A POEM Upon the Undertaking of the Royal Company of SCOTLAND, TRADING TO AFRICA And the INDIES.  
EDINBURGH, Printed for James Wardlaw, and to be sold at his Shop in the Parliament Closs, 1697.   

A POEM Upon the Undertaking of the Royal Company of SCOTLAND, Trading to AFRICA and the INDIES.  

LOng lay Great Britain in the Ocean's Arms,  
Naked, Unseen, Undressed & void of Charms;  
Unknown to Others, scarce to herself well known,  
Content with half of what was then her own,  
Rich only in her Native Innocence,  
When other Nations brought their Riches hence.   

The Wise Phaenecians, Neptune did adore,  
Long  the Warlike Romans knew his Power,  
Mars was their God to him with Zeal they bowed,  
And hardly maimed Rites to Jove allowed:  
His Image did adorn their Capitol,  
They styled him Mighty Jove, and that was all;  
All other Altars, did neglected ,  
Whilst Mars his Temples smoked continually,  
No victim there did bleed to Neptune's Name,  
They only heard of such a God by Fame,  
And hated him by Nature mortally,  
Because he did protect their Enemy,  
Carthage their Rival did that God adore,  
He loaded them with Wealth from every Shoar.  
But Mars delights to keep his People poor▪  
For Poverty does make all Mankind brave.  
Few Value Life, who no Convenience have,  
These from their birth were always Rival Gods,  
Neptune and Mars were ever more at odds?  
These Mars prefers, wise Neptune still neglects,  
As Albion now does find by sad efects.  
Neptun's the God the Britan's first did know,  
His right to them did Carthaginians show.   

In Carthage Ships which hither came for Tinn,  
(As same reports) did Britan's Trade begin.  
Carbage the child of Tyre, that Queen of Trade  
Long courted Albion, but did ne'er invade.  
Then with their ships their chiefest god was brought  
A God whose harmless Rites are easily taught.  
A God whose chief delight is liberty,  
A God abhores all sorts of tyranny:  
Wither of one or many; matters not,  
Hated Opression was in Hell begot:  
But of all sorts with which the World's accursed,  
The many Headed Tyrant is the worst,  
Albion has felt them all▪ her wealth and ease  
Makes them in liberty so hard to please,  
There's scarce an Age but brings her old disease,  
And at the first Invasion Caesar brought,  
Rome's Arms, and Mars here first oppression taught.  
With Fears and Jealousies in wealth they swell,  
They seem to want Diversion when they're well.  
In times like these they must their errors see.  
Ah! may they for the future wiser be,  
And throw no more away their Trade by Sea.   

When Neptune first did to this Isle resort,  
Pleased with its Site, he placed there his Court,  
And seldom did his Presence thence withdraw,  
But when his hated Rival gave the Law.  
The Fates and Nature did divide the Land,  
Albion's two Daughters, each their Part command.  
Two Nymphs of Equal Beauty, Twins by Birth,  
Did equally divide their Native Earth,  
The Eldest South, the Youngest Northward Reigns.  
This over Mountains, that o'er fertile Plains.   

Neptune did Caledonia Court, disdainful She  
Slighted his Love, would Mars his Mistress be,  
That God who does in Human Blood delight,  
Him She adored, and forced her Sons to fight.  
First in domestic slaughters taught them Wars,  
Then drove them thence to search for death & scars  
On foreign shores, they starving honour got  
No Land but boasts the Tomh of some great SCOT  
Thus to delight her cruel Lovers Eyes,  
By Law she does her Children sacrifice,  
An Army on his Altar yearly dies.  
Worthies, who had they been in Trade employed  
Had brought her Riches in at every Tide,  
For Liberal Neptune, did present her Store.  
Of Fishfull Harbours round about her Shoar  
No Nation in the World can boast of more.   

Fame says two Weirds did there arrive of old,  
And bids the Natives search their Hills for Gold.  
But blind unthinking Mortals sure they be,  
Who turn up Rocks when they may blow the Sea  
Fate the true source of Wealth to Neptune gave,  
God Pluto is no more than Neptune's Slave.  
He digs towards Hell, & from its Confines draws  
Money, the Scales of Wealth, but not the Caus●  
Riches proceed from Labour well employed,  
When mutual Use of things does Men divide.  
Money's the Standart does the Cause decide,  
But 'tis its Name, not Nature which prevail  
Money and Money worth are equal Scales:  
Trace but the World, you'll find these Lands most poor  
Abound in Ours and boast the richest Oar.  
But every Nation which frequent the Seas,  
Wallow in Wealth, and pass their time at Ease.  
Trade needs no fertile Acres for Support,  
Where ever Freedom lives, it makes its Court;  
And only craves a safe and open Port;  
Wherever it thrives, there Strangers do abound,  
But where its wanting, Penury is found,  
And makes such Land unhospitable Ground.   

