CALEDONIA, A POEM, &c.
IN Northern Hights, where Nature seldom smiles,
Embrac'd with Scas, and
buttress't
All the Western and Northern parts of
Scotland
are fenc'd with small Islands, which not only break off the Force of the
Atlantick Ocean,
but make excellent Harbours for Shipping, and Conveniencies for Trade.
round
with Isles,
Where lofty Shores
The Shores to the North of
Scotland
may be said to regard the
adjacent Pole,
either because it lies directly open to the Great Northern Ocean, which no Sailer could ever yet find the Extent of; or because it sees that Pole elevated to a great Height.
regard th' adjacent
Pole,
Where Winds incessant blow, and Waves incessant roll;
Where
Tyrant
I
call that continual Cold in the Frozen Seas here
Tyrant Cold,
because he reigns Uncontroll'd by the Accession of any Heat from the Sun.
Cold
in
Glacy Ocean
reigns,
And all the Habitable World disdains,
Defies the distant Influence of the Sun,
And
Shines in Ice.
The Ice and Snow always give a kind of Light, tho faint and melancholy.
shines in Ice.
First
Youngest Sister,
because the North Capes and the Coast of
Greenland
to be of the same Family, but advanc'd farther North.
First
youngest, a
Licence taken
to exp
ess
Scotland
the first of the Habitable, or at least
Sociable
Parts of the World so far North.
youngest Sister
to the Frozen Zone,
Batter'd by Parent Natures constant Frown▪
Adapt to Hardships, and cut out for Toil;
The
best worst Climate,
and the
worst best Soil.
A rough, unhewn, uncultivated Spot,
Of old
so fam'd,
and
so of late
forgot.
NEGLECTED SCOTLAND shews her awful Brow,
Not always
quite so near
to Heaven as now.
Circled with dreadful Clifts and Barb'rous Shores,
Where the
strong Surff
with high impetuous Roars,
Invades the Rocks, and
these their Rage disdain,
And with
redoubling
Noise they'r hurry'd home again;
The hollow Caverns
Mutual Roars
return,
And
Baffled Neptune
The Raging of the Sea will often resemble Fire, and seem to burn, especially as some say on a Southerly Wind.
raging
makes the Ocean burn.
The furious Elements in vain contend,
Unmov'd
the mighty
natural Breast-works
stand.
Their awful Hights in threatning Grandeur shine,
Emblems of mightier
Hearts of Stone
within.
Th' Instructing Rocks,
Invincible and Strong,
Describe
the Race
that to
these Rocks
belong,
And bid the quick retreating Waves declare,
And warn the World
against a Northern War
▪
Tell them the Hopes of Conquest must be vain;
When
Hands of Steel
shall
Rocks of Flint
maintain.
The high Shores could be in no place more needful to place Bounds proportion'd to the furious and vast Northern Ocean that beat upon
Scotland▪
from whence there is nothing but Water to the very Frozen Zone of the North Pole. Those Rocks therefore are the
Lands Defence,
and the
Ocems Bridle,
and consequently Beauties in their Kind, made so by the Necessity of them.
These are
th' eternal Bounds
of
Providence,
The
Oceans Bridle,
and the
Lands Defence.
The
Warts
and
Wrinkles
plac'd on
Natures Brow
That her Maternal Care and Conduct show.
The meanest parts of Nature
have their Use,
And some to Terror, some to Strength conduce:
Nor is their Ornament at all the less;
For Beauty's best describ'd by Usefulness.
Behind this Rugged Front
The Situation of
Scotland
is certainly her Defence against either the Fury of the Ocean from the North, or of Invaders from the South; the dangerous Coast being such, that no Fleets care to venture themselves long at Sea that way.
securely lies
Blest Caledonia,
and with Ease defies
Her
Northern,
or her
Southern
Enemies.
Fixt by Decree,
Her Nature's not to fear
Huge Navies
there,
or Icy Mountains
here.
Here Towring Clifts, and there the Beachy Shoal
Defy the
By the
Monsters of the Pole
may be understood
the Whales,
in former times terrible to Mariners, as frequently oversetting the small Barks they sailed in;
Or
since, by the greater Skill in Navigation, that fear is at an end, it may be taken for the
Monstruous floating Islands of Ice,
which by the Fury of the Winds, are driven about the Northern Seas.
Raging Monsters
of the Pole.
There equally they
Floating Worlds,
Navys and Fleets of Ships of War to assault that Country, and transport Armys to make Descents and Depredations on the Coast.
Floating Worlds
defy,
Bid them stand off
and live,
advance
and die:
The Hardy Wretch that sees the Hint too late,
Fails not to find his Folly
in his Fate.
Behind this Rugged Front securely lies
Old Caledonia,
all the Worlds
The Worlds Surprize to find so fine a Countrey so Peopled, and so Inhabited behind such terrible places, which to the Sea-ward promise nothing but Desert, and abandon'd, uninhabited Places.
Surprize.
Her Native Beauty and her Wealth conceal'd
Waits
The Ʋ nion,
whereby Improvement shall reveal the hidden Fruitfulness of
Scotland.
the blest Hour
when both shall be reveal'd.
In Age and Fancy'd Poverty Secure,
And yet She's
ever Young,
and
never Poor.
Here labouring with the Injuries of Time▪
Inclement Air, Inhospitable Clime,
Foreign Invasions and Intestine Wars;
Yet all her Native Beauty still appears.
Brittain
's
Scotland
is allowed the Left hand of
Brittain
as to Wealth,
England
as her younger Sister in matter of Antiquity, must however be allowed the Right hand in Wealth and Trade, at least till Union, if ever that shall happen, make them all one.
Left hand,
which when she shall unite,
As Nature dictates, and the Fates Invite,
And join
her younger Sister
on the Right:
How shall they Mutual Wealth and Strength convey,
And with Contempt
the weaker World
Survey!
Till THAT BLEST HOUR, how does her Injur'd Name
Sleep in the Rubbish of her Ancient Fame?
Buried in
The scandalous Reproaches of Authors pretending to describe either her Climate, People, or Government have been intollerable, and have buried her Character with Noise and Slander; which being never yet defended in publick, or any Attempt made to clear up those things to the World, Foreign Nations are too much possest with the Belief of what, when the Truth comes to be examined, appears meer Fiction and Falsity.
Slander,
by Reproach laid low:
And all the distant World
believes her so:
Then let us first survey her Fancy'd Herse,
She'll find
some Resurrection
in our Verse;
Till rousing from a long declining Fate,
WHOLE BRITTAIN shall her Glory reinstate.
How have
Cleavland
in his Poem upon
Scotland,
has said a Thousand extravagant things on these Heads.
we plac'd her
out of Nature's Eye,
Where Constant Colds
Few Seeds
of Life supply?
Where
Nature Chill'd
some
despicables
dwell,
Immur'd with Darkness
and ally'd to Hell.
No Moderate Blessings,
no
Endowment share,
Nothing that's Pleasant
see,
nothing delightful
hear:
But see
the Horrid
By
the Horrid Bear
is to be understood the Constellation so call'd, which
Scotland,
being so far North, easily sees in its whole Circular Motion round the Pole.
Bear
march round the Pole,
And feel her Piercing Breath
Congeal the Soul.
Their Musick's
Whirl-wind,
and the shrill Echoing Roar
Of Frozen Seas on the Deserted Shore.
Legends of Fables
fill our partial Heads,
Of Lands where Grass ne'r grows,
or Mortal treads;
Where keenest Winds and Storms Incessant blow
On Mountains cover'd with Eternal Snow;
Where Nature never blooms, and Sun ne'r shines,
But Cold with Cold, and Frost with Frost Combines,
This is as suggested by Foreign Authors, in open Injury of
Scotland,
and one of the principal Reasons of this Poem.
Inhospitable Clime.—
What Countrey's this? And whither are we gone?
Bright
Caledonia,
where will Fable run?
Suffer th' impartial Pen to range thy Shore,
And do thee
'Tis presum'd this Part will clear the Author from a Charge of Flattery, he designing to say nothing in this Poem, but what Justice and the Nature of things require.
Justice, Nature asks no more:
Fitted for Commerce and cut out for Trade;
The Seas the Land, the Land the Seas invade.
The Promontory Clifts with Hights embosst,
And large deep Bays adorn thy dang'rous Coast;
Alternately the Pilot's true Relief,
These warn at Distance, those receive him safe;
The deep indented Harbours then invite,
First court by day, and then secure at night:
The wearied Sailors safe and true Recess,
A full Amends for wild Tempestuous Seas.
Nature that well foreknows a Nations Fate,
Thus fitted
Caledonia
to be great.
Her
Various Aspects,
Respecting the Situation of the Coast, or the Plan of the Countrey, which easily discovers that
Scotland
is equally qualified for Trade with any Nation in the World, whether we consider her Openness to all Parts of the Trading World; or the Convenience of her Harbours, safe Roads, and Neighbourhood both to the
German
and
Atlantick
Oceans.
various Aspects
the Design explain,
And
Her unhappy Circumstances, with respect to the rest of
Brittain,
have, without doubt, been the great Obstructions of her Prosperity, particularly as to Trade.
Circumstances
shall resist in vain.
Subject no more to ev'ry cross Event,
She shall
be Great
and
Rich,
as Nature meant.
View next her Seas,
from ancient Terrors nam'd,
For
Bug-bear
Storms, by
Bug-bear
Sailors fam'd.
The Ancients, in their sailing these Seas, were strangely surprized at two things, 1. The Length of the Days, which they, being generally
Phenicians
and South-Countrey Merchants, had not been used to: From whence some of them, more addicted to superstitious Observations than the rest, blindly imagined, that (since the farther they went North-ward, the Days were the longer, and in some parts hardly any Night) the
Elisium Shades
must needs be thereabouts, and that if they should go further, they should come at length to Bright Eternal Day. 2. They were surpriz'd not with the Storms and Tempests only, but with the Tides and Currents, which were not only strange to 'em, but particularly terrible, in that they drove 'em in amongst the Rocks and Shores, where they often perish'd, not from any Real Danger, but for Want of Judgment From whence we have them often expressing themselves in this manner,
—And BRITISH Seas,
II here Storms incessant blow,
And Tides uncertain ebbe and flow.
Phenician
Sailors, wise in Ignorance,
That dream't of
Thule,
an Island in the north of
Scotland,
was frequently fabled among the Ancients to represent the
Elisium,
which could be for no other Reason than the Length of the Days.
