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Poem about Georgia by Samuel Wesley
Source: A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia in America #173
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[Included in 1741 A True and Historical Narrative of the Colony of Georgia] BUT we must conclude this Head, lest we tire the Reader. We shall now beg Leave to quote a few Poetical Accounts of this Paradise of the World, and of the Fatherly Care and Protection we might depend on from Mr. Oglethorpe. A Hundred Hackney Muses might be referenced, but we shall confine ourselves to the celebrated Performance of the Rev. Mr. Samuel Wesley, where we might well expect a sufficient Stock of Truth and Religion to counter-balance a Poetical License. Vide a Poem entitled, GEORGIA, and Verses upon Mr. Oglethorpe's second Voyage to Georgia. Printed London, 1736. ‘SEE where beyond the spacious Ocean lies ‘A wide waste Land beneath the Southern Skies; ‘Where kindly Suns for Ages rolled in vain, ‘Nor e'er the Vintage saw, or ripening Grain; ‘Where all Things into wild Luxuriance ran, ‘And Burdened Nature asked the Aid of Man. ‘In this sweet Climate and prolific Soil, ‘He bids the eager Swain indulge his Toil; ‘In free Possession to the Planter's Hand, ‘Consigns the rich uncultivated Land. ‘Go you, the Monarch cries, go settle there, ‘Whom Britain from her Plenitude can spare; ‘Go, your old wonted Industry pursue; ‘Nor envy Spain the Treasures of Peru. ‘— ‘But not content in Council here to join, ‘A further Labor Oglethorpe, is thine: ‘In each great Deed thou claimest the foremost Part, ‘And Toil and Danger charm thy generous Heart: ‘But chief for this thy warm Affections rise; ‘For oh! thou viewest it with a Parent's Eyes: ‘For this thou tempest the vast tremendous Main, ‘And Floods and Storms oppose their Threats in vain. ‘— ‘He comes, whose Life while absent from your View ‘Was one continued Ministry for you; ‘For you were laid out all his Pains and Art, ‘Won every Will and softened every Heart. ‘With what paternal Joy shall he relate ‘How views its Mother Isle your little State: ‘Think while he strove your distant Coast to gain ‘How oft he sighed and chid the tedious Main! ‘Impatient to survey, by Culture graced, ‘Your dreary Woodland and your rugged Waste. ‘Fair were the Scenes he feigned, the Prospects fair; ‘And sure, ye Georgians, all he feigned was their. ‘A Thousand Pleasures crowd into his Breast; ‘But one, one mighty Thought absorbs the rest, ‘And gives me Heaven to see, the Patriot cries, ‘Another Britain in the Desert rise. ‘—Again, ‘With nobler Products see thy Georgia teems, ‘Cheered with the genial Sun's director Beams; ‘There the wild Vine to Culture learns to yield, ‘And purple Clusters ripen through the Field. ‘Now bid thy Merchants bring thy Wine no more ‘Or from the Iberian or the Tuscan Shore: ‘No more they need the Hungarian Vineyards drain, ‘And France herself may drink her best Champaign. ‘Behold! at last, and in a subject Land, ‘Nectar sufficient for thy large Demand; ‘Delicious Nectar, powerful to improve ‘Our hospitable Mirth and social Love: ‘This for thy jovial Sons. —Nor less the Care ‘Of thy young Province, to oblige the Fair; ‘Here tend the Silk Worm In the verdant Shade, ‘The frugal Matron and the blooming Maid. FROM the Whole, we doubt not, the Reader will look upon us as sufficiently punished for our Credulity: And indeed, who would not have been caught with such Promises, such Prospects? What might not the Poor Man flatter himself with from such a change in his Situation? And how much more might a Gentleman expect from a plentiful Stock of his own and Numbers of Servants to set up with? Could a Person with the least Faith have questioned Committing his Interests to such Guardians and such a tender Father as Mr. Oglethorpe was believed to be?
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