A proof of which is miserable Me.  
Who never did an willing injury.  
And yet have more than six years' Prison found,  
For setting foot on Caledonian Ground,  
No wonder then that when I touch my Lyre,  
My tunes runs low because they want their Fire.  
The Theme I treat is Glorious, Great and Brave  
But he that sings it a poor chained Slave,  
Like caged Birds; he utters broken Notes,  
These whistle loud, poor things and stretch their throats  
Putting Complaints in Tune & warble Sighs,  
To move some pity to their Miseries.  
But all in vain; as vainly do I sing,  
For none that hear me dare compassion bring;  
To speak on my behalf proves bad intent,  
But to assist me's Boot or Banishment  
Ill must a Stranger surely pass his Time.  
Where Pity's Sin, and Charity a Crime!  
A wanting Stranger too despised by all,  
Whose bare Complaints are counted criminal.  
Cease then my Muse, and speak of this no more  
But shift thy Fancy to the English Shoar,  
An Hospitable Shoar by Trade refined,  
To Strangers ever Equal, Just and Kind  
Ah! Heaven that to their Kings they were the fame  
In this they fail, in this they are to blame.  
Their Errors on that head do Volumes swell,  
Ah! might they ever in Oblivion dwell.   

In that once happy Land, & may it be,  
Happy again, which I scarce hope to see.  
There lives a sort of Merchants might become  
The wisest Council Board in Christendom.  
Numbers of such who do as rightly know.  
Men's interens in things as Man can do.  
True Sons of Neptune, who have wonders done▪  
And think of all the World as one great Town.  
Men whose consummate Understanding knô,  
The rates of hazard, and what's safe to do.  
How to join Stock, and how to share the Gain,  
Such as all litigating tri●ks disdain.  
Never o'er busy, never unemployed,  
But between Care and Pleasure time divide.  
New Undertake hourly they devise,  
Their very Table Talk would make one Wise.   

In this great School, some Scots-men now are bred,  
And there find out the Mysteries of Trade.  
Whence as their Genius leads them, thence they'll go,  
To every Foreign Nation, English knô.  
To Turkey, Italy, and Africa,  
To India, Persia, and America:  
Amongst the Many, visit every Shoar,  
Judicious Paterson, and many more.  
Fraught with Experience, back again doth come,  
Striving to propagat their Skill at home:  
Home where all Mankind wish to find their Rest,  
A Charm which makes all Countries seem the Best.  
Why it is so? Reason is at a stand,  
But all Men wish their Graves in Native Land.   

Should I those Worthies go about to Name,  
IT were endless work, they will survive in Fame,  
To times these creeping Lines shall never see,  
To times after, which no time shall be.  
That endless Glory nothing can prevent,  
England Records their Names in Parliament.   

Envy does ever Frantic Council give,  
Envy that would destroy, shall make them live▪  
Envy that ugly Flag, with Sneakie Hair,  
Which in her rage, doth her own entrails tear,  
Envy that Child of Pride begot in Hell,  
Oh! May she ever with our Neighbours dwell▪  
These Neighbours which so hate our British Isle,  
They seek our Ruin, at our Losses smile.  
That Fury which could wish no Land to thrive,  
With scrieching Cries did the Alarm give.  
As if some dreadful Fire again had laid,  
Our Wealth in Ashes, & destroy, d our Trade,  
Or, that some Potent Nation did Invade.  
Haste, look about you, English Men, she cries,  
The Scots will Trade, Scotland is growing Wise.  
Her Senate does discern her Interest,  
They'll choice Trade, by which you once were Blest.  
Free Trade to the Indies and America,  
Will make them Rich like you, you poor as they.   