Bright THƲ LE far advanc'd in raging Seas.
Dierum spatia ultra nostri () his mensuram & nox clara, & extrema
Britanniae p
rte b
vis,
ut finem atque initium Lucis exiguo discrimine internoseas—Nec Solem occidere & exsurgere, sed transire adfirmant.
Tacit. Vit. Agricolae Cap. 12 Sect.
5.
THULE,
yet afraid t'advance;
Thy lengthen'd Sun
with uncooth Joy survey,
And vainly dream'd it led to bright Eternal Day:
Unbless'd with Art,
yet from
thy Ocean
fly,
Afraid
to live,
because afraid
to die.
To them
thy Wealth
and
Stores
were unreveal'd,
And
all beyond thee
happily conceal'd.
Had they thy
Scally Shoals of Blessings
known,
They'd long since chose
thy Shores,
and quite sorgot
their own.
Thine had been
India,
and thy Golden Seas
Had fill'd their Antique Songs.
But Fear,
that Negative of Glory,
gave
This Gift
appropriat to
a Race more brave.
The frighted
South-taught
Navigators fly,
And
mock'd with Fear,
their own Success destroy.
Unpractis'd in thy watry Wars, they shun
Thy safer Coast, and at a Distance run.
Thy Seas,
tho vast, and in Extent unknown,
In Wealth and Strength
to Thee
The Seas indeed in these parts are subject to Storms, but nothing unusual, or uncommon with the rest of Brittain.
subservient grown.
Calm Tides, smooth Surface, and a shining Brow,
And gentle Gales for Wealth and Commerce blow.
These reconcile the once so dreadful Waste,
And
Art
and
Industry
supply the rest.
This is a Poetical Excursion upon the extraordinary Improvement and Perfection which the World has attain'd in the practical part of Navigation.
Hail Science,
Natures
second Eye,
Begot
on Reason
by Philosophy,
Mans Tellescope
to all that's
Deep
and
High;
What Infinites
dost thou pursue!
The
Tangl'd Skeines of Nature
how undo!
Pierce all her darkest Clouds,
her Knots untye,
And leave her naked to the wandring Eye.
What
Gust of Knowledge
blew thee off to Sea?
A desp'rate Curiosity.
In Mountain-Waves, and raging Wind,
Tell us, what couldst thou hope to find?
'Tis answer'd,—These are Natures Schools,
To teach the Power of Art and Rules:
From hence
what vast instructing things
thou'st brought;
Besides the
Huge Remains
not yet found out.
But
of all Knowledge,
this was sure the best,
As 'tis
the Pole-star
to the rest.
How wing'd with Science,
men might trace
The foaming Oceans
roughest Face;
Plow
the vast Furrows
of th'amazing Deep,
With
Ease
and
Safety
sail and sleep.
No more th'
uncertain Northern Tides
shall fright,
Familiar Dangers
lessen to the Sight;
The Rocks and Sands, the threatning Shore,
Pledges of certain Death before.
Now
Roads and Harbours
found for help
appear,
And show the Follies of our ancient Fear;
Under their
Weather Banks
we calmly ride
Danger and Safety they divide.
Now they appear the Aids of Providence,
The Sailors Safety, and the Lands Defence.
Bold Science
whither wilt thou stear,
See how the Tempests arm'd with Death, appear;
Read but the threatning Language of the Skies,
How gathering Clouds,
with-Child
of Thunders rise;
See Mountains heap'd in strong Rebellion move,
See
Ossa
top'd with
Pelion,
threatning
Jove;
See angry Nature rous'd to Civil War,
'Twas Prudence first taught Mankind how to fear;
Bold Science, whither wilt thou Steer!
Vain Caution!
See the
daring Nymph
sets Sail,
What
Fear calls
Storm,
she calls
a welcome Gale;
On raging Waves, and Mountain Billows tost,
She sees
with Joy
her Port,
with Joy
she quits the Coast;
The Wind's embrac'd with high expanded Wings
The Sailors sleep and fly,
the Pilot sings;
Sometimes he mounts so high, he turns his Ear,
And listens for the Musick
of a Sphere;
Charm'd with the Symphony,
he'll Consort keep,
And
Beat true Time,
tho' he reviews the Deep.
She's gone, new Worlds she seeks, new Worlds she finds,
She rides on Tempests, and improves the Winds,
Th'
Elemental Terrors
she'll despise,
And
Bully Neptune
boldly she defies.
See how Mankind
by her Experience
taught,
Has all
to Rule
and
Method
brought;
The
Practicable Seas,
made so by the Improvements of Navigation, and particularly the Extraordinary Methods of Building, as well as of Managing great Ships, sitting them to bear the roughest Sea, and to sail to the remotest parts of the World.
Practicable Seas
to Art submit,
And Wealth and Commerce freely circulate,
With steady hand
th' experienc'd Pilot Steers,
And laughs in Northern Waves at Southern Fears,
Defies the
two and thirty Hosts
of Air,
And sits compos'd i'th' midst of Elemental War,
All unconcern'd at Natures Quarrels, he,
To his own
Use, applies their Enmity.
The Furious Wind, the Water's Rage,
He wisely joins to his Just End,
the Voyage:
In this he makes
their pointed Rage
agree,
And
forms their Discord
into
Harmony.
So jarring Parties in a State,
By the Wise Conduct of the Crown,
Are manag'd to support the Magistrate,
And fix that Power they struggle to pull down.
Knowledge gives Courage,
Science makes Men brave;
Folly drives headlong
to the Grave:
For Ignorance and Fear make Cowards run
Into those Dangers they'r afraid to shun.
Discretion only makes Men safe and bold,
While Fears the Remedies withhold;
Fear holds the Gates of Reason fast,
Shuts out its help, and
so the Coxcomb
's
lost.
The Pilot now, Consummate in his Skill,
Made safe by Nature,
mounts the Watry Hill;
Thro' Paths untrod,
and Mazes of the Deep,
He Cuts
his Guided Course,
the rough, the steep,
Are all made smooth to him,
he knows his Way,
He neither fears the Night, nor Courts the Day:
Thro' all the Tempests
Midnight Rage
he slies,
Visits the Bottoms now,
anon the Skies.
When up to Heav'n he mounts, the Cheering Sun
Makes glad, and '
tis the same
when darting down;
To all the Dark abyss
he shoots
and see's,
The Hollow Deeps of
Natures Nudities;
Till his Blest Port with steady Hand he finds:
And thus to Art
he reconciles the Winds.
Thus vanishes the Horrid
and the Wild,
And Nature's now with pleasant Eyes beheld;
When Boreas
mad with northern Vapours
raves,
We smile,
and with Contempt survey the Waves
Art reconciles the Elements, and
Trade
Can now with ease the
Globes Extremes
invade.
Eternal circulating Commerce flows,
And ev'ry Nation, ev'ry Nation
knows.
Torrid
and
Frigid
scale, and joyn the Poles,
And far as Wind can blow, or Water rolls,
Ships sail,
and Men
in search of Wealth
will trace
All the
Meanders
of the Universe.
The rough, the smooth, to men of Art submit;
The Northern Winter Cold, or Southern Heat,
With equal Safety, and with equal Ease,
Calm
Caspian Lakes,
and
Caledonian Seas.
By Natures Aid, and Arts concurring Law,
Dangers are only Helps to draw.
The
Thirsts of Honour
Generous Minds bewitch,
And Danger tempts the Brave,
as Gold the Rich.
'Twas Courage first that ventur'd out to Sea,
Young in Experience, as Philosophy.
Noah himself
had certainly been drown'd,
Had not his Courage,
as his Faith,
been sound.
Hail Caledonia,
by vast Seas embrac't;
Those Seas for Glory, Wealth and Terror plac't.
Dreadful in Fame, to thee familiar grown,
Suited to no mens Temper like thy own.
The bounteous Ocean
Fraught with Native Gold,
i. e.
the Treasure of the Fish, which is Gold efficiently, because an immense Treasure is drawn from it by all those Nations that apply themselves to that Trade.
fraught with native Gold,
Sav'd it for thee;
by its own Curse,
That Cold which by the Ancients was thought intolerable and kept those Seas for so many Ages impracticable, doubtless prevented the Discovery of the great Treasure of the Fishery, was, not that their taking of them could have lessened the Quantity; but without doubt Foreign Nations might have been prompted not to have fish'd here only, and in time have been too strong to be displac'd, but perhaps have taken Possession of the Land for the sake of the Vast Trade: And so a more powerful Nation have dispossest the
Scots
both of their Trade and their Country too.
the Cold.
Had not the Storms and Tempests govern'd here,
And fenc'd this
long hid Treasure
round with Fear,
Past Ages had thy rifled Store decreast,
And
Foreign Nations
all thy Wealth possest.
Wealth that well suits a hardy Race like thine,
That dares through Storms and Death pursue the Mine.
Wealth hid from Cowards, and the fainting Hand,
Scar'd with the Sea's content to starve by Land.
But when thy daring Sons the Wave explore,
The Ocean yields her
Not our Experience only allows the Store to be unexhausted, in that the Quantity is every Year renewed; but Authors tell us that even in their daily Fishing in one and the same place, when great Quantities are taken up, yet those that remain, and may immediately be taken in the same place, seem not to be lessened.
Minorum ad littora piscium tanta benignitate Dei Opt. Max. praeventus est, & quo major frumenti Caritas est, eo etiam uberior; ut cum uno quovis die ingentem vim abstuleris, postridie illius Diei non minor codem in loco appareat.
Hect. Boeth. Scot. Reg. Discriptio. p 8.
unexhausted Store:
Thy open Harbours all her Gifts divide,
And Seas of Wealth
roll in with ev'ry Tide:
The
Golden Shoals
thy very Nets pursue,
Laugh at the lesser Treasures of
Peru;
Prompt thee to change the meanness of thy State,
Bids thee, when e're thou wilt, be rich and great.
Tell us ye Sons of Myst'ry, from what Hand,
What
Secret high Command.
The wonderful Original and Causes of the Prodigious Quantity of Herring which appear in their exact Seasons. Places and Quantities upon all the Coasts of
Scotland
is the Occasion of this Digression.
secret High Command
Gives out the Word that's heard to Natures Deep,
Where all the Scaly Tribes their Councils keep?
Who tells them when the very Month arrives?
