Great is the praise of Commerce, and the men Deserve our praise, who spread the undaunted sail, And traverse every sea--their dangers great, Death still to combat in the unfeeling gale, And every billow but a gaping grave:-- 300 There, skies and waters, wearying on the eye, For weeks and months no other prospect yield But barren wastes, unfathomed depths, where not The blissful haunt of human form is seen To cheer the unsocial horrors of the way.-- 305 Yet all these bold designs to Science owe Their rise and glory.--Hail, fair Science! thou, Transplanted from the eastern skies, dost bloom In these blest regions.--Greece and Rome no more Detain the Muses on Citheron's brow, 310 Or old Olympus, crowned with waving woods, Or Hæmus' top, where once was heard the harp, Sweet Orpheus' harp, that gained his cause below, And pierced the souls of Orcus and his bride; That hush'd to silence by its voice divine 315 Thy melancholy waters, and the gales O Hebrus! that o'er thy sad surface blow.-- No more the maids round Alpheus' waters stray, Where he with Arethusa's stream doth mix, Or where swift Tiber disembogues his waves 320 Into the Italian sea, so long unsung; Hither they wing their way, the last, the best Of countries, where the arts shall rise and grow, And arms shall have their day;--even now we boast A Franklin, prince of all philosophy, 325 A genius piercing as the electric fire, Bright as the lightning's flash, explained so well, By him, the rival of Britannia's sage.-- This is the land of every joyous sound, Of liberty and life, sweet liberty! 330 Without whose aid the noblest genius fails, And Science irretrievably must die. _Leander_