stand in pomp and glory, Firm and faithful in their own strength, Till its frailty cometh on them And they are completely conquered,— Broken down in great destruction. O’er the waters of the deluge We come sailing onward, onward; And arrive with many records From the many downcast nations, From the people of all ages, First, and last, and intervening. And we pass the time allotted To the gods of superstition, When the world was set in darkness, In the fear of gods of fancy, Who held counsel on Olympus. There sat Jupiter, the greatest, On his ivory and gold throne, p. 78And communed with his advisers, Who were Juno, his betrothéd, Fairest goddess of the council, Who gave from her depths of knowledge Good advisings to her chieftain. Then were Mars, the fierce and warlike, And Apollo, for the poets, With Diana, his twin sister, Who sat on the silent moonbeam, Chaste, enchanting in her meekness. Then stood Venus, rich in charmings, Goddess sole of love and beauty; And stood Mercury, the swiftest Bearer of the council’s tidings. Then came Neptune, strong and mighty, Ruler of the storms and tempests; And the god of fire near him, Who was Vulcan, rude and ready. And to Vesta, Saturn’s daughter, Were entrusted fires also, More refined and more celestial; While the number was completed By good Ceres, full of bounty, Keeper of the corns and harvests. Thus in council sat the great gods, Dealing fates unto the nations; p. 79So the simple people fancied. Now the flight of fancy over, She hath brought us safely homeward, To the spot we love the fondest. There we lay the many tokens Of the wondrous journey by us, And reflect now quaintly, calmly On the great things we have witnessed In this kingdom of Nimæra; And, before our thoughts are settled, We by votaries are surrounded From the courts of every people, From the throne of every nation, Who, in tongues that widely vary, And in words that sound so strangely, Give their mission, bear their record Of the throne of King Nimæra, Of his ancient power and greatness, Of his presence with the modern, With their people of the present. And to give its own conviction Shall the voice of every creature, Of the nobles of creation, All in one together mingle, From the feeble voice of old age To the lisping tongue of childhood. p. 80Grand shall be their mingled accents, Which in verity are rising, Telling likewise of Nimæra, Who their every purpose ruleth, Tends it in its first conception, Baffles wholly and destroys it, Or unto completion brings it, Bringeth out its faults or virtues, Shewing where its merit lieth. Then shall every beast that liveth, Every bird and every reptile, Every fish and every insect, Raise their own peculiar voices— (Terrible, or sweet, or puny); And will testify their own way Of the powers of King
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