And who the secret Order gives?
When from the Womb of Wonders far by-North,
The mighty Slymy Hosts come forth;
The num'rous Legions spread the Sea,
The wondring frighted Waves give way;
Forward the Mighty moving Hosts push on,
All guided by a Hand unknown.
Th' Involuntary well directed Fry,
The
unknown something
readily obey.
No Pilot can with more Exactness steer,
Not Sun or Moon divides the Year.
Not the revolving Stars their Course obey▪
Not Darkness can succeed the Day,
With a more punctual steady Pace,
In Manner, Measure, Time and Place;
True to the very Distance of the Shore,
They'r never, where they never were before
Where there's but few, there ever was but few,
To ev'ry Circumstance so true.
Such Courses steer, such Orders keep,
Thro' all the wandring Mazes of the Deep;
As if the Ancient Paths they could discry,
Or read their Father's History:
Then
Caledonians
lend an humble Ear,
And your own
Ill accepted.
It must be owned,
Scotland
has not given that full welcome to this Gift of Heaven, the Fish that Nature and Providence seemed to expect from them, for whose Benefit without Doubt they were appointed.
ill accepted Blessings
hear,
From the profound unmeasur'd Deeps
Where Nature all her Wonders keeps.
Her
Instinct
is here represented as delivering a Message in the Watry Audience, and making a Speech to the Fish, the Image, its hoped is not improper, nor is the Liberty taken at all unpoetical; so I make no excuse for it, but think, that what we call
Instinct,
may serve to represent Nature in all the Creatures obeying their Times and Seasons, exactly according to the great and just Law of Creation, and the Influence of Invisible Providence.
Handmaid Instinct,
this Blest Message gave
To all the Watry Crew beneath the Watry Cave.
Go Numberless and spread the Finny Sail,
And find
Britannia
Nature's Darling Isle;
There spread your
Scaly Squadrons,
and submit,
Your Makers Law Commands,
To Every Net.
Be You Their Wealth
and plenteously supply
What Coldest Soil and
Steril Climes
deny.
Be You Their Envy'd Blessing,
and attend
The willing Prey, to the undustrious Hand,
In proper Squadrons all your Troops divide,
And visit
Every Creek,
with
Every Tide.
Present your selves to every Hungry Door,
Employ
The Diligent,
and feed
The Poor.
If they reject the Bounties of the Sea
Bid'em Complain
Indeed 'tis strange to think they should let such a Wealth pass by them, and at the same time complain of Poverty.
no more of Poverty.
Upbraid their sloth, and then return to me,
Visit no other Port, it is plain they are not found in any considerable quantity in any Seas but these, and 'tis supposed they return to the Northward again, where the Prodigious Breed must increase sufficiently to supply for the next Years Voyage.
Visit no other Port.
Without question they supply very much any Defect of Provisions, which either by the Sterillity of the Countrey, or rather want of Improvement, that People may labour under.
The punctual well instructed Fish obey,
And
Scaly Squadrons
spread the Northern Sea,
Directly point their Course, and find the Shore,
As if they'd all been here before.
Their equal Distance keep, divide and join,
As if they're taught by Book, or steer'd by Line:
Their strong Detachments send to every Creek,
In just Proportion their own Mischiefs seek.
Seek out the Harbours, seek the Indented Shore,
Timploy the Diligent, and feed the Poor.
No other Port they visit.
Ah!
Caledonia,
mark the High Command,
And mark the Caution of the Heavenly Hand;
If thou reject the Bounties of the Sea,
No more Complain of Poverty.
Hadst thou in early time with Wisdom grac't
Heav'ns Bounty, as in Duty bound, embrac't,
Above the Nations thou hadst rais'd thy Head,
At Home their Envy, and abroad their Dread,
Thy Wealthy Clime would all the World invite,
They'd Court Thee to Unite.
No more of Barren Hills and Seas complain,
Reproach the Land with Blasts, with Storms the Main.
Not all the Spicy Banks of
Ganges
and
Nilus,
one a River in
India,
the other in
Egypt;
The first famous for its rich Spices and Drugs, and the other for the Prolific Virtue of its Water, on the constant Regular Overflowings whereof, the Fruitfulness of the Land depends.
Whence some tell us,
The seven Years Famine in that Countrey in the Time of
Joseph
was occasion'd from the
Nile
's not over flowing its Banks during that Term.
Ganges
Stream,
Not Fruitful
Nile
so oft the Poets Dream,
Not
Islands so call'd lying in the Gulph of
Mexico,
where the Pearl Fishing has been worth Immense Sums to the
Spaeniard.
Isles of Pearl, not rich
The Great Ocean on the West-side of
America,
Vulgarly, Tho I think Improperly, call'd, The
South Seas.
Pacifick Seas,
Not the more Fruitful
The
Caribbees
Islands, which, as now Improv'd by the
English,
are suppos'd to yield the greatest Produce of any Spot of Ground in the World of equal Extent.
Caribbees,
Not
Guinea
in
Africk,
and
Chili
in
America,
being the two principal places which supply the World with Gold.
Africks
Wealth or
Chilean
Stores,
The
Silver
Silver Mountains.
The Mountains of
Potosi
in the Country of
Peru,
thought by some to be all Silver, but without Question, is the richest of that kind in the World.
Golden Shores:
Meaning the Rivers of
Guinea,
in the Sands of which is taken up the Gold Dust, as it is wash'd out of the Mountains by the Water.
Mountains,
or the
Golden Shores,
Could such an
Ʋ nexhausted Treasure. The Fishery,
and therefore very well propos'd to match the Treasures before spoken of, not only in its Value, but in this Peculiar,
That 'tis never exhausted.
Nor is it all the less for the Prodigious Quantities that are or might be Annually taken. Which some Authors have observ'd, That they were enough to subsist the whole Nation, if there were no other Provision.
Tanta Piscium est Exundantia, cum ubique tum quo magis ad Septentrionem accedas, ut vel ii soli sufficere possint ad pastum Insulae totius:
Boeth. de Descrip. Reg. Scot
Unexhausted Treasure boast,
A Treasure
how supinely lost!
What Pains has
Scotland
taken to be Poor,
That has the
Indies
at her Door;
That lets her
Coursest Fate
of Choice remain,
And sees her Maker
Bountiful in Vain.
When
Caledonians,
when will you be wise,
And search for
certain Wealth
in Native Seas?
A Wealth by Heav'n design'd for
none but You,
A Wealth that does your very Hands pursue,
Upbraids You with Neglect of Your own Right,
And courts
Invading Neighbours in your Sight.
When
Caledonians,
when will You be wise?
When from Your Clouded Circumstances rise?
Banish Invaders,
Heav'n's own Gifts
enjoy,
This would Your
Native Poverty
destory.
This would restore Your Ancient dear bought Name,
This,
and Your Valour,
would revive Your Fame;
How would Your Navies quickly spread the Seas,
And guard that Wealth they help You to possess?
How would Your Commerce
all Your Sons
restore,
And they'd
seek Home
that
shun'd that Home before?
With Wealth and People, Happy, Rich and Free,
You'd first
Improve the Land,
and then
the Sea;
Be Strong, be Great, be Rich, be
Europe
's Fear,
Their War, their Wealth, their Trade, their Honours share.
But
let's Retreat,
Who can the Scene survey,
And View this Wealth the Neighbour Nations Prey;
What Eye, that's
Caledonia
's Friend, can see
Her Sons on Shore, and
Strangers spread the Sea?
Who can,
with Patience,
View her People Poor,
And
Mines of Wealth
snatch'd up at ev'ry Door?
The Bounty Heav'n for their Peculiar meant,
Reap't by the Hands to whom 'twas never sent.
The Ocean plunder'd, the Advantage sold,
While
these
enjoy the Tempests,
those
the Gold.
Hail
Blest Conjunction,
Brittain's last best Hour,
Shall
Caledonia
to her self restore;
Assert her long neglected Property,
Her Blessing, her Inheritance, the Sea.
In hopes of this, let's land and range the Shore,
And view the Nation that the World calls Poor.
Plenty's
a doubtful Word
mistook by most,
A modern Term
for Luxury and Waste.
So Canaan flow'd.
the Lands in Plenty drown'd;
Yet Egypt did in vast Increase abound.
The World's amus'd with different Forms of Words,
When various Sence the various Thought affords.
Nature's
by vast Comparisons
explain'd,
And all her Contradictions
so maintain'd.
So
Scotland
s
Barren, Fruitful,
Poor and
Rich:
Speak Malice,
Speak Insulters,
tell us which.
Describe the Globe, run all the Climates o'er,
She's Poor compar'd to Rich, and Rich compar'd to Poor.
In Climates next,
let's view her Northern Coast,
A fruitful Stile,
with Epithets
embos't,
The
Horrid, Boistrous, Barren,
and the
Cold,
What Fabl'd Monstrous Stories have been told!
Yet range the Globe, and her Extremes survey,
And sail
from
The two extreme Parts of
America,
and almost both uninhabitably Cold, and to which
Scotland
being compared, may be stiled a hot Climate, as compar'd to
Mexico
and
Peru,
she merits the Name of Cold.
Magellan
to
Hudsons Bay;
Ditto the Jest,
and when the Truth's but told,
She's Cold compar'd to Hot, and Hot compar'd to Cold.
Nor is there less of Injury appears
About her Mountains,
or her Mountaineers.
View but the Savage
A most savage People, that go naked, live on raw Flesh, and are the most Brutal of any people in the World.
Madagascar
Moors,
Campeche Indians
are some of them the most Barbarous and Inhnmane of any of the
American
Race, among whom have been found absolute
Cannibals,
that devour one another
Campeche
Indians, or
The
Circassian Boors
are a sort of
Tartars
now under the Dominion of the Czar of
Muscovy,
very Cruel and Barbarous, and far worse than the most was ever pretended of the wild
Irish
or any sort of People in these parts of the World.
Circassian
Boors,
And when the Characters we shall compare,
A Northern Highland-man
's a Christian there.
Polite his Manners, and his
I take the Highland Plaid, or the Dress of these Highland-men, to be the Remain of the Mantle of the Ancient
Goths,
and the same thing, applyed to the same Uses of the—of the Moors of
Africk,
since both People use it to cover them in the Night, and therefore make no Scruple to carry it by Day in the hotest Weather.
Modern Dress,
Is Beauty all, when match't with
Ugliness.
