's name.

And lo! the Power that wakes th' eventful Song, Hastes hither from LETHEAN banks along;

She sweeps the gloom, and, rushing on the sight,
Spreads o'er the kindling scene propitious Light:
In her right hand an ample Roll appears,
Fraught with long annals of preceding years, ́
With every wise and noble art of Man

Since first the circling hours their course began;
Her left a silver Wand on high displayed,
Whose magic touch dispels Oblivion's shade:
Pensive her look; on radiant wings that glow
Like JUNO's birds, or IRIS' flaming bow,

She sails; and swifter than the course of light
Directs her rapid intellectual flight:

The fugitive ideas she restores,

And calls the wandering thought from LETHE'S shores;

To things long past a second date she gives,

And hoary Time from her fresh youth receives;
Congenial sister of immortal Fame,

She shares her power, and MEMORY is her name.
O first-born Daughter of primeval Time!

By whom transmitted down in every clime

The deeds of ages long elapsed are known,
And blazoned glories spread from zone to zone;
Whose magic breath dispels the mental night,
And o'er th' obscured idea pours the light;
Say on what Seas, for thou alone canst tell,
What dire mishap a fated Ship befel,

Assailed by Tempests, girt with hostile Shores?
Arise! approach! unlock thy treasured Stores!
Full on my Soul the dreadful Scene display,
And give its latent horrors to the Day.