Whether where equinoctial fervours glow,
Or winter wraps the polar world in snow,
Still let thy voice, prevailing over time,
Redress the rigours of the inclement clime.
Aid slighted truth: with thy persuasive strain
Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain;
Teach him that states, of native strength possess’d,
Though very poor, may still be very bless’d;
That trade’s proud empire hastes to swift decay,
As ocean sweeps the labour’d mole away—
While self-dependent power can time defy,
As rocks resist the billows and the sky.[7]
FOOTNOTES:
[5] The river Alatamaha, in the United States.
[6] Tornea, a river of Sweden. Pambamarca, a mountain of Mexico.
[7] The last four lines were written by Johnson.
THE HERMIT
A BALLAD