Digital Grainger

An Online Edition of The Sugar-Cane (1764)

119

  • Weave antic measures. O, could my weak song,
  • O could my song, like his, heaven-favoured bard,
  • Who led desponding Sparta’s oft-beat hosts,
  • To victory, to glory; fire your souls
  • With English ardor! for now England’s swains, [595]
  • (The Man of Norfolk,1 swains of England, thank;)
  • All emulous, to Freedom’s standard fly,
  • And drive invasion from their native shore:2
  • How would my soul exult with conscious pride;

  • Nor grudge those wreaths Tyrtaeus gain’d of yore.3 [600]

  • OR are ye fond of rich luxurious cates?—
  • Can aught in Europe emulate the pine,4
  • Or fruit forbidden, native of your isles?
  • Sons of Apicius,5 say, can Europe’s seas,
  • Can aught the edible creation yields, [605]
  • Compare with turtle,6 boast of land and wave?
  • Can Europe’s seas, in all their finny realms,
  • Aught so delicious as the Jew-fish7 show?
  • Tell me what viands, land or streams produce,

VER. 596. The Man of Norfolk,] The Honourable General George Townshend.

VER. 608. Jew-Fish] This, tho’ a very large, is one of the most delicate fishes that swim; being preferable to caramaw, king-fish,8 or camaree: some even chuse it before turtle. The Jew-fish is often met with at Antigua, which enjoys the happiness of having on its coast few, if any, poisoned fishes.

  1. George Townshend, first Marquess Townshend (1724-1807), an English politician and caricaturist who also had a distinguished military career, serving as second in command to Major-General James Wolfe in Canada during the Seven Years’ War and then as overall commander after Wolfe’s death during the campaign to take French-held Quebec, which surrendered to British forces in 1759. ↩︎

  2. Probably refers to a failed attempt in 1759 by French forces to invade Britain. ↩︎

  3. Tyrtaeus was a Spartan poet of the mid-seventh century BCE who wrote about the Second Messenian War and exhorted Spartans to fight to the death for their city. Sparta was a powerful city-state in ancient Greece. ↩︎

  4. The pineapple (Ananas comosus) originated in Central or South America. It was brought by Amerindians to the Caribbean (Higman 188). ↩︎

  5. Apicius, a name used for several Roman connoisseurs of luxury but especially Marcus Gavius Apicius, a gourmet who lived during the reign of Tiberius (CE 14-37). He exhausted his fortune on feasts and committed suicide rather than economize. ↩︎

  6. Probably refers to the green turtle (Chelonia mydas), the only species of turtle indigenous to the Caribbean that has served as a significant food source for human beings. ↩︎

  7. Jew-fish, the Atlantic goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara). A large sporting and food fish of warm coastal waters. Its range includes the Caribbean, the Atlantic, and the Pacific. Now a critically endangered species. Because it is not clear if the name Jewfish invokes a history of anti-Semitic associations, it was officially changed in 2001 by the American Fisheries Society to Atlantic goliath grouper. ↩︎

  8. Also known as the king mackerel (Scomberomorus cavalla), which is found in the western Atlantic from Massachusetts to Brazil. ↩︎