PART II.
THe Plan's Describ'd, the Seas and Shores Survey'd;
Let's now the Treasures of the Land Invade,
Traverse their Hills, and all their Vales Descry,
And spread their just Description to the Eye.
The
Rugged Nation
plac'd by Nature here,
Shall in their
fancied Poverty
appear;
The World shall blush, when they their Picture see,
And Fame grow
Proud to Print
their History.
The Soil no more
unjust Reproach
shall bear,
For all they Talk of Barren's
slander here,
And 'tis,
or may be
Fruitful ev'ry where.
A hardy Race possess the stormy Strand,
And share the Moderate Bountys of the Land,
Fitted by Nature for the
Boistrous Clime,
And larger Blessings will grow due by time.
The num'rous Off-spring patient and sedate,
With Courage
special to the Climate
wait.
When
Nigard Nature
shall their Nation hear,
Shall smile, and pay them all the Vast Arrear.
A
manly surliness,
with Temper mix'd,
Is on their meanest Countenances fix'd.
An awful Frown sits on their threatning Brow,
And yet the Soul's all smooth, and Calm
below;
Thinking in Temper, rather grave than Gay,
Fitted to govern, able to obey.
Nor are their Spirits
very soon
enflam'd,
And if provok'd, not
very soon
reclaim'd.
Fierce when resolv'd, and fix'd as Bars of Brass,
And Conquest
through their Blood
can only pass.
In spight of
Coward Cold,
the Race is Brave,
In Action Daring, and in Council Grave;
Their haughty Souls in Danger always grow,
No Man
durst lead 'em
where
they durst not go.
Sedate in Thought, and steady in Resolve,
Polite in Manners, and as Years Revolve;
Always secure their largest share of Fame,
And by their Courage keep alive their Name.
The lab'ring Poor dejected and supprest▪
See not th'
approaching Prospect
of their Rest.
Knowledge of Liberty's
their only want,
And loss of Expectation's their Content.
Too much subjected to immoderate Power,
Their
Petty Tyrants
all their Pains devour.
Th'
The Racking the Tennant, is not only a suppressing of the Poor, and discouraging of his Industry, but an Error in the Landlord himself as to his own Interest, preventing the Improvement of his Land, and disabling him from doing abundance of things, which would in the End be his own Advantage: And tho' abateing this might in some measure lessen the immediate Income; yet would certainly in Time, turn to the Advantage of the Family, as well as the Encouragement of the People.
extorting Masters their just hopes Restrain,
And
'Ts impossible the Farmer in
Scotland
can ever grow Rich, while the Rent of his Farm amounts within a small matter to the Extent of the Product, and while if a scarce Year comes, he is intirely Ruined; whereas if a good Year comes, he either enjoys not the Benefit, or does not enjoy it long; it being in his Landlords Power, upon all Occasions, to raise his Demands.
Diligence
is no where more in vain.
The
Little Chiefs,
The Author is here willing to suppose that generally speaking, no Landlords, but such as are of small Estates, would thus disregard their own Interest, or continue the Oppressions of the Poor, Their Necessities not permitting 'em to be more Generous.
Little Chiefs,
for what they call their due,
Eat up the
Farme
and eat the
Farmer too;
Suck the Life-Blood, of Tennant and Estate,
And needless Poverty to both create.
Mistake their Int'rest, Nati'nal Ills procure,
And make the Poor be
very very poor.
Th unhappy Drudge, yet bears the mighty Load,
With strange
unnat'ral Temperance
endow'd,
So servile,
so unus'd
to Liberty;
He seems the last, that
wishes to be free,
Prepostrous Wonder!
Where will Nature run,
That Men should
Struggle
to be
twice Undone;
Afflictions make Men Stupid, Nature winks,
And
Sense o'relaid,
he acts before he thinks;
Subjected Nature fetter'd with Distress
Dozes, and Bondage does the Soul possess,
Endeavour Slackness, all the Prospects dy,
And with the
Hope,
the
Love of Liberty.
Yet under all the Hardships of their State,
They've something seems to claim a softer Fate;
Nor does it claim alone, The Grand Portent
Foretells the Blessing, and decrees th'Event.
'Tis plainly printed on the Painful Brow,
They shall not
always
be supprest
as now;
Th'approaching Light at Distance dawns, the Ray
Darts a Dim Earnest of the Welcome Day.
When sleeping Bondage doom'd to
lasting Night,
Shall help to make the
Chearing Beam
more bright.
Th'enlighten'd Crowd shall their own Freedom see,
For willful Blindness only, shuts out Liberty;
Bondage is Ignorance, and he that sees,
Needs no directer Cure for that Disease.
Knowledge and Liberty go Hand in Hand,
Fools only will obey, when Knaves command;
The Sordid Yoke
no longer can
be born,
When once he sees
he must
the Grievance scorn;
He that in Blind Dependence now submits,
Will rouse
his Strength,
when he shall rouse
his Wits;
Nature prevails,
and Sense in Exercise
The Chains on Reason nat'rally unties.
Thus when
new Sight
shall once but bless the Poor,
'Tis these will
Scotland
's Liberty Restore;
The strong Conviction no Man can resist,
And Blindness shall against her Will be blest;
And now, in all their Miseries, let's View
What Blessings they industriously pursue;
What just Equivalent they can supply,
For loss of Wealth, and loss of Liberty:
Th'
Instructed
Poor Laborious and Supprest;
Yet in their very Miseries are blest;
Crush'd with injurious Homage they obey
GOD and their Landlord, but with diff'rent Eye;
And yet
to both
they pay without Regrett,
To this the Homage, and to that the Debt.
The
Negatives of Nature
they Endure,
In Virtue
Rich,
tho in Possessions
Poor,
Knowing
in Sacreds,
in Religion Nice,
And ignorant
in nothing more
than Vice:
What Crimes they have,
they borrow
from Mankind,
Hell's Manufactures here
are contraband.
Imported by the help of
Foreign Trade,
Clandestinely
enjoy'd,
clandestinely
conveigh'd.
Unusual Judgment fills the
meaner Heads,
Devotion
follows as
Instruction
leads.
Grave in Behaviour, in Discourse
sedate,
And apter
to believe
than to
debate;
And if they can exceed in doing Well,
'Tis in
a little
little TOO MUCH ZEAL.
In Doctrine sound, in Discipline severe,
The Church obtains her
True Dominion
here.
And yet
her foft Coercives
yield no Pow'r,
Either to persecure, or to devour.
Fiercely tenacious of determin'd Truth,
Dreadful to Error, Vigilant of both.
The wild Opinions of a
Neighb'ring State,
Find here
no Atom-Fancies
to create:
The strong fermented Venom hither brought,
Like
Irish Poisons,
perish in the Thought;
Here no
Enthusiastick Notion
grows,
The only Barrenness
the Nation knows.
A
Mitred Jest
indeed, the Land perplex'd,
Of Pomp and Pride, and Policy so mix'd;
The
awkward medly
left us in Debate,
Whether it did proceed from Church or State,
Begot by
Power,
and introduc'd by
Plot,
With Tyranny
came in,
with Tyranny
went out;
But ill agreeing with preciser Air,
It soon grew yellow, pale and sickly here.
The People Wise, and in Religion Nice,
Could not be gull'd with such a Faint Device.
Some Blood
the Monster
drank, but when it try'd
To take
a Dose of Liberty,
IT DY'd.
But it their Civil State some Praise affords,
Much greater are the Trophies of their Swords.
Ages of Blood have brought them up to War
And their strong Legions breath in every Air,
At the Battle of
Leipsick,
the
Scots
were the first that were ever seen to fire with their Ranks clos'd foreward, and their Pieces over one another's Shoulders, or as we call it,
kneel, stoop, and stand,
which was such a Surprize to the
Germans,
pouring in such a Quantity of Lead upon them together, that they could not stand it, which the King of
Sweden
own'd, was the great Occasion of the Victory, and practiz'd it afterwards among all his Troops.
They taught the very
Swedes
themselves to Fight,
And
spight of Dulness
arm'd the
The
Scots
Officers have all along been the Instructors of the
Muscovites,
and if they are the worst Soldiers in
Europe,
it has not been for want of good Masters but by being dull Scholars, tho something may be ascrib'd to the Constitution of their Country, arming only the Boors, and not entertaining 'em as Soldiers, but demitting 'em after the Occasion, to their Imployments again, which Method the present Czar having alter'd, the
Russians
to
Europe
's Cost, are not unlikely to show the World they have been very well taught.
Muscovite;
The sordid
Russ,
to discipline they Train
And fain would teach the
The Pride and Haughtiness of the Pole has made him disdain to be Instructed, and consequently their Foot (especially) are good for nothing in the Field.
Poles, but that's in vain.
Th' untracted Brute in Ignorance
too Wise,
Learn't only how Experience to despise.
Nothing keeps Nature closs in Jayl like Pride,
Squadrons of Page-like Crimes before her ride,
And Ignorance is always next her side.
Where shall we all their Ancient Glory trace,
The forward nations
court the very Race:
Not
Europe
ventures to commence a War
But
Caledonian
Blood demands her Share,
And if 'tis
bought or sold,
'tis always very dear
Particularly famous for the great Battle between the Imperialists and the Swedes, the 3
d.
of
September, Anno
—and afterwards for being the occasion of the great Battle at
Lutzen,
where the King of
Sweden
was slain, having made a long March to relieve this City then besieg'd by the Impertialists: But coming to late, he attack'd their Army, and overthrew 'em, but lost his Life.
Leipfick
—a Name in Fames red letter'd Roll
Matchless in War, where from the Frozen Pole
The
Fnland
Horse in the
Swedish
Army grew a Terror to the
Germans
by their Extraordinary Bravery and Discipline.
Finland
sent Monsters, Strangers to the Sun,
Bred up to fight,
by great
Gustave
led on;
And yet by hardy
The
Scots
at the Battle of
Leipsick
were very ill clothed, and had complain'd of it to their Officers, who had often promis'd 'em a Supply, and being just entring into the Battle, Sir
John Hepburn,
who commanded 'em, pointing to the Imperial Army, Jestingly told them,
Their Clothes were come,
Tilly
had brought 'em en purpose for 'em, and if they would have 'em, they must fight for 'em.
naked Scots
out-done.
