COLUMBUS
BY
GEORGE WADDINGTON,
SCHOLAR OF TRINITY COLLEGE.
1813.
ARGUMENT.
Grenada being taken from the Moors, a Voyage of Discovery is proposed to Isabella by the patrons of Columbus, and acceded to. Her feelings and wishes. The great object the propagation of Christianity,—Columbus described. His projects of Discovery first formed, perhaps, in Childhood, encouraged by Hope, and ultimately confirmed by Reason.—He sets sail. Address to the Gales and Sea-gods. His dangers and disappointments. Variation of the needle. Mutiny of his men. Certain signs at length appear, and land is discovered.—The discovery of most importance, as it tends to promote Christianity and Civilization. Natural wonders of America. Andes and its Volcanoes. Rivers that rise from it. Forests. Inferiority of the human race. Superiority of Civilization to a state of Nature. American women often murder their female infants to save them from Slavery. Civilization will probably be the consequence of intercourse with the Old World.—Progress of Discovery. Peyrouse, Cooke, Drake, Raleigh, Gama. Return to Columbus. He is sent home in chains; but soon proceeds in his search after a passage to India, and discovers the Continent near the mouth of the Oronoco.—Is shipwrecked on Jamaica, and saves his men from the fury of the Indians by predicting an eclipse. Isabella dies, and Columbus passes the remainder of his life a petitioner at the Court of Ferdinand.—Conclusion.
Of Moorish warriors glanced a fearful day;
Ye mosques majestic, where fanatic War
Yoked his red steeds to pale Religion's car—
Are ye then fall'n, and has your pride confess'd
The soul that slumbers in a woman's breast?
But yet, methinks, if glory and if power
Must fade and vanish, like a summer flower,
