[Note: Atlas and Hesper were of the race of Titans. They were sons of Uranus, or of Japetus, according as the fable is traced to different countries, whose supreme God (originally the sun) was called by different names. Atlas, from being king of Mauritania, became a mountain to support the heavens, and gave his name to the western ocean. Hesper frequented that mountain in the study of astronomy; till one evening he disappeared, and returned no more. He was then placed in the western heaven; and, having been a beautiful young man, he became a beautiful planet, called the evening star. This circumstance gave his name to the western regions of the earth indefinitely. Italy was called Hesperia by the Greeks, because it lay west from them, and seemed under the influence of the star of evening; Spain was called Hesperia by the Romans, for the same reason.
If the nations which adopted this fable had known of a country west of the Atlantic, that country must have been Hesperia to them all; and pursuing this analogy I have so named it, in several instances, in the course of this poem. Considering Hesper as the guardian Genius, and Columbus as the Discoverer, of the western continent, it may derive its name, in poetical language, from either of theirs indifferently, and be called Hesperia or Columbia.
Atlas is considered in this poem as the guardian Genius of Africa. See his speech, in the eighth book, on the slavery of his people.
This explanation seemed of such immediate importance for understanding the machinery of the poem, as to require its being placed here. The other notes, being numerous and some of them long, have been forced to yield to typographical elegance; and are placed at the end of the volume, with suitable reference to the passages to which they belong.]
This hand, which form'd, and in the tides of time Laves and improves the meliorating clime, Which taught thy prow to cleave the trackless way, And hail'd thee first in occidental day, To all thy worth shall vindicate thy claim, And raise up nations to revere thy name.
In this dark age tho blinded faction sways, And wealth and conquest gain the palm of praise; Awed into slaves while groveling millions groan, And blood-stain'd steps lead upward to a throne; Far other wreaths thy virtuous temples twine, Far nobler triumphs crown a life like thine; Thine be the joys that minds immortal grace, As thine the deeds that bless a kindred race. Now raise thy sorrowed soul to views more bright, The vision'd ages rushing on thy sight; Worlds beyond worlds shall bring to light their stores, Time, nature, science blend their utmost powers, To show, concentred in one blaze of fame, The ungather'd glories that await thy name.