Some fair peculiar graces every realm, And each from each a share of wealth acquires. But chief by numbers of industrious hands A nation's wealth is counted: numbers raise Warm emulation: where that virtue dwells, There will be Traffic's seat; there will she build Her rich emporium. Hence, ye happy swains, With hospitality inflame your breast, And emulation: the whole world receive; And with their arts, their virtues, deck your isle. Each clime, each sea, the spacious orb of each, Shall join their various stores, and amply feed The mighty brotherhood; while ye proceed, Active and enterprising, or to teach The stream a naval course, or till the wild, Or drain the fen, or stretch the long canal, Or plough the fertile billows of the deep. Why to the narrow circle of our coast Should we submit our limits, while each wind Assists the stream and sail, and the wide main Wooes us in every port? See Belgium build, Upon the foodful brine, her envy'd power; And, half her people floating on the wave, Expand her fishy regions. Thus our isle, Thus only may Britannia be enlarg’d.-- But whither, by the visions of the theme Smit with sublime delight, but whither strays The raptur'd Muse, forgetful of her task?
No common pleasure warms the generous mind, When it beholds the labours of the loom; How widely round the globe they are dispers'd, From little tenements by wood or croft, Through many a slender path, how sedulous, As rills to rivers broad, they speed their way To public roads, to Fosse, or Watling-street, Or Armine, ancient works: and thence explore, Through every navigable wave, the sea,
Whose will imperious forc'd a hundred streams, Through many a forest, many a spacious wild, To stretch their scanty trains from sea to sea, That some unprofitable skiff might float Across irriguous dales, and hollow'd rocks.
Far easier pains may swell our gentler floods, And through the centre of the isle conduct To naval union. Trent and Severn's wave, By plains alone disparted, woo to join Majestic Thamis. With their silver urns The nimble-footed Naiads of the springs Await, upon the dewy lawn, to speed And celebrate the union; and the light Wood-nymphs; and those, who o'er the grots pre- side,
Whose stores bituminous with sparkling fires, In Summer's tedious absence, cheer the swains, Long sitting at the loom; and those besides, Who crown, with yellow sheaves, the farmer's hopes, And all the genii of commercial toil: These on the dewy lawns await, to speed And celebrate the union, that the fleece, And glossy web, to every port around
May lightly glide along. E'en now behold, Adown a thousand floods, the burthen'd barks, With white sails glistening, through the gloomy
Haste to their harbours. See the silver maze Of stately Thamis, ever chequer'd o'er With deeply-laden barges, gliding smooth And constant as his stream: in growing pomp, By Neptune still attended, slow he rolls To great Augusta's mart, where lofty Trade, Amid a thousand golden spires enthron'd, Gives audience to the world: the strand around Close swarms with busy crowds of many a realm. What bales, what wealth, what industry, what fleets!
That laps the green earth round: through Tyne, and Lo, from the simple fleece how much proceeds!
Through Weare, and Lune, and merchandising Hull,
And Swale, and Aire, whose crystal waves reflect The various colours of the tinctur'd web; Through Ken, swift rolling down his rocky dale, Like giddy youth impetuous, then at Wick Curbing his train, and, with the sober pace Of cautious Eld, meandering to the deep; [ware Through Dart, and sullen Exe, whose murmuring Envies the Dune and Rother, who have won The serge and kersie to their blanching streams; Through Towy, winding under Merlin's towers, And Usk, that frequent, among hoary rocks, On her deep waters paints th' impending scene, Wild torrents, crags, and woods, and mountain
The northern Cambrians, an industrious tribe, Carry their labours on pigmean steeds, Of size exceeding not Leicestrian sheep, Yet strong and sprightly over hill and dale They travel unfatigued, and lay their bales In Salop's streets, beneath whose lofty walls Pearly Sabrina waits them with her barks, And spreads the swelling sheet. For no-where far From some transparent river's naval course Arise, and fall, our various hills and vales, No-where far distant from the masted wharf, We need not vex the strong laborious haud With toil enormous, as th' Egyptian king, Who join'd the sable waters of the Nile, From Memphis' towers, to th' Erythræan gulf: Or as the monarch of enfeebled Gaul,
Our manufactures exported. Voyage through the Channel, and by the coast of Spain. View of the Mediterranean. Decay of our Turkey-trade. Address to the factors there. Voyage through the Baltic. The mart of Petersburgh. The ancient channels of commerce to the Indies.. The modern course thither. Shores of Afric. Reflections on the slave-trade. The Cape of Good Hope, and the castern coast of Africa. Trade to Persia and Indostan precarious, through tyranny and frequent insurrections. Disputes. between the French and English, on the coast of Coromandel, censured. A prospect of the Spice-Islands, and of China. Traffic at Canton. Our woollen manufactures known at Pekin, by the caravans from Russia. Description of that journey. Transition to the western hemisphere. Voyage of Raleigh. The state and advantages of our North American colonies. Severe winters in those climates: hence the passage through Hudson's Bay impracticable. Inquiries for an easier passage into the Pacific Ocean. View of the coasts of South America, and of those temnpestuous seas. Lord Anson's expedition, and success against the Spaniards. The naval power of
Britain consistent with the welfare of all nations. View of our probable improvements in traffic, and the distribution of our woollen manufactures over the whole globe.
