ARRIV’D, at last, Niagara to scan,

He walks erect and feels himself a man;

Surveys the cataract with a “critic’s eye,”

Resolv’d to pass no “imperfections by”—

Niag’ra, wonder of the Deity,

Where God’s own spirit reigns in majesty.

With sullen roar the foaming billows sweep;

A world of waters thunders o’er the steep;

The unmingled colours laugh upon the spray,

And one eternal rainbow gilds the day.

Oh, glorious God! Oh, scene surpassing all!

“True, true,” quoth he, “’tis something of a fall.”

Now, shall unpunish’d such a vagrant band,

Pour like the plagues of Egypt on the land,

Eyeing each fault, to all perfection blind,

Shedding the taint of a malignant mind?