Tales

"[...] The charms attach’d to one so fondly loved; Who with more health, the mistress of their cot, Labours to soothe the evils of his lot. To her, to her alone, his various fate, At various times, ’tis comfort to relate; And yet his sorrow - she too loves to hear What wrings her bosom, and compels the tear. First he related how he left the shore, Alarm’d with fears that they should meet no more. Then, ere the ship had reach’d her purposed course, They met and yielded to the Spanish force; Then ’cross th’ Atlantic seas they bore their prey, Who grieving landed from their sultry bay: And marching many a burning league, he found Himself a slave upon a miner’s ground: There a good priest his native language spoke, And gave some ease to his tormenting yoke; Kindly advanced him in his master’s grace, And he was station’d in an easier place; There, hopeless ever to escape the land, He to a Spanish maiden gave his hand; In cottage shelter’d from the blaze of day, He saw his happy infants round him play; Where summer shadows, made by lofty trees,[...]".