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PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

THERE is a spirit in the old Spanish chroniclers of the sixteenth century that may be compared to the freshness of water at the fountain-head. Their simplicity, their sensibility to the strange and the wonderful, their very weaknesses, give an infinite value, by giving a life and a character to everything they touch; and their religion, which bursts out everywhere, addresses itself to the imagination in the highest degree. If they err, their errors are not their own. They think and feel after the fashion of the time; and their narratives are so many moving pictures of the actions, manners and thoughts, of their contemporaries.

What they had to communicate might well make them eloquent; but, inasmuch as relates to Columbus, the inspiration went no further. No national poem appeared on the subject; no Camoëns did honor to his genius and his virtues. Yet the materials that have descended to us are surely not unpoetical; and a desire to avail myself of them, to convey in some instances as far as could, in others as far as I dared, their warmth of coloring and wildness of imagery, led me to conceive the idea of a poem written not long after his death, when the great consequences of the discovery were beginning to unfold themselves, but while the minds of men were still clinging to the superstitions of their fathers.

The event here described may be thought too recent for the machinery; but I found them together.* A belief in the agency of evil spirits prevailed over both hemispheres; and even yet seems almost necessary to enable us to clear up the darkness,

And justify the ways of God to men.

* Perhaps even a contemporary subject should not be rejected as such, however wild and extravagant it may be, if the manners be foreign and the place distant,— major è longinquo reverentia. L'éloignement des pays, says Racine, répare en quelque sorte la trop grande proximité des temps; car le peuple ne met guere de différence entre ce qui est, si j'ose ainsi parler, à mille ans de lui, et ce qui en est à mille lieues.

THE ARGUMENT.

COLUMBUS, having wandered from kingdom to kingdom, at length obtains three ships, and sets sail on the Atlantic. The compass alters from its ancient direction; the wind becom es constant and unremitting; night and day he advances, till he is suddenly stopped in his course by a mass of vegetation, extending as far as the eye can reach, and assuming the appearance of a country overwhelmed by the sea. Alarm and despondence on board. He resigns himself to the care of Heaven, and proceeds on his voyage.

Meanwhile the deities of America assemble in council; and one of the Zemi, the gods of the islanders, announces his approach. "In vain," says he, "have we guarded the Atlantic for ages. A mortal has baffled our power; nor will our votaries arm against him. Yours are a sterner race. Hence; and, while we have recourse to stratagem, do you array the nations round your altars, and prepare for an exterminating war." They disperse while he is yet speaking; and, in the shape of a condor, he directs his flight to the fleet. His journey described. He arrives there. A panic. A mutiny. Columbus restores order; continues on his voyage; and lands in a New World. Ceremonies of the first interview. Rites of hospitality. The ghost of Cazziva.

Two months pass away, and an angel, appearing in a dream to Columbus, thus addresses him: "Return to Europe; though your adversaries, such is the will of Heaven, shall let loose the hurricane against you. A little while shall they triumph, insinuating themselves into the hearts of your followers, and making the world, which you came to bless, a scene of blood and slaughter. Yet is there cause for rejoicing. Your werk is done. The cross of Christ is planted here; and, in due time, all things shall be made perfect"

THE VOYAGE OF COLUMBUS.

CANTO I.

Night-Columbus on the Atlantic-the Variation of the Compass, &c.
SAY who, when age on age had rolled away,
And still, as sunk the golden orb of day,

The seaman watched him, while he lingered here,
With many a wish to follow, many a fear,

And gazed and gazed and wondered where he went,
So bright his path, so glorious his descent,
Who first adventured? In his birth obscure,
Yet born to build a Fame that should endure,1
Who the great secret of the Deep possessed,
And, issuing through the portals of the west,
Fearless, resolved, with every sail unfurled,
Planted his standard on the unknown world?
Him, by the Paynim bard described of yore,
And ere his coming sung on either shore,
Him could not I exalt - by Heaven designed
To lift the veil that covered half mankind!
Yet, ere I die, I would fulfil my vow;
Praise cannot wound his generous spirit now.

'T was night. The Moon, o'er the wide wave, disclosed Her awful face; and Nature's self reposed;

When, slowly rising in the azure sky,

Three white sails shone - but to no mortal

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Entering a boundless sea.

eye,

In slumber cast,

Alone unchanged,

The very ship-boy, on the dizzy mast,
Half breathed his orisons!

Calmly, beneath, the great Commander2 ranged,
Thoughtful, not sad; and, as the planet grew,
His noble form, wrapt in his mantle blue,
Athwart the deck a deepening shadow threw.
"Thee hath it pleased-Thy will be done!" he said,3
Then sought his cabin; and, their garments spread,
Around him lay the sleeping as the dead,

When, by his lamp to that mysterious guide,*
On whose still counsels all his hopes relied,
That oracle to man in mercy given,

Whose voice is truth, whose wisdom is from heaven,

Who over sands and seas directs the stray,

And, as with God's own finger, points the way,
He turned; but what strange thoughts perplexed his soul
When, lo! no more attracted to the pole,
The Compass, faithless as the circling vane,
Fluttered and fixed, fluttered and fixed again!
At length, as by some unseen hand imprest,
It sought with trembling energy—the West !5
"Ah no!" he cried, and calmed his anxious brow.
“Ill, nor the signs of ill, 't is thine to show;
Thine but to lead me where I wished to go!"

COLUMBUS erred not. In that awful hour,
Sent forth to save, and girt with god-like power,

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