And leads the way to pleasure's soft abode;
This spreads with slaughter'd heaps the bloody plain,
And pours adventurous thousands o'er the main.
II. The stately ship with all her daring band 120
To skilful Albert own'd the chief command:
Though train'd in boisterous elements, his mind
Was yet by soft humanity refined;
Each joy of wedded love at home he knew;
Aboard, confest the father of his crew!
Brave, liberal, just, the calm domestic scene
Had o'er his temper breathed a gay serene:
Him Science taught by mystic lore to trace
The planets wheeling in eternal race;
To mark the ship in floating balance held, 130
By earth attracted, and by seas repell'd;
Or point her devious track through climes unknown
That leads to every shore and every zone.
He saw the moon through heaven's blue concave glide,
And into motion charm the expanding tide,
While earth impetuous round her axle rolls,
Exalts her watery zone, and sinks the poles;
Light and attraction, from their genial source,
He saw still wandering with diminish'd force;
While on the margin of declining day 140
Night's shadowy cone reluctant melts away--
Inured to peril, with unconquer'd soul,
The chief beheld tempestuous oceans roll:
O'er the wild surge when dismal shades preside,
His equal skill the lonely bark could guide;
His genius, ever for the event prepared,