Page:Redemption, a Poem.djvu/179

 REDEMPTION. 173

And nobly save from hand of evil men ;

The same, who honor'd was, to deck the crown

Of heav'n's Queen with gem immaculate,

And with Beatitude so stands endow'd.

No tribe was wanting of the conqu'ring race,

None of the conquer' d, midst that pompous show;

All races, dark or fair, inert or brave,

To ease bred, or to strife of savage war.

Earth in epitome lay at his feet,

High vaunted by the Tempter as his own ;

Nor in epitome alone ; Spain, Gaul,

And academic Greece, Europa north,

To farthest verge, Asia's extremest coasts,

With Afric's burning sands, and sooty tribes,

Lay in broad view beneath the Saviour's feet,

And peopled shores, to Roman world unknown.

Touch'd by the Devil's wand, up from the ocean

Westward, as a mirage, sprang the new world,

Vast, ridged with rocks, Andes, Cordilleras,

The Rocky mount, and Apalachian chain,

Thick ribb'd with glitt'ring ores, and mines of wealth,

Sparkling with gems, and laved with crystal streams ;

Throng'd with new people, frequent tribes and tongues,

Towns populous, with grandeur built, adorn'd

With temples, palaces, and girt with walls ;

Whose plains, prophetic mounds remote o'erspread,

And pyramids; majestic monuments,

Surviving nations, long since with the past

Number'd, and now by savage hordes o'errun;

Predating Montezumas horolage,

When leaves of juicy Maguay served for books,

And signs and sounds uncouth, denoted speech ;

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