Voracious
Tilly
just made drunk with Blood,
At
Tilly
had just taken
Magdeburgh
by Storm, and in a terrible manner sacked and destroy'd the Town, put Seventeen thousand People to the Sword, Men, Women and Children, and aftewards burnt the whole City to Ashes, and made himself Terrible to all the
Protestants
in
Europe.
Magdeburgh
he rais'd the Crimson Flood,
Tho gorg'd with Slaughter, yet a Thirst for more,
Approach't, all
Europe
trembled at his Power.
In
Leipsick
Plain the dreadful Scene begun,
On brighter Deeds the Sun himself ne're shone.
Tilly
's first Fury
broke
the
The Duke of
Saxony
's Troops formed the Left of the
Swedish
Army the King of
Sweden
having the Right: upon the first Charge, the Right of the Imperialists broke the
Saxons,
and drove 'em quite out of the Field, killing between two and three Thousand upon the Spot; and had not the
Scots
interpos'd, they had been all cut to pieces.
Saxon
Line,
And cry'd
Victoria,
all the Troops fall in,
With Blood and Terror glittering Eagles shine.
The
Scots
reserv'd for Dangers hither flye,
Dangers
their Post by Nation,
taught to dy,
And wing'd with Rage they
The
Scots
being about twelve Battallions of Foot, joyn'd with some Dragoons, made the second Line of the
Swedish
Army; and finding how Matters went with the
Saxons
on their Flank, they immediately wheel'd to the Left, and joyning a Brigade of Foot of the
Saxons,
not yet broken, they fell in upon the pursuing Imperialists, and by their extraordinary Fury, turn'd the Fortune of the Day.
ravisht Victory.
Not the unequal Squadrons, not the Day
Half lest, not slaughter'd Saxons in the way,
Not formidable Death,
that Jest of War,
In whatsoever shapes she durst appear,
Could their intrepid
stedy Motion
stay,
Nothing but slaughterd Foes and Victory;
The Imperial Dragoons being recalled from the Pursuit of the
Saxons,
and being Superiour in Number, surrounded the
Scots,
falling in upon their Flank, which making them Desperate, they fought like Mad men, and made a terrible slaughter of the Enemy.
Surrounded, they with doubl'd Fury fight,
And pleasd with Danger, shine in (
In the Fury o
this Fight, the
Scots
threw off their Cloaths and fought in their Shirts; the Novelty of which struck a strange Terror into their Enemies, and convinced 'em, that despising all Danger, these were resolv'd to Conquer.
naked white,
The King of
Sweden
hearing of the Distress the
Scots
were in, came in Person with a Body of Horse and Dragoons to their Relief, Charg'd the Imperial Dragoons who had engag'd their Flank, and soon clear'd 'em of that Incumbrance. But seing how bravely they fought, and that there was no Danger on that Side, he call'd out Laughing to Sir
John Hepburn, Al I EGREMENT,
which is as much as to say in English,
Bravely done Boys;
and went back to his own Forces, where he soon overthrew the Imperialists, and compleated the Victory.
Gustavus
saw how Fury like they fought,
And
better witness
never Soldiers sought;
The mighty Hero smil'd,
with Wonder pleas'd,
And still they fought the more, the more he prais'd.
They Crown'd his Head with Lawrell's first, and he
To their just Valour
Both the King of
Sweden
and the Elector of
Saxony,
publickly Complemented
Sir John Hepburn,
and the rest of the
Scots
Collonels upon the Occasion; and own'd the Victory to be very much owing to their extraordinary Behaviour.
own'd his Victory.
From whence advancing with a just Applause,
The ruin'd Protestants abandon'd Cause;
Religion and the Countrey they restore,
And grateful
Germany
commemorates the Hour.
In thirty Months continued fierce Campaign,
From
Leipsick
Plains, the
Neckar,
and the
Main,
The
Rhine,
the
Danube,
and the
Lech
they cros't,
No
Battle where they fought was ever lost.
Never was such an Army, such a Head,
Such Men to follow, such a King to Lead:
such Countreys Travers'd, or such Battles won,
Such Conquests made, or
In two Years and three Quarters, they Over-run two third Parts of the Empire, and were posses'd of the whole Countrey from
Wolfenbuttle
in
Westphalia,
where Duke
Hamilton
with another Body of
Scots
acted, to
Prague
in
Bohemia;
and had the King of
Sweden
Out-lived the Battle of
Lutzen,
he had bid fair to have taken Winter Quarters at
Vienna.
Conquests made so soon.
Where shall we all their ancient Glories trace?
Let's hasten down to
Ramellies
a pace;
But stop at
Phillipsburg,
and ask
Turenne,
And read their ancient Trophies on the
Rhine,
How they did there the
Gallick
Name advance,
And by their Blood gave Plumes
to
To
growing France.
The
Scots
Regiments under the Viscount de
Turenn,
and particularly
Douglass
's Regiment, consisting then of 4 or 5000 Men, were the Flower of his Infantry, and help'd to make
France
Terrible; as at that time She was to all her Neighbours.
growing France
France,
that on Foreign Valour raisd their Throne,
By
other Nations Swords,
and not their own,
Strip't of that Help how easily they fall,
And faint like
Jericho
without her Wall.
Recall'd from hence they
Williams Sword.
The
Scots
were Recall'd out of the
French
Service by King
Charles
the second, at the Instance of his Parliament, soon after the Marriage of the late King
William
then Prince of
Orange,
with the Princess
Mary,
a little before the Peace of
Nimeguen,
and Ordered to joyn the Prince of
Orange
's Army in
Flanders.
Williams
Sword obey,
And beat the
French
at
Mons for
Want of Pay,
When the
Scots
were Recall'd from the King of
France
's Service, they were very ill treated, carried to the Remotest Parts of
France,
and there Dismis'd with but very little Money, ordered to Travel but two or three together, the Countrey order'd not to Trust them; and every where great Rewards offer'd 'em to List, on purpose to force 'em unto their Service; by which means very few of that great Body reach'd Home, but they that did, Vow'd to be reveng'd of the
French
if ever they came to hands with them, which they made good at the Battel of
Mons.
want of Pay;
Soon as the
Caledonian
Bands appear,
Not
Luxemberg himself,
The Duke of
Luxemberg
Commanding the
French
Army at
Mons,
Placing some of his best Infantry
at a Post
where he expected the Prince; told some of his Officers, that if the Prince of
Orange
ventur'd to Attack him there, he was sure it must be with the
Scots
Regiments; intimating that they were the fittest Troops he had for so desperate a Work.
Luxemberg
himself disdaind to fear;
'Twas on their Valour he had rais'd his Fame,
He knew they'd Conquer
where soe're
they came.
He'd seen 'em fight when great
Turenn
lay dead. When
Turenn
was kill'd, the
Scots
Brigade stood the shock of the first Line of the
German
Army, with so much Resolution, that very much Recover'd the
French
out of the Surprize they were under for the Loss of their General.
Turenne
lay dead,
He'd seen them follow where he
Durst not lead!
'Twas
Luxemberg
's Post that Day, to have been with the advanc'd Troops, amongst which the
Scots
were posted; but he thought fit to get himself imploy'd elsewhere, which some said, was taken notice of in the Army, as if he thought the Service too Hot for him.
durst not lead;
He'd seen them fight when all the Army fled.
When wise
Wise
D.
Lorge▪
who took upon him the Command of the Army at the Death of
Turenn,
obtain'd great Reputation by retreating the Army to an advantagious Post, while the extraordinary Bravery of the
Scots,
kept the whole
German
Army in play.
de Lorge
to shun his own Defeat,
Under their Valour shelter'd his Retreat.
The experienc'd Hero, grave in War and State,
In this as sober, as in that sedate.
Advisd his Master, caution'd by his Fear,
To gain the
Scots,
or else
decline the War.
Then view 'em under fifteen Years Recess,
Ranging thro'
Europe
to avoid the Peace.
Battel and Death they make their chief Delight,
And in all Nations teach the World to fight.
Buda
the dreadfull'st Siege the World ere saw,
What Hero's did the Fame of Danger Draw?
Lesly.
This was, Old
Lesly,
General of the Imperial Forces, and made Ban or Governour of
Croatia
by the Emperor, the same that burnt the Bridge of
Esseck,
and tho near 80 Years of Age, and tortur'd with the Gout, yet perform'd a great many desperate Services against the
Turks
during that War, and some of them in the Depth of Winter.
Lesly
th' Old
Croatian
Ban appears,
And daring
Scots
led up the Volunteers.
What Actions pass't, let only such relate,
Who know how Men resolv'd to Conquer meet;
Never was Town with such strange Fury fill'd,
Such Deeds
Victoria
seldom has beheld;
Such Storms, such Fury, Flesh and Blood nere bore,
Nor Town was ever so maintain'd hefore;
The desp'rate Garrison disdain to Fear,
With their own slaughter'd Bones the Breach repair;
Contemning Mercy, they like Furies fight,
And
just as fast
as Life declin'd, submit.
What Streams of Blood must in such Fights be lost?
What Fatal Price must such a Conquest cost?
Life so bestow'd, is always
sold too dear,
But VALIANT
SCOTS,
what Business had you here?
With Noble Blood adorn'd, and blooming Years,
You
were not made
to storm like Musqueteers;
Scotland
run too much venture
in your Blood,
To have
your Rate
so little understood;
You had no
desperate Fortunes
there to raise
Your Names enough,
you could not fight for Praise:
Then why so lavish, why so rashly brave?
To play away the Lives you ought to save;
Scotland
has Sons indeed, but none to spare,
To furnish out the
Shows and Sports
of War;
You are her tenderest part which touch the whole,
And what lets out your Blood,
lets out her Soul.
Pardon the
Satyr's interrupting.
'Tis hop'd no Gentleman in
Scotland
will take this for a personal Satyr; but as I take Volunteering to be a Vice in War, as 'tis now practiz'd, where Men fit to lead Armies, serve as private Centinels, the Author hopes he may
be
excus'd in condemning the Practice as an Injury to their Native Countrey.
Satyrs interrupting here,
She owns, she hates this volunteering War,
When neither King nor Country to retrive,
The injur'd help, or the Oppress'd relieve,
Neither to gain Dominion, or to save;
Men die for nothing but the Fame of Brave.
So
Foster
hang'd himself.
A foolish Fellow in
England,
who often talk'd of hanging himself, that he might have a fine Funeral, and at last did it, but whether upon that account or no, is not very certain.
