grace:
For deeds like these a purer incense springs,
Warm from the swelling heart its source we trace!

Yet not to foster the rich gifts of mind
Alone can all thy lib'ral cares employ;
Not to the few those gifts adorn, confin'd,
They spread an ampler sphere of genuine joy.

While pleasure's lucid star illumes thy bower,
Thy pity views the distant storm that bends
Where want unshelter'd wastes the ling'ring hour;--
And meets the blessing that to heav'n ascends!

For this, while fame thro' each successive age
On her exulting lip thy name shall breathe;
While woman, pointing to thy finish'd page,
Claims from imperious man the critic wreathe;

Truth on her spotless record shall enroll
Each moral beauty to her spirit dear;
Paint in bright characters each grace of soul--
While admiration pours a gen'rous tear.

HELEN MARIA WILLIAMS.

London, April the 24th, 1784.

ADVERTISEMENT.

That no readers of the following work may entertain expectations
respecting it which it would ill satisfy, it is necessary to acquaint
them, that the author has not had the presumption even to attempt a
full, historical narration of the fall of the Peruvian empire. To
describe that important event with accuracy, and to display with
clearness and force the various causes which combined to produce it,
would require all the energy of genius, and the most glowing colours of
imagination. Conscious of her utter inability to execute such a design,
she has only aimed at a simple detail of some few incidents that make a
part of that romantic story; where the unparalleled sufferings of an
innocent and amiable people, form the most affecting subjects of true
pathos, while their climate, totally unlike our own, furnishes new and
ample materials for poetic description.

THE ARGUMENT.

_General description of the country of Peru, and of its animal, and
vegetable productions--the virtues of the people--character of_ Ataliba,
_their Monarch--his love for_ Alzira--_their nuptials celebrated--
character of_ Zorai, _her father--descent of the genius of Peru--
prediction of the fate of that empire._

PERU.

CANTO THE FIRST.

Where the pacific deep in silence laves
The western shore, with slow and languid waves,
There, lost Peruvia, rose thy cultur'd scene,
The wave an emblem of thy joy serene:
There nature ever in luxuriant showers 5
Pours from her treasures, the perennial flowers;
In