P R E F A C E.

You mighty lords, who with respected grace,
Stand at the helm original: "stern" of good example;
And the entire body of this population,
Guide with a mere turn of your hand:
Keep a steady course, avoid all disgrace,
And observe the peak of glory for our land.

Hold up disgraced knowledge from the ground,
Keep virtue in high demand, and give worth its due.
Do not let neglect and crude original: "barbarous" methods destroy
So beautiful a good, bringing back the darkness once more.
Be not—oh, be not found an accomplice
To the death of that which must give life to you.

Where will you have your virtuous names safely kept?
In gorgeous tombs, or in secure, sacred chambers?
Do you not see how those fallen ruins original: "prostrate heaps" betrayed
Your ancestors' bones, and could not keep them safe?
And will you trust deceitful stones, however beautifully laid,
And think they will be more faithful to your honor?

No, no; unsparing time will proudly issue
A warrant for destruction original: "warrant unto wreck" that, with a single frown,
Will tear apart all these mockeries of vanity,
And make them as they were before: uncelebrated and unknown.
Poor, empty honors that can barely protect
Your memories, which cannot even hold onto their own!

And what purpose does that wondrous monument original: "trophy" serve now,
Which stands on the grand plain near Wilton? The author refers to Stonehenge, located on the Salisbury Plain near the town of Wilton.
That huge, silent heap cannot tell us how,
Nor what, nor from where it came, nor by whose hands it was built,
Nor for whose glory it was set on display—
Showing how much our pride mocks the pride of other lands.

Upon which, when the gazing traveler original: "passenger"
Has looked eagerly with wonder,
And would desperately love to know its origin and what it was—
How it was erected there, and how long ago—
He inquires and asks his fellow traveler
What he has heard, and what his opinion is!