Foster
hang'd himself with
deep Design,
Only to see himself be buried fine.
Hard Fate of Men, that only for a Name,'
Will in their own Destruction seek their Fame.
That covet Dangers, and
ride Post
to die,
To live in Air, and WALK in Memory;
Vain Fame with high Fermented Vapour hot,
To be remember'd, strives to be forgot.
Wrap'd in his Jest, the bubbl'd Heroe dies,
Immortalizd in Mortal Memories,
Fill's up a Ballad, made too great in Rhime,
Is fabl'd into Tale, and dies again by Time.
And this for nothing, but to have it known,
He dy'd an ASS of very great Renown,
A forward Coxcomb, who in haste to dy,
Fought for he car'd not who, nor car'd not why.
One just Excuse indeed some few may give,
That die, because they can't tell how to live:
These shall in Pity 'scape our Censure here,
So Cowards dare not live, and hang themselves for Fear.
He's truly brave that Fights in Just Defence
Of Virtue press'd, of injur'd Innocence,
Himself, the Laws, his Neighbour, or his Prince;
Dares all the lawful Call's of Fate obey,
No Danger will decline, no Trust betray;
While he that heal's his Tortures in the War,
Own's he's a Coward, and only fights for Fear:
As for the Sport of Fighting, that's a Jest,
They talk of most, that understand it least.
Buda
reduc'd, and Gallantry laid by,
Europe
the Sweets of short liv'd Peace enjoy:
Not the Recess of Arms can cool their Fire,
Quench't in the Act, they burn in the Desire;
Not
Capuan
Plenty, not luxuriant Ease,
The Man of Action's first and worst Disease,
Can Taint their Temper, quench their Thirst of Fame,
Or Rust the pollish'd splendor of their Name.
Their Arms may tarnish, but the Soul's kept bright,
For, spight of Practice, they by Nature fight;
Born Soldiers, fitted from the Birth for Fame,
Bodies all Iron, and their Souls all Flame.
The War revives,
Bellona
sounds to Arms,
The
Scots
by Nature ravish't with her Charms,
From their remotest Mountains hear the sound,
And Troops of Hero's spread
Hibernian
Ground;
With Native Fire and sense of Glory fill'd,
And wing'd with Joy, they rush into the Field.
In ev'ry Action that deserv'd a Name,
They shar'd the Hazard, others shar'd the Fame;
William
with Pleasure often led 'em on,
They gave, they guarded, and they lov'd his Crown;
Smiling he view'd the Wonders of their Hands.
Happy the Gen'ral Troops like these Commands,
The gladded Monarch said,
when at
Namure,
Ramsay
fell on and mock'd the Gallick Power,
And emulating Nations wondring first gave o're.
At Derry, Limrick, Agrim,
or the
Boyn,
Athlone, Namure,
at
Steenkirk,
or
anden;
At
all, their Hero's fought, at all they dy'd,
And latent Virtue want of Victory supply'd.
William,
that Men of Courage lov'd t'obey,
How mourn'd he
Douglass, Angus,
and
Mackay?
Too great a Loss for one unhappy Day.
A
Loss that yielded
France
the Victory;
A
Loss that none but
Scotland
could supply;
None had such to survive, or such to Dy.
Should we to recent Memory apply,
And trace the
Scots
in Modern History:
The present rising Glory of their Name,
Comes up to all that's ancient in their Fame.
At
Schellemberg
how could they choose but fight,
New Vigour swell'd their Nation at the sight;
The very Spot where
Hepburn Storm'd before.
The
Scots
in the King of
Swedens
Army beat
John de Werth
the
Bavarian
General, out of his Intrenchments at
Schellembergh,
where they had posted themselves almost upon the same Ground where the
French
and
Bavarians
were now Posted. Here
Ramsey,
and
Rea,
two Collonels of the
Scots,
according to the usual and particular Bravery of these two Ancient Families, entred the Intrenchments Sword in Hand, with a very great slaughter of the Enemy.
Hepburn
Storm'd before,
And Conquering
Scots, Imperial
Standards tore.
Where
Ramsey, Murray, Rhea,
and
Hamilton,
Like Lyons fought, the
Swedes
amaz'd lookt on,
And saw th' impregnable Intrenchments won.
And now the
Scots
in Valour still the same,
Worthy the Race, and equal in their Flame,
With the same Fury, gain the same Applause,
The same the Courage, and the same the Cause:
The same the Circumstance, the same Success,
That
great
Gustavus
saw.
The Bavarians Complemented
Gustavus Adolphus,
on the taking the Intrenchments at
Schellemberg,
as a thing they thought impracticable; and the People of the
Danawert
say, it has been thirteen times Attack'd, and never was taken till then; which I take to be an equal Honour to the
Scots
Troops under the Duke of
Marlborough,
as to their Ancestors under the King of
Sweden,
these having a great share in the late Attack under the Command of Lord
Orkney,
as the other had under Collonel
Hepburn.
Gustavus
saw, great
Marlbro' this.
Let future Poets
Blenheims
Trophies sing,
And
Ramellies
to Chime, with
Leipsick
bring;
There
Orkney, Campbell, Hamilton,
and
Hay,
Shall match the Hero's, and shall match the Day.
To Times last Period hand their Nations Fame,
And ev'ry Ages Glory shall the next Enflame.
PART III.
THeir Forreign Deeds are trac'd, and now we come,
To search the Fund of Fame that's left at Home;
A Thousand
Kings.
Alluding here to the ancient Figure, in which the Isle of
Britain
is generally supposed to be, when every Nobleman was a Sovereign upon his own Estate, some Marks of which Sovereignty are yet remaining, and within few Years past, were very visible in several of the Noble Families of
Scotland,
particularly in the Family of
Douglass,
who Pursued, fought, took Prisoner of War Sir
William Hairis
of
Terriglis,
for having withdrawn himself from his Vassalage or Dependence, & esteeming him as his own Servant, taken in Arms, where his Jurisdiction or Regality extended, upon his own Authority put him to Death. Godscross's
History of the House of
Douglass
page
187. The same Earl of
Douglass
executed Justice upon
Macklalane
Tutor of
Bumbee,
Chief of his Name, & one of the Principal Houses in
Galloway
for Murdering one of his Servants, King
James
himself interceeded for him in vain.
Kings the mighty Land possess,
In
Merit
greater, tho' in
Title
less.
Kings
in Command
and in superiour Race,
And Virtue Ripens such for Crowns a pace.
Nobility of Blood, their Actions suit,
And Action here
indents
the Attribute;
Here Families in Lines of Virtue run,
The Father's Merit
doubling
in the Son.
The growing Honour forms a just Encrease,
First Crowns in War, and then Rewards in Peace.
Illustrious Blood with more illustrious Hand,
In
proper Channels
has been here retain'd:
Th' Antiquity which other Nations boast,
Would here
turn Modern,
and in age be lost.
Scotland
in Senior Glory will contend,
When lame Chronology
with Age
grows blind.
Here mighty Ancestors preserve their Stile,
From
long Prescription,
ancient as the Isle.
Not rais'd on Party Favour, Bribes and Fear,
Blood, Tyranny, Oppression, Theft and War;
Not raisd by
strength OF FACE,
or strength of Purse,
A Stock of Money, or a
Stock that's worse;
But from
the Youth of Time,
their Names remain,
When Vertue only could that Fame obtain.
Back,
further back
than Story can relate,
When
Infant Nations
fix'd their Forms of State.
When Tricks of State and Court Intreague unknown,
No
mighty Knave
could
Brother Villain
Crown.
From Blood to Blood their Violence pursue,
First
steal their Honours,
then proclaim 'em due.
By Fraud and strong Oppressions Crowns obtain,
While those support the Frauds, and these the Reign;
Alternate Violences Fame supply,
The
modern Fund
of mean Nobility.
If there be any thing in Birth and Blood,
Or were Antiquity
but understood;
If the old Trophies of our Fathers Fame,
When thoughts of Virtue burn,
would fan the Flame;
Make us their Steps of Dignity pursue,
And
Ancient Honours
would excite
to new.
If any true Nobility remains,
And Virtue could by Blood possess the Veins.
Then let's no farther search the World in vain,
To Ancient
Rome,
and lost Records of
Spain;
Nations in Barb'rous
Hydra
-mixtures rais'd,
And only by their own too partial Flatt'ries prais'd.
Fabii, Cornellii,
and the
Bruti
yield
To
Caledonian
Tribes the
Ancient Field.
Cummin, Duff, Donald, Strathern,
Hay,
and
Keith,
And Names would run Fame's Trumpet
out of Breath.
Their old Armorial Honours still retain,
While
Rome
in modern Lines
contends in vain.
Nor has the Country lent her partial Fame,
And from her later Towns bestow'd the Name,
Not Towns
the Names,
but
Names
the Towns Command
And Families take Titles from the Land:
So
Douglass, Mar
and
Southerland
survive,
And not from
Towns,
but
Provinces
derive.
Kingdoms of old, who tho the Claim's laid down,
Yet in
th' Antiquity
they keep the Crown.
The Blood of Princes in their Race we see,
And modern Merit joins to old Nobility.
Blest are the Families that great in Blood,
Have
thus
their
truest Honour
understood,
That on the Base of Vertue Built their Fame,
And join to
that
Lesser Praise.
I know this word is objected against as ungrammatical, and therefore by some very carefully avoided in Verse, and by others, perhaps, too critically Censur'd; but as I have very good Authority for the word, I venture the Indignation of the Criticks, and anticipate their Observations, by referring them to the following Examples,
prior
minor
, Which in English cannot be express'd by any other Word than what I here make use of, LESSER, which is form'd from the Comparative
Less,
exactly after the same manner.
lesser Praise
their Name,
The only Just and truly great Design;
For Vertue helps Nobility to shine.
Then who shall search the long forgotten Roll,
Examine all the Parts, or
Sum
the whole,
Who shall the Impotence of Art supply,
Beyond the reach of Books or Heraldry?
'Tis hop'd the Gentlemen whose Names are included in these Lines, will not sind Fault with the Author for not observing Preceedency either in Dignity or Antiquity, the necessity of Rhime, Measure and Cadence being his just Excuse, and which he desires them to accept in that particular.
