Britons, you stay too long,
Quickly aboard bestow you,
And with a merry Gale
Swell you stretch’d Sayle,
With Vowes as strong,
As the Winds that blow you.
Your course securely steere,
West and by South forth keepe,
Rocks, Lee-shores, nor Shoales,
When EOLUS scowles,
You neede not feare,
So absolute the Deepe.
And cheerfully at Sea,
Successe you still intice,
To get the Pearle and Gold,
And ours to hold,
VIRGINIA,
Earth’s onely Paradise.
Michael Drayton, ‘To the Virginian Voyage’ (1619)
Posted by divingforpearls 