May not, I ask, the Natives of these Climes
(As Annals may inform fucceeding Times)
To our Quotidian Change of Heav'n prefer
Their own Viciffitude, and equal Share
Of Day and Night, difparted thro' the Year?
May they not fcorn our Sun's repeated Race,
To narrow bounds prescrib'd, and little space,
Haft'ning from Morn, and headlong driv'n from Noon,
Half of our Daily Toil yet scarcely done?
May they not justly to our Climes upbraid
Shortnefs of Night, and Penury of Shade:
That e'er our weary'd Limbs are justly blest
With wholesom Sleep, and neceffary Reft;
Another Sun demands return of Care,
The remnant Toil of Yesterday to bear?
Whilft, when the Solar Beams falute their Sight,
Bold and fecure in half a Year of Light,
Uninterrupted Voyages they take
To the remoteft Wood, and fartheft Lake;
Manage the Fishing, and pursue the Course
With more extended Nerves, and more continu'd Force.
And when declining Day forfakes their Sky;
When gath'ring Clouds fpeak gloomy Winter nigh;
With Plenty for the coming Seafon blest,
Undique, fex totos ducunt ex ordine menfes,
Difcurfu atque opera, ftrepitu & mærore foluti,
Queis noftra affidui vexatur Scena laboris:
Instaurant lautas, multa cum lampade, mensas,
Et facili hofpitio lætis gratantur Amicis;
Aut dulces narrant Veneres (ea cura quietis
Unica) dum pendent faciles circum ora puellæ;
Deliciis aut elati, requieve fupini,
(Jucundis vicibus folidæ inter munera pacis)
Diffufam celebrant longa caligine noctem
Plena fuper poc'la & lecti genialis honores.
Plurima qua Nautis audacibus Infula longè
Panditur, hanc latam procul ultra diffita terram,
Urfa rigens, maculifque afperfæ corpora Lynces
Prædantur valles, fylvamque horroribus implent:
Efuriens Crocodilus & Hydræ fibila colla
Flumine turbato latitant, dumifque fub udis:
Nec rudis ipfe minùs brutis Homo, nec minùs afper
Vallefque & fylvam, veprefque & flumina vexat.
Hifne Viris atque his animalibus exit origo
Ilicis à ftirpe, aut fæta telluris ab alvo?
Unde igitur vetus illa fides venit, omnia nafci
Frondifera in Paradifo, ortuque unius ADAMI?
Six folid Months (an Age) they live, releas'd
From all the Labor, Process, Clamor, Woe,
Which our fad Scenes of daily Action know:
They light the shining Lamp, prepare the Feast,
And with full Mirth receive the welcome Guest:
Or tell their tender Loves (the only Care
Which now they fuffer) to the lift'ning Fair;
And rais'd in Pleasure, or repos'd in Ease
(Grateful Alternates of fubftantial Peace)
They bless the long Nocturnal Influence shed
On the crown'd Goblets, and the Genial Bed.
In foreign Ifles which our Discov'rers find,
Far from this length of Continent disjoin'd;
The rugged Bears, or spotted Lynx's Brood,
Frighten the Vallies, and infeft the Wood:
The hungry Crocodile, and hiffing Snake
Lurk in the troubl'd Stream and fenny Brake:
And Man untaught, and rav'nous as the Beast,
Does Valley, Wood, and Brake, and Stream infest.
Deriv'd these Men and Animals their Birth
From Trunk of Oak, or pregnant Womb of Earth?
Whence then the Old Belief, that All began
In EDEN'S Shade, and one created Man?
Vel ratibus primas, concede, legentibus oras
Hanc istuc sobolem propiori à littore veĉtam:
An populus, quorum à patria fluxiffe putemus,
Gentibus innocuis cædemque venenaque ferrent?
An fecum veherent Urfas Lyncafque carinis?
Fæcundamne alerent Hydram, gravidamque Colubram?
Nempe fore, ut fætam Crocodilen hofpita tellus
Acciperet, lætoque finu nova monftra foveret:
Et quando agreftis penitus ducenda propago
Servato à Noa, clarifque nepotibus exit;
Unde patrum poterant labi de mente fuorum
Quas artes No E vel quæ præcepta docebat,
Condere femen humo, generofas ponere vites,
Thuriferifque pias fanis advolvere flammas?
Dum vivit magni proles infaufta Parentis,
Infcia vel Bacchum premere aut invertere glebam,
Per valles clivofque famis folatia quærens,
Arte carens omni, virtutem indocta DEU мque.
Deinde fuper maria ac terras quo more fequemur Mirificis renovata modis quæcunque videmus? Omnia permutata, eadem licet omnia durant; Particulæ rerum fluitant, ftat Summa manetque.
Or grant, this Progeny was wafted o'er
By coafting Boats from next adjacent Shoar:
Would Thofe, from whom We will suppose they spring,
Slaughter to harmless Lands, and Poyson bring?
Would they on Board or Bears, or Lynxes take,
Feed the She-Adder, and the brooding Snake?
Or could they think the new Discover'd Ifle
Pleas'd to receive a pregnant Crocodile?
And fince the Savage Lineage we must trace
From NOAH fav'd, and his diftinguish'a Race;
How should their Fathers happen to forget
The Arts which NOAH taught, the Rules He fet,
To fow the Glebe, to plant the gen'rous Vine,
And load with grateful Flames the Holy Shrine?
While the great Sire's unhappy Sons are found,
Unprefs'd their Vintage, and untill'd their Ground,
Stragling o'er Dale and Hill in queft of Food,
And rude of Arts, of Virtue, and of God.
How shall We next o'er Earth and Seas pursue
The vary'd Forms of every thing we view;
That all is chang'd, tho' all is ftill the same,
Fluid the Parts, yet durable the Frame?
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