Charles Fenerty Official Website

This was another undated poem of Fenerty's, but it was likely written around the time of his poem Essay on Progress. The decline of Spain was nothing new in 1866, leaving the spark of interest to literature. Henry Thomas Buckle had just published his second volume of "History of Civilization in England." It was the first volume that caught Fenerty's interest and had him quote Buckle's account of the Pyramids in Egypt. In Buckle's second volume (a three part volume), Buckle discusses the Decline of Spain. Since the two volumes were published five years apart (while Fenerty was in Australia), and the fact that Essay on Progress was written prior to New Zealand (as stated), it possible that this poem was written in

Abbé Raynal (1713 - 1796)

1863 to 1864 (since these books were available more readily in Australia due to the amount of trade with England at the time). The poem also carries the same tone as his Essay on Progress; questioning man's achievements:

Where are the brilliants a Columbus gave,
To gem the sceptre of thy Ferdinand?
Those realms, the glory of the western wave,
Which made thy commerce vast, thy empire grand!

Spain made a rapid decline after the New World was found; turning into a financial catastrophe.