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PROSPECT

OF THE FUTURE GLORY OF AMERICA:

Being the conclusion of an Oration, delivered at the public commencement at Yale-College, September 12, 1770.

AND see th' expected hour is on the wing,
With every joy the flight of years can bring;
The splendid scenes the Muse shall dare display,
And unborn ages view the ripen'd day.

Beneath a sacred grove's inspiring shade,

When Night the world in pleasing glooms array'd,
While the fair moon, that leads the heav'nly train,
With varying brightness dyed the dusky plain,
Entranced I sate; to solemn thought resign'd,
Long visions rising in the raptured mind,
Celestial music charm'd the listening dale,
While these blest sounds my ravish'd ear assail.
"To views far distant and to scenes more bright,
Along the vale of Time extend thy sight,
Where hours and days and years from yon dim pole,
Wave following wave in long succession roll,

There see, in pomp for

ages without end,

The glories of the Western World ascend.

"See, this blest land in orient morn appears, Waked from the slumber of six thousand years, While clouds of darkness veil'd each cheering ray; To savage beasts and savage men, a prey. Fair Freedom now her ensigns bright displays, And peace and plenty bless the golden days. In radiant state th' imperial realm shall rise, Her splendor circling to the boundless skies; Of every Fair she boasts the assembled charms, The Queen of empires and the nurse of arms.

"See her bold heroes mark their glorious way, Arm'd for the fight and blazing on the day! [plain, Blood stains their steps, and o'er th' ensanguined Mid warring thousands and mid thousands slain, Their eager swords unsated carnage blend, And ghastly deaths their raging course attend. Her dreaded power the subject world shall see, And laurel'd conquest wait her high decree.

"And see her navies, rushing to the main, Catch the swift gales and sweep the wat❜ry plain; Or led by commerce, at the merchant's door Unlade the treasures of the Asian shore;

Or arm'd with thunder, on the guilty foe

Rush big with death and aim th' unerring blow ;

Bid every realm, that hears the trump of fame,
Quake at the distant terror of her name.

"For pleasing Arts behold her matchless charms, The first in letters, as the first in arms.

See bolder genius quit the narrow shore,
And realms of science, yet untraced, explore,
Hiding in brightness of superior day,

The fainting gleam of Europe's setting ray.

"Sublime the Muse shall lift her eagle wing;
Of heavenly themes the sacred bards shall sing,
Tell how the blest Redeemer, man to save,
Thro' the deep mansions of the gloomy grave,
Sought the low shades of night, then rising high
Vanquish'd the powers of hell, and soar'd above the
Or paint the scenes of that funereal day,
[sky;

When earth's last fires shall mark their dreadful way,
In solemn pomp th' eternal Judge descend,
Doom the wide world and give to nature, end;

Or

ope

heaven's glories to th' astonish'd eye,

And bid their lays with lofty Milton vie ;

Or wake from nature's themes the moral song,
And shine with Pope, with Thompson and with Young.
"This land her Swift and Addison shall view,
The former honours equall'd by the new;
Here shall some Shakspeare charm the rising age,
And hold in magic chains the listening stage ;

A second Watts shall string the heavenly lyre,
And other muses other bards inspire.

"Her Daughters too the happy land shall grace
With powers of genius, as with charms of face;
Blest with the softness of the female mind,
With fancy blooming and with taste refined,
Some Rowe shall rise, and wrest with daring pen
The pride of science from assuming men ;
While each bright line a polish'd beauty wears,
For every muse and every grace are theirs.
"Nor shall these bounds her rising fame confine,
With equal praise the sister arts shall shine.
"Behold some new Apelles, skill'd to trace
The varied features of the virgin's face,
Bid the gay landscape rise in rural charms,
Or wake from dust the slumb'ring chief in arms,
Bid art with nature hold a pleasing strife,

And warm the pictured canvas into life.

"See heaven-born Music strike the trembling Devotion rising on the raptured wing.

[string,

"See the proud dome with lofty walls ascend,

Wide gates unfold, stupendous arches bend,

The spiry turrets, piercing to the skies,
And all the grandeur of the palace rise.
"The patriot's voice shall Eloquence inspire

With Roman splendor and Athenian fire,

At freedom's call, teach manly breasts to glow,
And prompt the tender tear o'er guiltless woe.”-

O, born to glory when these times prevail, Great nurse of learning, fair Yalensia,* hail! Within thy walls, beneath thy pleasing shade, We woo'd each Art, and won the Muse to aid. These scenes of bliss now closing on our view, Borne from thy seats, we breathe a last adieu. Long may'st thou reign, of every joy possess'd, Blest in thy teachers, in thy pupils blest ; To distant years thy fame immortal grow, Thy spreading light to rising ages flow; Till Nature hear the great Archangel's call, Till the last flames involve the sinking ball; Then may thy sons ascend th' ethereal plains, And join seraphic songs, where bliss eternal reigns.

* The author at this time received the degree of Master of Arts in this University, where he had resided for the seven preceeding years.

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