Poems by Samuel Rogers Part 23

_Half bird, half fly,_

Here are birds so small, says Herrera, that, though they are birds, they are taken for bees or b.u.t.terflies.

NOTE s.

_Reigns there, and revels, &c._

There also was heard the wild cry of the Flamingo.

What clarion winds along the yellow sands?

Far in the deep the giant-fisher stand, Folding his wings of flame.

NOTE t.

_Who now danc'd forth, &c._

Their dances, which continued from evening to the dawn, were accompanied with singing.

P. MARTYR, dec. iii. 7.

NOTE u.

_Who among us a life of sorrow spoil,_

For a summary of his life and character see 'An Account of the European Colonies.' P. I. c. 8.

NOTE x.

_To other eyes, from distant cliff descried,_

Balboa immediately concluded it to be the ocean for which Columbus had searched in vain; and when, at length, after a toilsome march among the mountains, his guides pointed out to him the summit from which it might be seen, he commanded his men to halt, and _went up alone_. HERRERA, I.x. 1.

NOTE y.

_Hung in thy chamber, buried in thy grave!_

I always saw them in his room, and he ordered them to be buried with his body. F. COL. c. 86.

NOTE z.

_Thy reverend form_

His person, says Herrera, had an air of grandeur. His hair, from many hards.h.i.+ps, had long been grey. In him you saw a man of an unconquerable courage, and high thoughts; patient of wrongs, calm in adversity, ever trusting in G.o.d:--and, had he lived in antient times, statues and temples would have been erected to him without number, and his name would have been placed among the stars.

NOTE a.

_Swept--till the voyager, in the desert air,_

With my own eyes I saw kingdoms as full of people, as hives are full of bees; and now where are they?

LAS CASAS.

NOTE b.

_Here, in His train, shall arts and arms attend,_

'There are those alive,' said an ill.u.s.trious orator, 'whose memory might touch the two extremities. Lord Bathurst, in 1704, was of an age to comprehend such things--and, if his angel had then drawn up the curtain, and, whilst he was gazing with admiration, had pointed out to him a speck, and had told him, "Young man, there is America--which, at this day, serves for little more than to amuse you with stories of savage men and uncouth manners; yet shall, before you taste of death,"' &c. BURKE in 1775.

NOTE c.

_a.s.sembling here, &c._

How simple were the manners of the early colonists! The first ripening of any European fruit was distinguished by a family-festival. Garcila.s.so de la Vega relates how his dear father, the valorous Andres, collected together in his chamber seven or eight gentlemen to share with him three asparaguses, the first that ever grew on the table-land of Cusco. When the operation of dressing them was over (and it is minutely described) he distributed the two largest among his friends; begging that the company would not take it ill, if he reserved the third for himself, _as it was a thing from Spain_.

North America became instantly an asylum for the oppressed; huguenots, and catholics, and sects of every name and country. Such were the first settlers in Carolina and Maryland, Pennsylvania and New England. Nor is South America altogether without a claim to the t.i.tle. Even now, while I am writing, the antient house of Braganza is on its pa.s.sage across the Atlantic,

c.u.m sociis, natoque, Penatibus, et magnis dis.

NOTE d.

_Untouch'd shall drop the fetters from the slave ,_

Je me transporte quelquefois au dela d'un siecle. J'y vois le bonheur a cote de l'industrie, la douce tolerance remplacant la farouche inquisition; j'y vois un jour de fete; Peruvians, Mexicains, Americains libres, Francois, s'embra.s.sant comme des freres, et benissant le regne de la liberte, qui doit amener partout une harmonic universelle.--Mais les mines, les esclaves, que deviendront-ils? Les mines se fermerout; les esclaves seront les freres de leurs maitres.

Nouv. Voy. dans l'Amerique.

NOTE e.

_The spoiler spoil'd of all;_

Cortes. A peine put-il obtenir audience de Charles-Quint. un jour il fendit la presse qui entourait le coche de l'empereur, et monta sur l'etrier de la portiere. Charles demanda quel etait cet homme: 'C'est,' repondit Cortez, 'celui qui vous a donne plus d'etats que vos peres ne vous ont laisse de villes.' VOLTAIRE.

NOTE f.

_Where on his altar-tomb, &c._

An Interpolation.

NOTE g.

_Tho' in the western world His grave,_

An Anachronism. The body of Columbus was not yet removed from Seville.

It is almost unnecessary to point out another in the Ninth Canto. The telescope was not then in use; though described long before with great accuracy by Roger Bacon.