The Poison drunk, soon the Infection spreads,  
Malice, Disdain, and Mischief, filll their Heads.  
Three Furies which do Envy still attend,  
And never do distinguish Foe from Friend.  
Now these that could silently sit, and see  
Bantam surprised, Amboyna ruin'd be;  
The Greenland Trade destroyed, the Baltic lost,  
And Holland Fleets still Fishing on our Coast;  
That could with Patience part with Suranam,  
And let all Trading run to Amsterdam.  
At a wise Thing at home enraged grow,  
And by their Votes the outmost malice show:  
As if that Scotland's ruin they designed,  
As if the Lands were not together joined;  
When joined they be, by Power and Nature to,  
So that th' one's fall, the other must undo:  
Let Trade increase, no matter where's its Seat,  
If either Thrieve, it's Britanny grows Great.  
That Scotland's like to Thrieve is very plain,  
've got a Law, and can that Law maintain;  
A Law that sets all sorts of Trading free,  
No Land, a Wiser Land did ever see:  
The English anger proves its Excellence,  
They learn the Mighty Value of it thence:  
Wise Paterson, or's Friends, could charm but few,  
Tho all they said, was Potent, Just, and True,  
They made it evident, that Trade by Sea,  
Needs little more Support, than being free,  
Freedom's the Polar-star, by which it steers,  
Secure its Freedom, and it nothing fears.  
No mighty Power it needs, no fertile Lands,  
No Gold, nor Silver Mines, it all commands.  
All that our Nature needs, or can desire,  
All that for Pride or pleasure we require.  
Free Trade will give, and teach us how to use,  
Instruct us what to take, and what refuse:  
Trade has a secret Virtue none can see,  
Tho ne'er so Wise, except they Traders be.  
It is not ten per Cent, nor three times ten,  
Makes a Land Rich, but many Trading Men.  
Men Skilled, the Mysteries of Trade, that know  
Its Springs, and how to stop or let them flow:  
Freedom draws such, & where there's many found,  
It is most certain, Riches will abound.  
An hundred such, ten thousand do employ.  
Who find their Wealth increase, but know not why,  
And as they Thrive, their Members multiply,  
The want of Money such joint Stocks supply,  
When divers gain by few men's Industry.   

To the Discourse the Senate lend an Ear,  
Some vote the Cause, who the Effects do fear:  
Tho one and all consent to the Design,  
Not one in ten did mean therein to join.  
In all Debates, where there are many speak,  
Th' Ignorant still do most Objections make:  
And not discerning where the matter lies,  
Seek by much doubting to be counted Wise.  
They answer when Right Reason proves they err▪  
You'll pardon me, it's my Opinion, Sir,  
In all elected Councils these abound,  
Such heads like empty Vessels make a sound:  
The brainless gaping Vulgar hear the Noise,  
And understanding nothing, vote them Wise:  
These Envy's activ'st Agents alwise be,  
They can spy dangers no Wise Man can see.  
Alas! cry such, our Land you know is poor.  
What mighty Stock have we to bring in more.   

As wisely did the Ancient British cry,  
We were born naked Romans, so we'll die.  
We feel, the Cold, & know your Robes are warm,  
Yet should we us them, they'd but do us harm,  
Make us grow Lazy, and in Ease delight,  
Our Bodies tender, and unapt to fight.  
So say these Talkers, mighty Trade would be  
A sharper spurr to growing Luxury.  
'Twould but increase our charge by Servants fees,  
Make the Poor easy, they'll grow ill to please.  
Such Stuff as this, does cost but little thought,  
Yet by such Stuff, all Vulgar Heads are caught.  
Blinded by Custom, Reason they oppose,  
And never see one inch before their Nose.  
It's not an easy Task to stem the Tide  
Of noisy Scoffers, which do still deride,  
All that her brutal Senses have not tried.   

I who know this, and see what here is done,  
Admire the steady Soul of Paterson.  
It is no common Genius can persuade,  
A Nation bred in War, to think of Trade.  
It is no less than Solomon could show,  
Their Interest in it to the Warlike Jew.  
IT was fi● indeed, the Wisest thing on Earth,  
Should to the Wisest Monarch own its Birth:  
Those people once Blest, with that mighty Prince,  
Have been a Trading Nation ever since.  
Where e'er dispersed, where e'er they Strangers be,  
They still do propagat this Mystery.   

From Palestine, and its Phenecian Shoar,  
Wise Navigation spread the World all o'er.  
The Jews where ever born, are Merchants all,  
What's Art in Us, in them seems Natural.  
We must to Apprentice, e'er we learn to Trade,  
They from their Infancy are Merchants bred.  
They seem of Providence the special Care,  
Of all great Things, they have the greatest Share,  
And prove wise Merchants, never Exiles are.  
Their Country lost, the World's all their own,  
Where e'er they live, they seem to be at Home.  
Their Righteous Father's Faith, was Blest from Heaven,  
To them the Law and Gospel both were given.  
And though by them defilled, they yet were made,  
The Instruments to spread these Truths by Trade.   