There
Gordon, Lindsay, Crawford, Mar
and
Wem
s,
With
Seaton, Ramsey, Cuninghame
and
Gra'ams,
Forbes, Ross, Murray, Bruce, Dunbar
and
Hume,
And Names for whom no Poet can make Room;
Remote in Birth,
in Names and Honours known,
The
Caledonian
Glory through the World have show'n.
Where shall the
Galick Trophies
now appear?
The Ancient
Belgae
would look modern here.
Not
Mommerancy,
not the great
Nassau,
Could Ancestors like these, directly draw.
Douglass
with Native Dignitys adorn'd,
Ancient beyond Record,
Records they scorn'd.
The World's the general
Record.
Here I make no question but to be animadverted upon for my different way of expressing the word
Record,
and changing the Quantity, making the Vowel long in the last Syllable of the first, and short in the last Syllable of the second. But for this, I have so good an Authority, that all Men will allow it sufficient to justifie me; being from such a Master of the Language as
Buchannan
himself, as follows.
Dies tenē tbras & tenebrae Dient,
Buch. Ps. 19. ver. 2. l. 1.
Which being the Verse call'd
Dactilicus alchaicus,
the second Foot is always
Jambus,
and the third and fourth
Dactyli.
Record of their House,
When Histories are silent and abstruse.
The Fund of Families is in their Blood,
And the
Fam'd
Scoti. The Author of the History of the House of
Douglass,
tells us, That
William Douglass,
Grandchild to
Sholto Douglass,
was the Father of the Noble Family of the
Scoti
at
Placenza
in
Italy. Fol.
5. And some say, That by a Marriage between a Branch of the said Family of
Scoti,
and some of the Ancient Line of the House of
Mar
in
Scotland,
was the Original of the Family of
Marr-e-Scoti,
a great and flourishing Family in
Italy
to this day.
Fam'd Scoti
on their Shoulders stood,
A Race of Princes from their fruitful Stem,
Has been a living History to them.
Their Fame that's past, foretold their Fame to come,
They'r Dukes abroad before they'r Dukes at home.
The Nation's willing Honours did afford,
And these cut out their. Glory by the Sword;
For 'twas the early Fortunes of their Blood,
To have their Worth both Crown'd
and understood;
Princes by their strong Swords possest their Crowns,
And grateful
France
their Ancient Glory owns.
When Men are of true Merit first possest,
Justice prevails, the World supply's the rest.
For Characters
will always
suit Mens Deeds,
Honours will follow, when our Vertue leads.
The Mighty Branch that now supports the Race,
Ripens the blooming Stock
for Fame apace,
With high instructing well directed Hand,
Shews him both how
t'obey,
and how
Command,
By Just Example guides him to pursue,
And double all their
Ancient
Deed's with
New.
Himself with steady hand the State directs,
Suppresses Factions, Liberty protects,
Scatters the threatning Clouds, prevents the Storms;
And gently al!
mistaken Zeal
reforms;
Backward to punish
bears th' insulting Street,
Yet makes his
Patience
and his
Justice
meet:
And when their Pride his Government defies,
PITYS: For 'tis below him to despise.
Great ANN'S Illustrious Scepter 'tis he sways,
And while he rules,
Envy her self
obeys;
Malice may swell, and
wild Dislike appear,
But all their Spleen
ferments into dispair:
Grovling they ly in Grief and Discontent,
Crusht by the
Chariot Wheels
of Government.
So Devils chaind,
their Hate of Heaven express,
But as their Rage
grows great,
their Power
grows less.
Campbells
the modern Glory of this Isle,
Their doubling Fame's encreas't in great
Argile;
Born to be great, to Noblest Blood ally'd,
He keeps the Honour, and abates the Pride,
For Action fitted,
to the Wars inclin'd,
True
Caledonian Courage
swells his Mind;
Fitted his Country's Character to raise,
And by great Actions hand along her Praise.
Of ancient Stock, and
long forgotten
Race,
Nature has stamp'd their Glories in his Face.
The strong Impress of ev'ry manly Line
In Characters of Native Honour shine,
An Index of the brighter Soul within.
A Race to
Caledonia
always dear,
And on whose Blood her Liberties appear.
A Race to Honour, and their Countrey true,
They furnish'd Funds
of Old,
he heaps up stores
of New.
Nor shall weak prejudice debauch our Pen,
To flatter prosp'rous Fate, and guild the Crimes of Men
But undistinguish'd Virtue we'll rehearse,
For partial Praises are below our Verse.
Curst be that Party-spleen that shuts Men's Eyes,
From the just Merits of their Enemies;
That prepossess'd by Feud, denies Applause,
And dares not praise
the Man
without the
Cause.
Where Honour claims it,
Honour will be just,
And where Mens Actions praise 'em,
all Men must.
Gordon,
by Family and Fortune's great,
Tho' lost in Solitude and long Retreat,
Shall rise in Honour, as He's great in Mind,
Brave as the
Roman,
as the
Christian
kind,
A Gen'rous Enemy, a Faithful Friend.
Faction's below him,
if he does dislike,
He always dares to show his Face, and strike;
Treason's
a Stab ith' dark,
that Man that's brave,
May show
the En'my,
cannot show
the Knave.
The
Hamiltons
of old ally'd to Fame,
Illustrious in Blood, and
more in Name;
In ancient Wars e're other Lines begun,
These had a length of tow'ring Fortunes run.
Titles from
Titles
from
France.
The ancestors of this Noble Family obtain'd the Title of Duke of
Chateas Reault
in
France;
and by which Title they were known in
Scotland,
at the time of the Reformation.
France;
from
Sweden
Wounds and Scars,
And batter'd Bones they bring from
Belgick
Wars;
Yet fraught with Honour, and rewards of Fame,
Honour revives, and Years increase the Flame.
Eight Noble Branches hand their Glory down,
Channels of Blood from
Caledonia
's Crown,
Each have
large shares
of Merit of their own.
Each in their proper Lines their Houses raise,
By
Pers'nal
and
Hereditary
Praise;
What Debt of Praise are to the
Lesly
's due?
Who shall their Family or Fame pursue?
The Bloody Steps no single Line can trace,
Nor Envy
fetch'd from Hell,
their History deface.
Born Gen'rals,
all by Nature fram'd for War,
In ev'ry
Battel's Front
their Names appear;
The
Swede,
the
Russ,
and the
Hungarians
yield,
To them the willing Tribute of the Field;
From
Esseck
Bridge to mighty
Astracan,
Their Terrors with the Barb'rous Crowds remain.
Grasted to this Old Stock,
and to their Fame,
Leven
adds Modern Glory to the Ancient Name;
Scotland
depends on his experienc'd Hand,
Safe,
Not in Armies,
but in his Command.
HE, young in Years,
yet very old in Arms,
Guards her
from Foreign
or Domestick Harms,
His faithful Aids new vig'rous Life afford,
And boldly draws Hereditary Sword.
Stuart
ancient as the Hills from which they sprung
The Mountains still do to the Name belong;
From hence they branch to ev'ry high Degree:
And Foreign Courts embrace the Progeny.
The rising Stem with thirst of Glory fir'd,
Not he to th'Crown, the Crown to him aspir'd;
His high attracting Fame the Nation drew,
They gave old Crowns, and Fate supply'd the new.
Thy Scepter
Caledonia
in their Hand,
First rais'd the real Glory of the Land;
And seven successive Branches held the Crown,
Till
Britain vail'd,
and made the
Stuarts
her own.
What Blood, what Wars, what strong convulsive Throws,
Britania
fill'd with inbred Vapour
knows?
How oft the interveening Hand of Blood,
Has their successive Happiness withstood?
Spread the dark Vail,
let's hide the dismal Scene,
Let others paint the Horrid-draught, our Pen
Shall show the bright, and wish the rest unseen.
ANN, the remaining Glory of the Race,
With unexampl'd Lustre fills the place,
Without their failings all their Virtue shares,
And
Britains
bright Imperial Joy prepares.
Blest be the Hour, blest that auspicious Reign
When ANN,
the
Stuarts
last Glory,
shall obtain
That Calm both Nations long have wish'd in Vain.
When Years of
Rapine
and
Revenge
shall cease,
And Feuds
of Blood
be lost in Floods
of Peace;
Reserv'd for her, reserv'd to Crown the Line,
Sever'd too long,
the listning Nations Joyn.
Nature directs, concurring Cause invites,
The Nations say Amen,
and all of course Unites.
Then Party Hate and Border Spleen lay'd down,
Our Hearts
shall first unite, and
then the Crown;
Britain
be one, one End and Interest view,
And hand in hand
one Happiness
pursue.
A Gallaxy of Worthies now appear,
And spread the
Caledonian
Hemisphere;
ROXBURGH
enjoys the Curse of all mans Praise,
And
TWEEDDALE
adds trueLustre to the ancient
HAYS,
Grave and sedate, he fill'd his Sovereign's Throne,
Maintain'd its Honour, and increas'd his own.
Montrose
revives the Ancient Race of
Gra'me,
From Time and Injury
retrieves the Name,
Lays all
his Family Oppressions
by,
And in his Countrey's Good, lets just Resentment dy;
In
Scotland
s Secret Council he presides,
With early Prudence every Action guides,
Sober,
not dull,
Pious, and
not precise,
Grave,
without Age,
without Experience
wise;
More
thinking,
more
sedate
than he appears,
And older in Understanding
than in Years.
Glasgow
adorns the Ancient Name of
BOYL,
The Name's a constant Honour to the Isle,
A Name
Britania
always boasts to hear,
For Learning, Wisdom, Wealth and Character
Increas'd in
England,
and increasing here.
The God of Musick joins when
COLVIL
plays,
And all the Muses dance to
HADDINGTONS
Essays;
The Charms are mutual, piercing and compleat,
This in his Art excells, and that in Wit.
Seafield,
and
Marr,
and
Loudoun
guide the State,
By Birth and Place,
still more by Merit great.
No Malice can their Characters conceal,
But
those
direct the Sceptre,
this
the Seal.
The well instructed Pilots of the Realm
Who while just
Queensberry
steers,
assist the Helm:
With
waking Cares
they all surround the Throne,
Support the
Well known burthens
of the Crown;
Th' important Drudgery
with Pleasure do,
Their Countrey's Safety,
not their own,
pursue.
Thro' Storms
of Tumult
and
Distraction
steer,
Not rais'd with Hope, and not supprest with Fear;
With Calm,
but steady hand
the Factions guide
At once, they yield to,
and resist
the Tide:
Wisely they calm the Feuds
Weak Heads
create,
And heal
the wild Distempers of the State;
To every tender part their Hands apply,
And to the Mischiefs suit the Remedy;
True Patriot Principles their Minds possess,
Their Countrey them, and they their Countrey bless.
