Thus he the fentimental comment ceas'd,
Then led the chilly strangers to his hall,
With kindest entertainment there refreth'd,
And cheer'd their drooping melancholy fpirits,
'That fat deprefs'd beneath the load of woe,
Which ruffian tyranny had bafely heap'd
On their unequal fhoulders; here, fecur'd
From the rude grafp of ill-us'd power, they find
A kind protection from the princely lord.
Ye fons of luxury, who, through life's voyage
Profufely wallow in voluptuousness,
Shake off the plumes of arrogance and pride;
Thefe foul difparagements of human greatness,
Nor think that grandeur and mifguided power
Can stamp a value on the man they deck.
No man's intrinfic value is contain'd
Within himself, like to the precious oré,
Titles on man, like coin on money, may
Render him paffable a while with fools,
But worth alone is current with the wife.
And thou, fair nymph of heavenly origin,
Sweet charity, that o'er the human mind
Erft fhed thy genial influence, but now
Difcarded art like things unfashionable;
From whence, alas, proceeds this rueful change,
From what, beheld in thee, fprings this contempt;
The world yet needs thee, thousands yet endure
The bitter blafts of keen adversity;
Thoufands yet fink beneath the load of woe,]
Who feek, but feek in vain thy wanted aid.
When, driv'n by the fierce affaulting blasts
Of wintry ftorm, the peafant feeks his thed,
Immur'd in penfive folitude and want,
He fits close prisoner, unable now
His common tafk of labour to pursue,
Whilft the tempeftuous hurricane affails
His lowly hut, and the faft falling fnows
Envelope round his dungeon of diftrefs,
Whilft from within unnumber'd woes arise,
And ftare him ghaftly frightful in the face.
Their infant brood about their parents cling.
And, with inceffant and heart-rending cries,
In vain petition to their fire for bread:
He hears their cry, unable to relieve,
Whilft from his eye the genuine tears of woe,
Faft trickling down bedew his blanched cheek;
His wife the helpless partner in his want,
Sits by intranc'd in filent, ftupid woe.
Oh! hideous scene, that man fhould ever feel
Such complicated burdens of diftress;
Awake, ye fons of diffipation, 'wake,
A moment fpare from your festivity,
And view the mournful mansions of the poor.
Oh! poverty, thou worst of human ills,
Parent of pain, of famine, care, and death,
How far extended is thy empire fpread,
And yet one half of earth's inhabitants
Have known thee not, nor even felt thy scourge.
Oft haft thou, with implacable pursuit,
Hard prefs'd me, when I ftrain'd my every nerve,
If poffible to fhrink from thy foul clutch;
No place, however facred or fecure,
Could hide me from thy clofe-pursuing rage.
But thou, O Heaven, with all-protecting hand;
(From this vile enemy, this abject foe,
Whose wrath no parly ever could appeafs)
Shalt me defend, and though collected ftand,
In dread array, the complicated fore
Of dire calamities and all the ills
That vex mankind, yet ftill upborn by thee
My foul in proud defiance fhall exult
And Rand undaunted 'midft the blafts of woe.
Tranflation of a Part of the Hiftory of the Incas, or the Destruction of the Empire of Peru.
Herman Cortez, who commanded the Spanish expedie tion in South America, having impofed upon the credulity, and ingratiated himself into the good opinion of feveral of the Mexican Caciques, or princes of the empire, by perfuading them he was come to fupprefs the tyranny and overgrown power of Montezuma, and to established their own independency, conducts his measures with fuch policy, courtesy, and address, that several of the chiefs of the country voluntarily engaged to become of his party, and to affift him against their emperor: Cortez, having thus augmented his army by the enliftment of thefe auxiliary Caciques, foon appears at the head of a formidable body of forces. Montezuma, alarmed at the audacious conduct of Cortez, who had already, by hafty marches, penetrated into the very interior of his empire, remonfirates against his arrogant and inimical proceedings, which the Caftilian liftens to with apparent negligence and contempt. Montezuma ftill hoping to fucceed in an accommodation, rather than come to a rupture with men,. whom he
deems of a fuperior nature, an embaffy is according ly prepared, together with prefents of an immense value, which are fent to the camp of the Spaniards, with which he hoped, if poflible, to divert the intentions of the general. He accepts the prefents, but ftedfaftly perfifts in his firft refolution, viz. of coming to an interview with Montezuma, which affair the emperor declines with a great deal of addrefs, and very politely offers many objections in vindication of his behaviour. About this time the poem commences, Orizimbo, one of the nephews of Montezuma, after the total conqueft of the empire, and the death of the emperor, attended by a great number of the royal party, flies with his friends to the court of the Incas of Peru, there to folicit the protection and affiftance of thefe princes, before one of whom he relates the nelancholy circumftance of the fatal deftruction of his native country of Mexico, which narative is the fubject of the greateft part of this poem.
HE mighty fov'reign now furvey'd with dread,
Wide o'er his empire fad dejection fpread;.
The numerous princes that compofe his ftate,
Defert him in his fad reverfe of fate :
He feeks, but vainly feeks to find relief,
Fearful to whom to truft his fureft grief.
Great Montezuma, long had fill'd the throne,
Till now, alike to every fear unknown;
His mighty ancestors of race divine,
Had worn the crown in long fucceffive line;
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