478 J A M A I C A. 



his abilities will, or will not, be thought to militate againft thefe po- 

 rtions. In regard to the general charafter of the man, he was haughty, 

 opinionated, looked down with fovereign contempt on his fellow Blacks, 

 entertained the higheft opinion of his own knowledge, treated his pa- 

 rents with much difdain, and behaved towards his children and his 

 flaves with a fevcrity bordering upon cruelty ; he was fond of having 

 great deference paid to him, and exadled it in the utmoft degree from 

 the Negroes about him ; he affected a lingularity of drefs, and particu- 

 larly grave caft of countenance, to imprefs an idea of his wifdom and 

 learning; and, to fecond this view, he wore in common a huge wig, 

 which made a very venerable figure. The moral part of his character 

 may be coUefted from thefe touches, as well as the meafure of his wif- 

 dom, on which, as well as fome other attributes to which he laid claim, 

 he had not the modefty to be filent, whenever he met with occafion to 

 expatiate upon them. Of this piece of vanity, there is a very ftrong- 

 example in the following poem, which he prefented to Mr. Haldane, 

 upon his afluming the government of the ifiand; he was fond of this' 

 Jpecies of compofition in Latin, and ufually addrefled one to every new 

 governor. He defined himfelf " a wMte man afting under a black' 

 Ikin." He endeavoured to prove logically, that a Negroe was fupe- 

 rlor In quality to a Mulatto, or other caft. His propofition was, that" 

 ** a fimple white or a fimple black complexion was refpeftively per- 

 feft : but a Mulatto, being an heterogeneous medley of both, was im- 

 perfeft, ergo inferior." 



His opinion of Negroes may be Inferred from a proverbial faying, 

 that was frequently in his mouth j " Shew me a Negroe, and I will 

 fliew you a thief. '' He died, not long fince, at the age of feventj, or 

 thereabouts. 



I have ventured to fubjoln fome annotations to his poem, and parti- 

 cularly to diftlnguifh feveral paflages In theclaffic authors, to which he- 

 feems to have been indebted, or to have had allufion ; there may be 

 other palFages which have efcaped my notice; I have added an Eng- 

 lifh tranflation in verfe, wherein I have endeavoured to retain the fenfe, 

 without wilfully doing injuftlce to the original. 



Integerrimo et Fortiffimo 



Viro 



GEORGIO HALDANO, Armigeko, 



Infuke J amaiccnfis Gubernatori ; 



Cui, 



