NIGER

Divine OCEANUS, 'tis not strange at all, That (since the immortal souls of creatures mortal, Mix with their bodies, yet reserve for ever A pour of separation) I should sever My fresh streams, from thy brackish (Like things fixed) Though, with thy powerful saltness, thus far mixed. " Virtue, though chained to earth, will still live free; " And Hell it self must yield to industry. TO do a kind, and careful Father's partly, In satisfying every pensive heart Of these my Daughters, my most loved birth: Who though they were the Read Diod. Sicul. lib. 3. It is a coniec ture of the old Ethnics, that they, which dwell under the South, were the first begotten of the earth. first formed Dams of earth, And in whose sparkling, and refulgent eyes, The glorious Sun did still delight to rise; Though he (the best Judge, and most formal Cause Of all Dams beauty's) in their firm hues, draws Signs of his ferventest Love; and thereby shows That, in their black, the perfectest beauty grows; Since the fixed colour of their curled hair, (Which is the highest grace of dams most fair) No cares, no age can change; or there display The fearful tincture of abhorred Grey; Since Death his self (his self being pale & blue) Can never altar their most faithful hew; All which are arguments, to prove, how far Their beauty's conquer, in great Beauty's war; And more, how near Divinity they be, That stand from passion, or decay so free. Yet, since the fabulous voices of some few Poor brainsick men, stiled Poets, here with you, Have, with such envy of their graces, sung The painted Beauty's, other Empires sprung; Letting their lose, and winged fictions fly To infect all climates, yea our purity; As of one Notissima fa bula. Ovid. Met. lib. 2. PHAETON, that fired the world And, that, before his heedless flames were hurled About the Globe, the Aethiopes were as fair, As other Dams; now black, with black despair: And in respect of their complexctions changed, Are each where, since, for Alluding to that of Iuue nall, Satir. 5. Et cui per m Diamond nolis oc currerenoc tem. luckless creatures ranged. Which, when my Daughters herd, (as women are Most jealous of their beauty's) fear, and care Possessed them whole; yea, and believing The Poets. them, They wept such ceases tears, into my stream, That it hath, thus far, overflowed his shore To seek them patience: who have since, ere more As the Sun riseth, A custom of the Aethi opens, notable in Herod and Di odd Sic. See Pli nigh. Nat. Hist. lib. 5. cap. 8. chardg'd his burning throne With volleys of revilings; cause he shone On their scorched cheeks, with such intemperate fires, And other Dams, made Queens of all desires. To frustrate which strange error, oft, I sought, (Though most in vain, against a settled thought As women's are) till they confirmed at length By miracle, what I, with so much strength Of argument resisted; else they feigned: For in the Lake, where their first spring they gained, As they sat, cooling their soft Limbs, one night, Appeared a Face, all circumfused with light; (And sure they saw't, for Aethiopes Plin. ibid. never dream) Wherein they might decipher through the stream, These words. That they a Land must forthwith seek, Whose termination (of the Greek ) Sounds TANIA; where bright Solemnizing, that heat Their bloods, does never Consult with Tacitus. in vita Agric. and the Paneg. and Constant. rise, or set, But in his Journey passes by, And leaves that Clymat of the sky, To comfort of a greater Light, Who forms all beauty, with his sighed. In search of this, have we three Princedoms passed, That speak out Tania, in their accents last; Black Mauritania, first; and secondly, Swarth Lusitania; next, we did descry Rich Aquitania : and, yet, cannot find The place unto these longing Nymphs designed. Instruct, and aid me, great OCEANUS, What Land is this, that now appears to us? — Oh see, our silver Star! Whose pure, auspicious light greets us, thus far! Great Aethiopia, Goddess of our shore, Since, with particular worship we adore Thy general brightness, let particular grace Shine on my zealous Daughters : Show the place, Which, long, their Longings vrdg'd their eyes to see. Beautify them, which long have Deified thee.