Digital Grainger

An Online Edition of The Sugar-Cane (1764)

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  • Charm’d with the murmur of the tinkling rill;
  • Charm’d with the hummings of the neighbouring hive;)
  • Welcome thy glad approach: but chief the Cane,
  • Whose juice now longs to murmur down the spout,

  • Hails thy lov’d coming; January, hail!1 [30]

  • O M ***!2 thou, whose polish’d mind contains
  • Each science useful to thy native isle!
  • Philosopher, without the hermit’s spleen!3
  • Polite, yet learned; and, tho’ solid, gay!
  • Critic, whose head each beauty, fond, admires; [35]
  • Whose heart each error flings in friendly shade!
  • Planter, whose youth sage cultivation taught
  • Each secret lesson of her sylvan school:4
  • To thee the Muse a grateful tribute pays;
  • She owes to thee the precepts of her song: [40]
  • Nor wilt thou, sour, refuse; tho’ other cares,
  • The public welfare, claim thy busy hour;
  • With her to roam (thrice pleasing devious walk)

vitae.5 It also grows in China, and many parts of the East-Indies, where it is greatly recommended in the gout, palsy, sciatica, obstructions,6 and obstinate headachs: but it can surely not effect the removal of these terrible disorders; since, in China, the people eat the fresh root, boiled with their meat, as we do turnips; and the better sort, there, use a water distilled from it. The Spaniards call it Palo de China. The botanical name is Smilax.

  1. The new year was generally considered crop time, a period of intense activity when cane was harvested, milled, and prepared for export. ↩︎

  2. Refers to Samuel Martin (1694/5-1776), an Antiguan-born British plantation owner and author of Essay upon Plantership, which was first published in Antigua around 1750 and then in several more editions before the end of the eighteenth century. The Essay contains Martin’s recommendations for plantation management and covers topics ranging from the planting and harvesting of cane to the regulation of enslaved labor. ↩︎

  3. Bad temper or a melancholy temperament. ↩︎

  4. Informal education provided by experience in nature or the wilderness, rather than in the classroom. ↩︎

  5. The hard, dense wood of the guaiac tree (Guaiacum officinale or Guaiacum sanctum, both of which have native ranges that include the Caribbean). Lignum vitae (“wood of life”) was used to treat a variety of diseases, including syphilis and yaws. ↩︎

  6. Gout is metabolic arthritis, frequently in the joints of the large toe, resulting in painful inflammations caused by deposits of uric acid crystals. Palsy is paralysis of the skeletal muscles. Sciatica is irritation or inflammation of the sciatic nerve. It causes severe pain from the lower back to the legs. Obstructions are blocks in any tubular organ or structure, (i.e., an intestinal bowel blockage, which causes vomiting, distension, and abdominal pain). ↩︎