To my Friend Mr. GEORGE ALSOP, on his Character of MARY-LAND.
Who such odd nookes of Earths great mass describe,
Prove their descent from old
Columbus tribe:
Some Boding augur did his Name devise,
Thy Genius too cast in th’ same mould and size;
His Name predicted he would be a Rover,
And hidden places of this Orb discover;
He made relation of that World in gross,
Thou the particulars retail’st to us:
By this first Peny of thy fancy we
Discover what thy greater Coines will be;
This Embryo thus well polisht doth presage,
The manly Atchievements of its future age.
Auspicious winds blow gently on this spark,
Untill its flames discover what’s yet dark;
Mean while this short Abridgement we embrace,
Expecting that thy busy soul will trace
Some Mines at last which may enrich the World,
And all that poverty may be in oblivion hurl’d.
Zoilus is dumb, for thou the mark hast hit,
By interlacing History with Wit:
Thou hast described its superficial Treasure,
Anatomiz’d its bowels at thy leasure;
That MARY-LAND
to thee may duty owe,
Who to the World dost all her Glory shew;
Then thou shalt make the Prophesie fall true,
Who fill’st the World (like th’ Sea) with knowledge new.