Daniel Defoe

“ How would Your Commerce all Your Sons restore,
And they'd seek Home that shun'd that Home before?
With Wealth and People, Happy, Rich and Free,
You'd first Improve the Land, and then the Sea;
Be Strong, be Great, be Rich, be Europe's Fear,
Their War, their Wealth, their Trade, their Honours share.
But let's Retreat, Who can the Scene survey,
And View this Wealth the Neighbour Nations Prey;
What Eye, that's Caledonia's Friend, can see
Her Sons on Shore, and Strangers spread the Sea?
Who can, with Patience, View her People Poor,
And Mines of Wealth snatch'd up at ev'ry Door? ”

“ As 'tis the Pole-star to the rest.
How wing'd with Science, men might trace
The foaming Oceans roughest Face;
Plow the vast Furrows of th'amazing Deep,
With Ease and Safety sail and sleep.
No more th' uncertain Northern Tides shall fright,
Familiar Dangers lessen to the Sight;
The Rocks and Sands, the threatning Shore,
Pledges of certain Death before. ”

“ A Race to Honour, and their Countrey true,
They furnish'd Funds of Old, he heaps up stores of New.
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Nor shall weak prejudice debauch our Pen,
To flatter prosp'rous Fate, and guild the Crimes of Men
But undistinguish'd Virtue we'll rehearse,
For partial Praises are below our Verse.
Curst be that Party-spleen that shuts Men's Eyes,
From the just Merits of their Enemies;
That prepossess'd by Feud, denies Applause,
And dares not praise the Man without the Cause.
Where Honour claims it, Honour will be just,
And where Mens Actions praise 'em, all Men must. ”

“ Foretells the Blessing, and decrees th'Event.
'Tis plainly printed on the Painful Brow,
They shall not always be supprest as now;
Th'approaching Light at Distance dawns, the Ray
Darts a Dim Earnest of the Welcome Day.
When sleeping Bondage doom'd to lasting Night,
Shall help to make the Chearing Beam more bright.
Th'enlighten'd Crowd shall their own Freedom see,
For willful Blindness only, shuts out Liberty;
Bondage is Ignorance, and he that sees,
Needs no directer Cure for that Disease.
Knowledge and Liberty go Hand in Hand,
Fools only will obey, when Knaves command ”

“ The Blood of Princes in their Race we see,
And modern Merit joins to old Nobility.
Blest are the Families that great in Blood,
Have thus their truest Honour understood,
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That on the Base of Vertue Built their Fame,
And join to that lesser Praise their Name,
The only Just and truly great Design;
For Vertue helps Nobility to shine.
Then who shall search the long forgotten Roll,
Examine all the Parts, or Sum the whole,
Who shall the Impotence of Art supply,
Beyond the reach of Books or Heraldry? ”

“ For where Contentment makes Endeavour less,
'Tis then a Vice, and not a Happiness.
So the fam'd sluggard starv'd, and reason good,
For want of feeding, not for want of Food;
Bear the Reproof, the fruitful Climate's known,
Not Heaven or Nature blame, the Fault's your own;
The Earth Adapt to bear, the Air, the Sea,
All fruitful, all to Plenty show the way;
No Barrenness, but in your Indust'ry.
'Tis Blasphemy to say the Climates curst,
Nature will ne're be fruitful till she's forc't ”

“ Nothing that's Pleasant see, nothing delightful hear:
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But see the Horrid Bear march round the Pole,
And feel her Piercing Breath Congeal the Soul.
Their Musick's Whirl-wind, and the shrill Echoing Roar
Of Frozen Seas on the Deserted Shore.
Legends of Fables fill our partial Heads,
Of Lands where Grass ne'r grows, or Mortal treads;
Where keenest Winds and Storms Incessant blow
On Mountains cover'd with Eternal Snow;
Where Nature never blooms, and Sun ne'r shines,
But Cold with Cold, and Frost with Frost Combines,
Inhospitable Clime.—
What Countrey's this? ”

“ And fix that Power they struggle to pull down.
Knowledge gives Courage, Science makes Men brave;
Folly drives headlong to the Grave:
For Ignorance and Fear make Cowards run
Into those Dangers they'r afraid to shun. ”

“ A Northern Highland-man's a Christian there.
Polite his Manners, and his Modern Dress,
Is Beauty all, when match't with Ugliness.
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THe Plan's Describ'd, the Seas and Shores Survey'd;
Let's now the Treasures of the Land Invade,
Traverse their Hills, and all their Vales Descry,
And spread their just Description to the Eye.
The Rugged Nation plac'd by Nature here,
Shall in their fancied Poverty appear;
The World shall blush, when they their Picture see,
And Fame grow Proud to Print their History. ”

“ He that in Blind Dependence now submits,
Will rouse his Strength, when he shall rouse his Wits;
Nature prevails, and Sense in Exercise
The Chains on Reason nat'rally unties.
Thus when new Sight shall once but bless the Poor,
'Tis these will Scotland's Liberty Restore;
The strong Conviction no Man can resist,
And Blindness shall against her Will be blest;
And now, in all their Miseries, let's View
What Blessings they industriously pursue;
What just Equivalent they can supply,
For loss of Wealth, and loss of Liberty:
Th' Instructed Poor Laborious and Supprest ”

