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HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
Ch. 3.
effort was made to give prose the form of poetry. The chief of the movement was Timothy Dwight, a man of extraordinary qualities, but one on whom almost every other mental gift had been conferred in fuller measure than poetical genius. Twenty-five years had passed since young Dwight, fresh from Yale College, began his career by composing an epic poem, in eleven books and near ten thousand lines, called "The Conquest of Canaan." In the fervor of patriotism, before independence was secured or the French Revolution imagined, he pictured the great Hebrew leader Joshua preaching the Rights of Man, and prophesying the spread of his "sons" over America:—
- "Then o'er wide lands, as blissful Eden bright,
- Type of the skies, and seats of pure delight,
- Our sons with prosperous course shall stretch their sway,
- And claim an empire spread from sea to sea;
- In one great whole th' harmonious tribes combine,
- Trace Justice' path, and choose their chiefs divine;
- On Freedom's base erect the heavenly plan,
- Teach laws to reign, and save the Rights of Man.
- Then smiling Art shall wrap the fields in bloom,
- Fine the rich ore, and guide the useful loom;
- Then lofty towers in golden pomp arise,
- Then spiry cities meet auspicious skies;
- The soul on Wisdom's wing sublimely soar,
- New virtues cherish and new truths explore;
- Through Time's long tract our name celestial run,
- Climb in the east and circle with the sun;
- And smiling Glory stretch triumphant wings
- O'er hosts of heroes and o'er tribes of kings."
