Note 50 — Canto IV.
Reading edition
In later editions the last three stanzas are omitted, and in their place is added the following, taken partly from the words of the Inchantress in the next picture:
"If Neptune on my prowess smiles, And I detect his hidden isles, I hear some warning spirit say: 'No monarch will your toils repay: 'For this the ungrateful shall combine, 'And hard misfortune must be thine; 'For this the base reward remains 'Of cold neglect and galling chains! 'In a poor solitude forgot, 'Reproach and want shall be the lot 'Of him that gives new worlds to Spain 'And westward spreads her golden reign. 'On thy design what woes attend! 'The nations at the ocean's end 'No longer destined to be free 'Shall owe distress and death to thee! 'The seats of innocence and love 'Shall soon the scenes of horror prove; 'But why disturb these Indian climes, 'The pictures of more happy times! 'Has avarice, with unfeeling breast, 'Has cruelty thy soul possess'd? 'May ruin on thy boldness wait!— 'And sorrow crown thy toils too late!'"