Trade Navigations Spurr, dispersed Jews,  
Indeed teach other Nations how to use,  
Tho they its Genuine Candour most abuse.  
False Coins, Adulterate Wars, & all that's shame,  
Or fraud in Trade, with them seems Lawful Gain.  
Our most ungrateful Neighbours learned from them▪  
To clip our Coin, and send it back again,  
Whilst to save them, we all Invention rack,  
The shameless Rascals run us in the back.  
Now it appears, 've sent us five time more  
False Money then of true, e'er past the Tower.  
Money it's called, and did for Money go,  
Till it has made them high and brought us low,  
How we shall rise, is past Men's skill to know.  
So bold a barefaced fraud was never known.  
We fall, and are with impudence undone,  
Rogues not content with half of what was Good,  
Clipped off so well, our folly understood.  
They durst corrupt the Nations vitial Blood.  
We 〈…〉 Money thence,  
That two half Crowns won't sell for 18 pence:  
Ah! That I durst their Deal truly shô,  
But it's not time, so let the Villains go.  
'Tis not impossible the day should come,  
Our just enraged Vengeance may strike home;  
And make them the Reproach of Christendom.  
Justly till then we their contempt are made,  
've only left us our Plantation Trade.  
In that too by their Tricks they so much share;  
We little more than their poor Factors are.  
We drudge for Suggars, which it's they refine,  
Their Drawbacks' do our Profits undermine.  
As wisely might we send our Wool from home,  
As let them for our Moscovadoes come:  
Bribe them indeed to come & fetch them hence,  
Thus we Enrich them at our own Expense.  
We magnify their Wisdom to the Skies,  
When it's our folly only makes them Wise;  
But since it is alle foolish to complain,  
I'll bring my Thoughts to Scotland back again;  
Where all the Truths that Paterson has said;  
Had in the end but small Impression made.  
Had not the English Votes, and Noisy Fears,  
Awaked the Land, and opened all their Ears,  
Thus as one Man the Nation has combined,  
And speedily a mighty Stock is joined:  
A Stock so large, a Stock so very great,  
As must infallibly the Work complete:  
That the Design is Wise, I surely know,  
Tho 〈…〉 may not ●●o●.  
Wise Things when put in practice come in true,  
Till then it's fit they should be known to sew:  
●or Secrecie's the Soul of great Designs,  
Made public once, the Enemy combines.  
Nothing can be contrived though ne'er so Wise,  
If once made known, but will find Enemies.  
This much I'll say, those that oppose it most,  
Will in the End, find all their Labour lost:  
They need not Trade in Paths, were Trade before,  
Of undiscovered Trade, the World has Store.  
Many blessed Lands rich Nature can afford,  
Which never yet beheld their proper Lord:  
Lands which abound in Rivers, Meads, & Groves,  
Where unaffrighted Birds do chant their Loves:  
Where nunerous Floks, & Herds of harmless Beasts,  
Freely possess their undisturbed rests.  
Where various Trees also various Fruits produce,  
Some yielding Food, and some delicious Juice.  
Where rugged Winter never yet was seen,  
Nor least defect in everlasting Green.  
Where constant Course of equal Night and Day?  
Gives an Eternal Spring without decay.  
New fragrant Flowers, delightful to the Eyes,  
Do every Morning with the Sun arise.  
Who there to search the Earth does never stay,  
But only wipes her Dewie Sweat away:  
Whilst cooling Breezes fan her lovely Face,  
And Aromatic Smells fill every place:  
Such Lands the Sun does every day behold,  
With Hills of Silver, Rivers paved with Gold  
Lands never yet with charming Beauties Blest,  
Nor never yet with raging War oppressed.  
Never by Blood of Man or Beast defiled,  
Nor ●ever yet with Tricks of Law beguiled,  
Thus ●ree from Gild; happy in being Wild.   

On some such Shoar from all Preluctancy,  
This Company designs a Colony.  
To which all Mankind freely may resort,  
And find quick Justice in an open Port.  
To that the weary Labourer may go,  
And gain an easy Wealth in doing so.  
Small Use of tiresome Labour will be there,  
That Climb richly rewards a little Care,  
There every Man may choose a pleasant Seat,  
Which poor Men will make Rich, & Rich Men Great  
Black Slaves like busy Bees will plant them Canes  
Have Juice more sweet than honey in their Veins  
Which boiled to Sugar, brings in constant gains  
They'll raise them Cotton, Ginger, Indigo.  
Luscious, Potatoes, and the rich Coco.  
Ships thence increase to fetch these Goods away,  
For which the Stock will ready Money pay.  
By Manufactures here the Poor will live,  
So they that go and they that stay will thrive.  
Then Caledonia by her Lovers won,  
Will now Light Shining Nuptial Robes put on,  
Sea Gods, and Nymphs will dance, & Triton's play  
And yearly Celebrate her Wedding Day.   
FINIS.