Introduction to the Tale of Edward and Orra

THY favours, Nature, goddess dear!
Are not to place or sphere confin'd,
To shape, complexion, or degree;
They're dealt, at large, among mankind.

Whate'er in station, title, dress,
Bright and respectable we find,
Nature the brilliant polish gives,
That graces and exalts the mind.

COLIN, by birth decreed to share
The servile labours of the field,
Or watch, beneath the milker's hand,
His herds their steaming fullness yield:

When by his few selected friends
Encircled, at his homely board,
Display'd an elegance of mind
That might have grac'd the proudsst lord.

COLIN had gracious been, and mild,
Tho' born o'er Tartars rude to reign;
And GEORGE been pious, great, and good,
Tho' born an humble village swain;

The attributes to regal sway
A cold obedience may invite,
But 'tis the goodness of his heart
That to obedience adds delight.

Natives of Europe, wherefore boast
The fair complexion of a skin,
'Tis not how climates act without,
But, how great Nature works within:

The beauteous tint which she displays
Engages Wisdom's sober eye,
Beyond the fairest outward form,
That blooms beneath our milder sky.

Nay, Love itself hath shone as bright,
As pure, as tender, and as true,
Beneath an Afric's sable breast,
As ever British bosom knew.

How hearts of Moorish climes have lov'd,
How long, how constant, and how well,
Let EDWARD's and his ORRA's Tale
In plain and simple numbers tell.