Oft to his thought must partial memory bring
More noble waves, without renown, at home.
Now let him climb the Catskill, to behold
The lordly Hudson, marching to the main,
And say what bard, in any land of old,
Had such a river to inspire his strain!
Along the Rhine gray battlements and towers
Declare what robbers once the realm possessed;
But here Heaven’s handiwork surpasseth ours,
And man has hardly more than built his nest.