SHIP from Egypt o'er the deep impell'd By guiding winds her course for Venice held; Of famed Britannia were the gallant crew, And from that isle her name the vessel drew; The wayward steps of Fortune they pursued, And sought in certain ills imagined good: Though caution'd oft her slippery path to shun, Hope still with promised joys allured them on; And, while they listen'd to her winning lore, The softer scenes of peace could please no more: Long absent they from friends and native bome The cheerless ocean were inured to roam; Yet Heaven, in pity to severe distress,
Had crown'd each painful voyage with success;
Still to compensate toils and hazards past,
Restored them to maternal plains at last.
Thrice had the sun, to rule the varying year,
Across the' equator roll'd his flaming sphere,
Since last the vessel spread her ample sail
From Albion's coast, obsequious to the gale;
She o'er the spacious flood from shore to shore
Unwearying wafted her commercial store;
The richest ports of Afric she had view'd,
Thence to fair Italy her course pursued;
Had left behind Trinacria's burning isle,
And visited the margin of the Nile:
And now, that winter deepens round the Pole,
The circling voyage hastens to its goal;
They, blind to Fate's inevitable law,
No dark event to blast their hope foresaw,
But from gay Venice soon expect to steer
For Britain's coast, and dread no perils near;
Inflamed by Hope, their throbbing hearts elate
Ideal pleasures vainly antedate,
Before whose vivid intellectual ray
Distress recedes, and danger melts away:
Already British coasts appear to rise,
The chalky cliffs salute their longing eyes;
Each to his breast, where floods of rapture roll,
Embracing strains the mistress of his soul;
Nor less o'erjoy'd, with sympathetic truth,
Each faithful maid expects the' approaching youth:
In distant souls congenial passions glow,
And mutual feelings mutual bliss bestow-
Such shadowy happiness their thoughts employ,
Illusion all, and visionary joy!
Thus time elapsed, while o'er the pathless tide
Their ship through Grecian seas the pilots guide.
Occasion call'd to touch at Candia's shore,
Which, bless'd with favouring winds, they soon ex-
The haven enter, borne before the gale,
Despatch their commerce, and prepare to sail.
Eternal powers! what ruins from afar
Mark the fell track of desolating war!
Here arts and commerce with auspicious reign
Once breathed sweet influence on the happy plain;
While o'er the lawn, with dance and festive song,
Young Pleasure led the jocund Hours along;
In gay luxuriance Ceres too was seen
To crown the valleys with eternal green:
For wealth, for valour, courted and revered,
What Albion is, fair Candia then appear'd.—
Ah! who the flight of ages can revoke?
The free-born spirit of her sons is broke,
They bow to Ottoman's imperious yoke;
No longer Fame the drooping heart inspires,
For stern Oppression quench'd its genial fires:
Though still her fields, with golden harvests crown'd,
Supply the barren shores of Greece around,
Sharp penury afflicts these wretched isles,
There Hope ne'er dawns, and Pleasure never smiles;
The vassal wretch contented drags his chain,
And hears his famish'd babes lament in vain;
These eyes have seen the dull reluctant soil
A seventh year mock the weary labourer's toil.-
No blooming Venus, on the desert shore,
Now views with triumph captive gods adore;
No lovely Helens now with fatal charms
Excite the' avenging chiefs of Greece to arms;
No fair Penelopes enchant the eye,
For whom contending kings were proud to die;
Here sullen Beauty sheds a twilight ray,
While Sorrow bids her vernal bloom decay;
Those charms, so long renown'd in classic strains,
Had dimly shone on Albion's happier plains!
Now, in the southern hemisphere, the sun
Through the bright Virgin and the Scales had run,
And on the' ecliptic wheel'd his winding way
Till the fierce Scorpion felt his flaming ray.
Four days becalm'd the vessel here remains,
And yet no hopes of aiding wind obtains;
For sickening vapours lull the air to sleep,
And not a breeze awakes the silent deep:
This, when the' autumnal equinox is o'er,
And Phoebus in the north declines no more,
The watchful mariner, whom Heaven informs,
Oft deems the prelude of approaching storms.
No dread of storms the master's soul restrain,
A captive fetter'd to the oar of gain:
His anxious heart, impatient of delay,
Expects the winds to sail from Candia's bay,
Determined, from whatever point they rise,
To trust his fortune to the seas and skies.
Thou living ray of intellectual fire,
Whose voluntary gleams my verse inspire,
Ere yet the deepening incidents prevail,
Till roused attention feel our plaintive tale,
Record whom chief among the gallant crew
The' unbless'd pursuit of fortune hither drew:
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