But their just Zeal to ANN's Immortal Throne,
Makes every Noble Character
their own.
Nothing a Princes Wisdom more displays,
Than choice of Counsellors,
The double Praise.
Is always first the Monarchs, then their own,
First it illustrates, then supports the Throne.
But we'll no more pursue the mighty Train,
Whom to describe our Verse attempts in vain;
The Muses vail before the Illustrious Throng,
Too bright for Verse, too num'rous for our Song;
Our Ancestors had merited in vain,
If our new steps did not their old maintain:
But as our Modern Virtue stands as high,
The present Worthies do the past supply;
A
certain Pledge, our Name shall never dy.
And now with Just regard let's view
the Fair,
Beauty can make no Breach of Union here;
Th' Equalities agree on either hand,
The Ladies
no equivalent
demand;
Nor will their Virtue be exhausted here,
But still the Sex their just Proportions bear:
Blest Mixture, equally Devout and Gay,
For Virtue only can both smile and pray.
No Scale of calculated Right will ly
Betwixt the Quantity and Quality;
England
indeed the larger Roll may claim,
And
English
Beauty will preserve her Name;
But these the Merit equally divide,
Have all their Beauty, only want their Pride.
And now to Wonders turn your listning Ear,
Visit the Commonwealth of Learning here;
See how
Apollo
's Nurs'ry thrives, and how
Wit blooms
in spight of Climat, Storms and Snow;
The Muses all laborious and severe,
Are Gard'ners bred, and work like Horses here;
There
Seeds of Science carefully they sow,
Here
cultivate the Soil, to make 'em grow,
Plant, Prune, Inocculate, the Seasons tend,
And ev'ry fruitful Scyon to its Stock they bend.
See here how ev'ry Plant in order thrives,
And spight of Clime the tend'rest Blossom lives.
Here
Epicks
thick, as Groves of Laurel grow,
And strong
Heroicks,
plac'd in Walks below,
Lyricks and Pastorals in even Layes,
And Panygericks circled round with Bays,
There
Knowledge grows, for Quantity and Kind,
The best,
and best prepar'd t' instruct the Mind,
Temper'd with Modesty,
'tis set
by
Set by Zeal.
Alluding to the Custom of Planting Rue and Sage together, which whether it be a vulgar Error or no, is, that the Rue is supposed to be effectual to keep Toads, and Venemous Creatures from the Sage.
Zeal
Fitted her rash Infections to repell.
Next this in constant Bloom's a Range of Wit,
And ev'ry day
'tis weeded
of Conceit,
Kept thin, intrench'd, and never runs to seed,
But ripens gently in its flowry Bed;
For Wit's a Plant so apt to grow in haste,
It shakes the Root, and then decays as fast.
Strong Sciences
in pleasing Order stand,
With Borders of Philosophy on either hand.
These well reward the Lab'rers constant Toil,
Are nourish'd by, and yet improve the Soil.
But above all the Wonders of the Spot,
A simple,
Men of Learning
oft forgot,
In a small Border very cold and dry,
Here thrives that
Tender Trifle,
HONESTY;
Neglected Weed!
from what strange Climate brought,
How seldom found,
indeed,
how seldom sought?
How do the easy World appear content
With spurious Kinds,
How very often vent
The False for True, and give their Sense the lye,
And make their Int'rest pass for Honesty?
Another Plant,
but ah!
how faint it grows?
Not that 'tis hurt by
Climate, Frost,
and
Snows;
But as if Nature suffer'd strong Decay,
It withers every where, and dies away.
FRIENDSHIP!
The nicest Plant that ever grew,
Talk'd of
by many,
understood
by few.
It's only Help is Honesty, and where
That thrives, it gets some Strength; but's very rare,
By Weeds of Self and Jealousie ore'run,
'Tis choak'd for want of Air, and shaded from the Sun.
But who shall now the thriving Plants describe,
The
Ever-greens,
that quickning June imbile,
And furnish new Recruits to
Levi
's Tribe?
Sons of the Prophets at
Gamaliel's Feet,
Who
extract
Learning, then refin't to wit,
By the laborious
Lymbeck
of the Brain,
Condense the Sp'rit, and let the Humid parts remain,
No loytring Sing-song Muses trifle here,
Weaving THIN FANCY into Webs of Air;
But here they Wed the Sciences for Wives,
And beat
like Hemp
at
Bridewell
for their Lives:
Th' Enquirers here to
Ida
's Top aspire,
Parnassus
coolest Springs, can only quench their Fire.
To Learning's highest Pinacles attain,
By strong assiduous
Travel of the Brain,
Ravish
the Muses, in their Deeps delight,
And
learn
with the same Fury
as they fight;
To curious search, to things, and Books so prest,
The Ancients or the Moderns find no rest,
Till Universal Knowledge fills the Mind,
And all the Soul's from Dross, and Ignorance refin'd.
Hence they to ev'ry strong Attainment reach,
And what they learn so well,
as well
they teach;
In ev'ry Art, in ev'ry Science grow,
Not proud of
knowing,
but are proud
to know.
Push to a Vice
the Lust
of doing well,
And in whate're they Practise they excell.
Humes
and
Da'rymples
here adorn the Law,
With steady Justice,
Neither drive nor draw
But with the
Head inform'd,
and
Hand upright,
Give every Cause its own impartial Weight,
In every Branch of Learning here they rise,
Nothing
too high
they fear,
too low
despise,
In every Science, every
Just Extreme,
Men of Perfection may be found with them.
The Laws in
Mists and Darkness
they make clear,
And Physick thrives in spight of wholsome Air,
Pharmacopaea,
void of simples, Lives,
And Surgery in
barren Practice
thrives,
Philosophy meer simple Knowledge vents,
Rather by
Nature
than
Experiments.
Musick
in spight of Discord,
charms the Ear,
And
Jarring Parties
break no Consort here.
Thus blest with Art, enricht with Heads and Hands,
Producing Seas, and
more productive
Lands;
The Climate sound, the People prompt and strong;
Why is her Happiness delay'd so long?
Why with such Patience, and so long endure,
Distempers Prudence could
so quickly cure?
Why still on Natures Common Bounty live?
And why
so soon content
with what She'll give?
For where Contentment makes Endeavour less,
'Tis then
a Vice,
and not
a Happiness.
So the
Prov.
The Sluggard would not pull his Hand out of his Bosom to put it to his Mouth.
fam'd sluggard starv'd, and reason good,
For want
of feeding,
not for want
of Food;
Bear the Reproof, the fruitful Climate's known,
Not Heaven or Nature blame,
the Fault's your own;
The Earth Adapt to bear, the Air, the Sea,
All fruitful, all to Plenty show the way;
No Barrenness, but in your Indust'ry.
'Tis Blasphemy to say the Climates curst,
Nature will ne're be fruitful
till she's forc't;
'Twas made her Duty from her first Decay,
The
sweating Brow
alone, and
labouring hand t' obey,
And these she never
does,
nor
dares
deny.
And yet this Sloth is not their proper Crime,
'Tis due to Poverty,
and that
to Time.
Hail SLOTH and POVERTY from
Stygian Air,
Ushers
to Death,
and Handmaids
to Despair.
Strange Birth, themeer Perfection of a Curse,
That find Men Mis'rable, and make them worse,
Of ill connected
self ingendring
Birth,
First circulate themselves, and then the Earth;
Infernal Harmony of Causes make,
And in
true Circles
of Distress they walk,
Vile Sloth and Poverty of
Spurious Breed,
Neither from
Heaven
or
Earth,
but
of themselves proceed,
Begot in Life, by long degenerate Time,
'Twixt
Stagnate Vertue,
and
Impregnate Crime.
'Twin Monsters
neither Seed nor Offspring kno',
reate,
by meer
Succession flow.
No proper source, but from themselves they find,
And by supine Infusions reach the Mind.
All Natures Rules by their own Power reject,
And are themselves
the Cause,
themselves
th' Effect;
Th' alternate Misery ne're leaves the Door,
But
Poverty
makes Sloth, and Sloth
makes poor,
Unnatural Mixtures form the gendring Pair,
Alternately they both
beget and bare.
No Proper Seeds of Life, or living show,
They'r
born in Death,
and in
Consumptions grow;
Superior Witchcraft forms the dismal Race,
And Devils
unknown below',
connect the Face.
The unhappy Wretch, when Hag-rid and possest,
The Crimes are in his Countenance confest.
A sanguine Pale and drooping brightness shine,
This always Saturnine, and that supine,
Joyn'd hand in hand, they
living Death
display,
And Life in full
perfection of Decay.
No Misery's so great, but they make worse,
Each others Beeing, and each others Curse.
They mingle Death with every punct of Time,
And only
in Destruction
are sublime;
Slow Poisons which no Antidote can cure,
Lingring in Life and in Destruction sure;
Potent in strength their strong Dominions grow,
Not Men but Nations they can overthrow.
Wake
Scotland
from thy long
Lethargic
Dream,
Seem what
thou art,
and be what thou
shalt seem,
Shake off the Poverty, the sloth will dy,
Success
alone
can
quicken
Industry.
No more
the bondage
of reproach endure,
Or bear those Harms thou canst
so quickly
cure.
Land Improvement
to Trade apply,
They'l
plentifully
Industry.
he barren Muir
shall weighty sheaves bestow,
Th' uncultivated
Pastures show,
The Mountains Flocks and Herds
in stead
of Snow.
Natures a Virgin
very Chast
and coy,
To Court her's nonsence,
if ye will enjoy,
She must be ravish't,
When she's forc't she's free,
A perfect Prostitute to Industry;
Freely
she opens to th' Industrious hand,
And pays them all the Tribute of the Land.
The strong labourious Head she Can't Deny,
She's
only
Backward where they won't apply.
Here fruitful Hills, and there the Flowry Plain,
Deep undiscov'rd Funds of wealth contain.
The Silver Veins and vast Mettallick store,
Forbid to call her
wildest Mountains
poor.
The Mines of Lead, of Copper, and of Coal,
Enrich the several parts,
those parts the whole.
Nothing remains to make her Wealth compleat,
But that
her right Hand
and
her left
may meet.
FINIS.