954 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



Ill fated India! yet thy plains have known 

 The sage's voice, and harp's cnraptur'd tone ; 

 Oft have thy proud pagodas heard the sounJ 

 Of hallow'd minstrelsy, wide warbling round; 

 And Learning's footsteps printed every vale, 

 Where Jumna's waves their long lost joys bewail. 

 ]?cn when thy towers confess'd the tyrant's pride, 

 Thy native arts the Moslem spear defied ; 

 Oft, as it glcam'd around, from age to age 

 The smile of Learning sooth'd the battle's rage; 

 Oft, while the sceptre graced some milder name, 

 Thy gladden'd Genius sprung to ancient fame. 

 Though fain the song thy varying fates would trace, 

 And tell (he triumphs of thy subject race. 

 What arts reviving mark'd each glorious reign. 

 What poets waked the tributary strain ; 

 What thoughts divine, and Fancy's glancing ray, 

 ConsoPd the rigours of a foreign sway : 

 More pleased, the Muse to earlier years ascends, 

 And o'er the steps of kings and sages bends, 

 Thy native kings and sages all thy own, 

 W ise in the grove, or mighty on (he throne. 

 Where Time remote his shadowy troop displays, 

 She hears the voices of departed days. 

 -Age blest with all that life or decks or cheers,^ 

 Refines, instructs, ennobles, soothes, endears. 

 Then rose the triple Ramas*, names ador'd. 

 To wield alike the scei)lreand the sword. 

 Then thought Gautami +, India's peerless boast, 

 Bright leader «of the philosophic host : 

 Though ages interpos'd (heir dark'ning (light, 

 His distant beams illum'd the Stagirite. 

 Then Science smiled on man, and for his use 

 Arts intricate unveil'd, and lore abstruse; 

 Learning with all her stores enrich'd his mind ; 

 Mild laws his Avill corrected, not confin'd ; 

 Astronomy her high career begun. 

 And bade him rise from earth, to watch the sun : 

 To p'.irify with pity and with dread, 

 Sage Tragedy her moral lesson spread ; 

 And History j; round her curious glances cast. 

 And (o the future reason'd from the past ; 

 A\ Idle Valmic's § epic song, with heavenly art 

 Inspir'd, dilated all the gcn'rous heart. 



* Of the three liatixtf, t«o were universally allowed to be Acalars, or incama. 

 tions of the Deity ; and the third was also supposed to be so. 



f Probably the most ancient founder of a philosophical school. 



1 Mo histories are extant, written in any part of India, except Cashmere. 



^ One of the t«o great poets of India. He wrote an epic poem on the exploits 

 of Rama, and is scud to l)a\c been the first composer of Sanscrect verse. 



Nor 



