1 See Col. Benton's description of Virginia, done into verse, beginning thus:
| "As Benton jogg'd along the road, 'Twas in the Old Dominion, His thoughts were bent-on finding food, For preconceiv'd opinion," &c. |
2 "The fox peeped out of the window, and the rank grass waved around his head. Desolate is the dwelling of Moina—Silence is in the house of her fathers."—Ossian.
3
| Man's strength is gone, his courage—zooks! And liberty's fine motions, &c.—Benton. |
4 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan.
5 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff, ... and they told him, and said we came unto the land whither thou sentest us and surely it floweth with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it.
6
| In old Virginia stint of food Diseases have engender'd— The mind is gone—to want of blood Good morals have surrender'd. Houses are fallen—fences down— And men are now much scarcer— Wild beasts in multitudes are known, That every day get fiercer. Flee gravel—grit—and heartless clay— Nor corn nor oats will grow there— To westward hie—away—away! No heartless Clay you'll know there.—Benton. |
7 The yellow iachimo.—Shakspeare. [Cymbeline.]