Can sons of Neptune, generous, brave, and bold, In pain and hazard toil for sordid gold?
They can! for gold, too oft with magic art,
Can rule the passions and corrupt the heart:
This crowns the prosperous villain with applause,
To whom in vain sad Merit pleads her cause;
This strews with roses Life's perplexing road,
And leads the way to Pleasure's soft abode;
This spreads with slaughter'd heaps the bloody plain,
And pours adventurous thousands o'er the main.
II. The stately ship, with all her daring band,
To skilful Albert own'd the chief command:
Though train'd in boisterous elements, his mind
Was yet by soft humanity refined;
Each joy of wedded love, at home, he knew,
Aboard, confess'd the father of his crew!
Brave, liberal, just! the calm domestic scene
Had o'er his temper breathed a gay serene:
Him Science taught by mystic lore to trace
The planets wheeling in eternal race!
To mark the ship in floating balance held,
By earth attracted, and by seas repell'd ;
Or point her devious track through climes unknown,
That leads to every shore and every zone;
He saw the moon through Heaven's blue concave
And into motion charm the' expanding tide, [glide,
While earth impetuous round her axle rolls,
Exalts her watery zone, and sinks the Poles;
Light and attraction, from their genial source,
He saw still wandering with diminish'd force;
While on the margin of declining day
Night's shadowy cone reluctant melts away-
Inured to peril, with unconquer'd soul,
The chief beheld tempestuous oceans roll;
O'er the wild surge, when dismal shades preside,
His equal skill the lonely bark could guide;
His genius, ever for the' event prepared,
Rose with the storm, and all its dangers shared.
Rodmond the next degree to Albert bore,
A hardy son of England's farthest shore,
Where bleak Northumbria pours her savage train
In sable squadrons o'er the northern main;
That, with her pitchy entrails stored, resort,
A sooty tribe, to fair Augusta's port:
Where'er in ambush lurk the fatal sands,
They claim the danger, proud of skilful bands;
For while with darkling course their vessels sweep
The winding shore, or plough the faithless deep,
O'er bar, and shelve, the watery path they sound
With dexterous arm, sagacious of the ground:
Fearless they combat every hostile wind,
Wheeling in mazy tracks, with course inclined,
Expert to moor where terrors line the road,
Or win the anchor from its dark abode;
But drooping, and relaxed, in climes afar,
Tumultuous and undisciplined in war.
Such Rodmond was; by learning unrefined,
That oft enlightens to corrupt the mind.
Boisterous of manners; train'd in early youth
To scenes that shame the conscious cheek of truth;
To scenes that nature's struggling voice control,
And freeze compassion rising in the soul:
Where the grim hell-hounds, prowling round the
With foul intent the stranded bark explore!
Deaf to the voice of woe, her decks they board,
While tardy justice slumbers o'er her sword.
The' indignant muse, severely taught to feel,
Shrinks from a theme she blushes to reveal.
Too oft example, arm'd with poisons fell,
Pollutes the shrine where mercy loves to dwell:
Thus Rodmond, train'd by this unhallow'd crew,
The sacred social passions never knew.
Unskill'd to argue, in dispute yet loud,
Bold without caution, without honours proud;
In art unschool'd, each veteran rule he prized,
And all improvement haughtily despised.
Yet, though full oft to future perils blind,
With skill superior glow'd his daring mind,
Through snares of death the reeling bark to guide,
When midnight shades involve the raging tide.
To Rodmond next, in order of command,
Succeeds the youngest of our naval band:
But what avails it to record a name
That courts no rank among the sons of fame;
Whose vital spring had just begun to bloom,
When o'er it sorrow spread her sickening gloom?
While yet a stripling, oft with fond alarms
His bosom danced to Nature's boundless charms;
On him fair Science dawn'd in happier hour,
Awakening into bloom young Fancy's flower:
But frowning fortune with untimely blast
The blossom wither'd, and the dawn o'ercast.
Forlorn of heart, and by severe decree
Condemn'd reluctant to the faithless sea,
With long farewell he left the laurel grove,
Where science and the tuneful sisters rove.
Hither he wander'd, anxious to explore
Antiquities of nations now no more;
To penetrate each distant realm unknown,
And range excursive o'er the' untravel'd zone:
In vain for rude Adversity's command
Still on the margin of each famous land
With unrelenting ire his steps opposed,
And every gate of hope against him closed.
Permit my verse, ye bless'd Pierian train!
To call Arion this ill fated swain;
For like that bard unhappy, on his head
Malignant stars their hostile influence shed:
Both, in lamenting numbers, o'er the deep
With conscious anguish taught the harp to weep:
And both the raging surge in safety bore,
Amid destruction, panting to the shore:
This last, our tragic story from the wave
Of dark oblivion, haply, yet may save;
With genuine sympathy may yet complain,
While sad Remembrance bleeds at every vein.
These, chief among the ship's conducting train,
Her path explored along the deep domain;
Train'd to command, and range the swelling sail,
Whose varying force conforms to every gale.
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