Tis thus the teachers of despotic sway Strive in all times to blot the beams of day, To keep him curb'd, nor let him lift his eyes To see where happiness, where misery lies. They lead him blind, and thro the world's broad waste Perpetual feuds, unceasing shadows cast, Crush every art that might the mind expand, And plant with demons every desert land; That, fixt in straiten'd bounds, the lust of power May ravage still and still the race devour, An easy prey the hoodwink'd hordes remain, And oceans roll and shores extend in vain. Long have they reign'd; till now the race at last Shake off their manacles, their blinders cast, Overrule the crimes their fraudful foes produce, By ways unseen to serve the happiest use, Tempt the wide wave, probe every yielding soil, Fill with their fruits the hardy hand of toil, Unite their forces, wheel the conquering car, Deal mutual death, but civilize by war. Dear-bought the experiment and hard the strife Of social man, that rear'd his arts to life. His Passions wild that agitate the mind, His Reason calm, their watchful guide designed, While yet unreconciled, his march restrain, Mislead the judgment and betray the man. Fear, his first passion, long maintain'd the sway, Long shrouded in its glooms the mental ray, Shook, curb'd, controll'd his intellectual force, And bore him wild thro many a devious course. Long had his Reason, with experienced eye, Perused the book of earth and scaled the sky, Led fancy, memory, foresight in her train, And o'er creation stretch'd her vast domain; Yet would that rival Fear her strength appal; In that one conflict always sure to fall, Mild Reason shunn'd the foe she could not brave, Renounced her empire and remained a slave. But deathless, tho debased, she still could find Some beams of truth to pour upon the mind; And tho she dared no moral code to scan, Thro physic forms she learnt to lead the man; To strengthen thus his opening orbs of sight, And nerve and clear them for a stronger light. That stronger light, from nature's double codes, Now springs expanding and his doubts explodes; All nations catch it, all their tongues combine To hail the human morn and speak the day divine.