CONTEMPLATION,

A POEM.

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The Argument.

ADDRESS to CONTEMPLATION.-Her various powers described. The Mountsbay in Cornwall.-Allusion to the early commerce of BRITAIN with TYRE, SIDON, and PHENICIA.—Appearance of the bay by moonlight.-A ship at anchor in a calm.— Allusion to the conquest of Jamaica from the Spaniards.—COLUMBUS, PIZARRO, and CORTEZ.-Yellow fever.-A hurricane.

CONTEMPLATION,

А РОЕМ.

CANTO THE FIRST.

COME thou, who with immortal flight, untired
Canst range the Universe-at whose command,
DARKNESS retires-and to thy magic touch,

NATURE withdraws her adamantine bars.

For lo, to thy attenuated form,

(If form thou hast) all grosser matter yields

Resistance none-and thou canst cleave with ease

To the dark centre of the solid earth,

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And ope its hidden treasures to thy view.

Thro' the dank vapours of the darksome mine,
Thou canst thy way explore-or onward thro'
The Regions vast of space, canst wing thy way,
Upborne in subtile Æther sail along;

Nor thy celestial pinions want support
From the gross medium of terrestrial air.
The rushing comet is a creeping worm
Compar'd with thee; when in thy rapid flight
Thou reach'st the sun, and to this nether world
Return'st, outstripping ev'n the beams of light.

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Come CONTEMPLATION, bear me westward, where 20

CORNUBIA stretches far into the sea

Her plenteous horn, abundance pouring forth

Of subterraneous treasure, tempting erS

The ships of TYRE, of SIDON, and the sons

Of old PHENICIA to her rocky coast,

Who thence transported to their happier shores,
Her shining produce.-On the sandy beach
Of that deep bay, whose wide extended arms
Hold in capacious grasp the host of waves

Which murmur on the deeply rooted base

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Of the fam'd "guarded mount"-there give me place (A)

On some lone rock, which from the level sands

Rears its more humble head-what time the moon

At midnight, in the solemn silence, moves

Thro' cloudless skies her course sublime, and sheds 35

On nature's sleeping face her yellow light.

Cradle of BRITISH COMMERCE! here her eyes

(B)

First saw the day, here beam'd her infant smiles;