“ They'r born in Death, and in Consumptions grow;
Superior Witchcraft forms the dismal Race,
And Devils unknown below', connect the Face.
The unhappy Wretch, when Hag-rid and possest,
The Crimes are in his Countenance confest.
A sanguine Pale and drooping brightness shine,
This always Saturnine, and that supine,
Joyn'd hand in hand, they living Death display,
And Life in full perfection of Decay.
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No Misery's so great, but they make worse,
Each others Beeing, and each others Curse.
They mingle Death with every punct of Time,
And only in Destruction are sublime ”

“ The Fund of Families is in their Blood,
And the Fam'd Scoti on their Shoulders stood,
A Race of Princes from their fruitful Stem,
Has been a living History to them.
Their Fame that's past, foretold their Fame to come,
They'r Dukes abroad before they'r Dukes at home.
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The Nation's willing Honours did afford,
And these cut out their. Glory by the Sword;
For 'twas the early Fortunes of their Blood,
To have their Worth both Crown'd and understood;
Princes by their strong Swords possest their Crowns,
And grateful France their Ancient Glory owns. ”

“ Here fruitful Hills, and there the Flowry Plain,
Deep undiscov'rd Funds of wealth contain.
The Silver Veins and vast Mettallick store,
Forbid to call her wildest Mountains poor.
The Mines of Lead, of Copper, and of Coal,
Enrich the several parts, those parts the whole.
Nothing remains to make her Wealth compleat,
But that her right Hand and her left may meet. ”

“ He neither fears the Night, nor Courts the Day:
Thro' all the Tempests Midnight Rage he slies,
Visits the Bottoms now, anon the Skies.
When up to Heav'n he mounts, the Cheering Sun
Makes glad, and 'tis the same when darting down;
To all the Dark abyss he shoots and see's,
The Hollow Deeps of Natures Nudities ”

“ Sometimes he mounts so high, he turns his Ear,
And listens for the Musick of a Sphere;
Charm'd with the Symphony, he'll Consort keep,
And Beat true Time, tho' he reviews the Deep.
She's gone, new Worlds she seeks, new Worlds she finds,
She rides on Tempests, and improves the Winds,
Th' Elemental Terrors she'll despise,
And Bully Neptune boldly she defies.
See how Mankind by her Experience taught,
Has all to Rule and Method brought ”

“ Not raisd by strength OF FACE, or strength of Purse,
A Stock of Money, or a Stock that's worse;
But from the Youth of Time, their Names remain,
When Vertue only could that Fame obtain.
Back, further back than Story can relate,
When Infant Nations fix'd their Forms of State.
When Tricks of State and Court Intreague unknown,
No mighty Knave could Brother Villain Crown.
From Blood to Blood their Violence pursue,
First steal their Honours, then proclaim 'em due.
By Fraud and strong Oppressions Crowns obtain,
While those support the Frauds, and these the Reign ”

“ Fierce when resolv'd, and fix'd as Bars of Brass,
And Conquest through their Blood can only pass.
In spight of Coward Cold, the Race is Brave,
In Action Daring, and in Council Grave;
Their haughty Souls in Danger always grow,
No Man durst lead 'em where they durst not go.
Sedate in Thought, and steady in Resolve,
Polite in Manners, and as Years Revolve;
Always secure their largest share of Fame,
And by their Courage keep alive their Name.
The lab'ring Poor dejected and supprest•
See not th' approaching Prospect of their Rest. ”

“ See how the Tempests arm'd with Death, appear;
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Read but the threatning Language of the Skies,
How gathering Clouds, with-Child of Thunders rise;
See Mountains heap'd in strong Rebellion move,
See Ossa top'd with Pelion, threatning Jove;
See angry Nature rous'd to Civil War,
'Twas Prudence first taught Mankind how to fear;
Bold Science, whither wilt thou Steer!
Vain Caution! See the daring Nymph sets Sail,
What Fear calls Storm, she calls a welcome Gale ”

“ While these enjoy the Tempests, those the Gold.
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Hail Blest Conjunction, Brittain's last best Hour,
Shall Caledonia to her self restore;
Assert her long neglected Property,
Her Blessing, her Inheritance, the Sea.
In hopes of this, let's land and range the Shore,
And view the Nation that the World calls Poor.
Plenty's a doubtful Word mistook by most,
A modern Term for Luxury and Waste. ”

“ And yet this Sloth is not their proper Crime,
'Tis due to Poverty, and that to Time.
Hail SLOTH and POVERTY from Stygian Air,
Ushers to Death, and Handmaids to Despair.
Strange Birth, themeer Perfection of a Curse,
That find Men Mis'rable, and make them worse,
Of ill connected self ingendring Birth,
First circulate themselves, and then the Earth ”

“ Of old so fam'd, and so of late forgot.
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NEGLECTED SCOTLAND shews her awful Brow,
Not always quite so near to Heaven as now.
Circled with dreadful Clifts and Barb'rous Shores,
Where the strong Surff with high impetuous Roars,
Invades the Rocks, and these their Rage disdain,
And with redoubling Noise they'r hurry'd home again ”