Now, with our woolly treasures amply stor❜d, Glide the tall fleets into the widening main, A floating forest: every sail, unfurl'd, Swells to the wind, and gilds the azure sky. Meantime, in pleasing care, the pilot steers Steady; with eye intent upon the steel, Steady, before the breeze, the pilot steers: While gaily o'er the waves the mounting prows Dance, like a shoal of dolphins, and begin To streak with various paths the hoary deep. Batavia's shallow sounds by some are sought, Or sandy Elb or Weser, who receive
The swain's and peasant's toil with grateful hand, Which copious gives return: while some explore Deep Finnic gulfs, and a new shore and mart; The bold creation of that Kesar's power, Illustrious Peter, whose magnific toils Repair the distant Caspian, and restore
To trade its ancient ports. Some Thanet's strand, And Dover's chalky cliff, behind them turn. Soon sinks away the green and level beach Of Rumney marish and Rye's silent port, By angry Neptune clos'd, and Vecta's isle, Like the pale Moon in vapour, faintly bright. A hundred opening marts are seen, are lost; Devonia's hills retire, and Edgecomb mount, Waving its gloomy groves, delicious scene. Yet steady o'er the waves they steer: and now The fluctuating world of waters wide, In boundless magnitude, around them swells; O'er whose imaginary brim, nor towns,
Nor woods, nor mountain tops, nor aught appears, But Phoebus' orb, refulgent lamp of light, Millions of leagues aloft: Heaven's azure vault Bends over-head, majestic, to its base, Uninterrupted clear circumference;
Till, rising o'er the flickering waves, the Cape Of Finisterre, a cloudy spot, appears. Again, and oft, th' adventurous sails disperse; These to Iberia, others to the coast Of Lusitania, th' ancient Tharsis deem'd Of Solomon; fair regions, with the webs Of Norwich pleas'd or those of Manchester; Light airy clothing for their vacant swains, And visionary monks. We, in return, Receive Cantabrian steel, and fleeces soft, Segovian or Castilian, far renown'd; And goll's attractive metal, pledge of wealth, Spur of activity, to good or ill
Powerful incentive: or Hesperian fruits, Fruits of spontaneous growth, the citron bright, The fig, and orange, and heart-cheering wine. Those ships, from ocean broad, which voyage The gates of Hercules 39, find many seas, [through And bays unnumber'd, opening to their keels; But shores inhospitable oft to fraud And rapine turn'd, or dreary tracts become Of desolation. The proud Roman coasts, Fall'n, like the Punic, to the dashing waves Resign their ruins: Tiber's boasted flood, Whose pompous moles o'erlook'd the subject deep, Now creeps along, through brakes and yellow dust,
39 The streights of Gibraltar.
While Neptune scarce perceives its murmuring rill: Such are th' effects, when Virtue slacks her hand; Wild Nature back returns: along these shores Neglected Trade with difficulty toils, Collecting slender stores, the sun-dry'd grape, Or capers from the rock, that prompt the taste Of Luxury. E'en Egypt's fertile strand, Bereft of human discipline, has lost Its ancient lustre: Alexandria's port, Once the metropolis of trade, as Tyre, And elder Sidon, as the Attic town, Beautiful Athens, as rich Corinth, Rhodes, Unhonour'd droops. Of all the numerous marts, That in those glittering seas with splendour rose, Only Byzantium, of peculiar site, Remains in prosperous state; and Tripolis, And Smyrna, sacred ever to the Muse.
To these resort the delegates of trade, Social in life, a virtuous brotherhood; And bales of softest wool from Bradford looms, Or Stroud, dispense; yet see, with vain regret, Their stores, once highly priz'd, no longer now Or sought, or valued: copious webs arrive, Smooth-wov'n of other than Britannia's fleece, On the throng'd strand aliuring; the great skill Of Gaul, and greater industry, prevails;
That proud imperious foe. Yet, ah-'t is not— Wrong not the Gaul; it is the foe within, Impairs our ancient marts: it is the bribe; 'T is he, who pours into the shops of trade That impious poison: it is he, who gains The sacred seat of parliament by means That vitiate and emasculate the mind; By sloth, by lewd intemperance, and a scene Of riot, worse than that which ruin'd Rome. This, this the Tartar, and remote Chinese, And all the brotherhood of life bewail.
Meantime (while those, who dare be just, oppose The various powers of many-headed Vice) Ye delegates of Trade, by patience rise O'er difficulties: in this sultry clime Note what is found of use: the flix of goat, Red-wool, and balm, and caufee's berry brown, Or dropping gum, or opium's lenient drug; Unnumber'd arts await them: trifles oft, By skilful labour, rise to high esteem. Nor what the peasant, near some lucid wave, Pactolus, Simoïs, or Mæander slow,
Renown'd in story, with his plough up-turns, Neglect; the hoary medal, and the vase, Statue and bust, of old magnificence Beautiful reliques: Oh, could modern time Restore the mimic art, and the clear mien Of patriot sages, Walsinghams and Yorkes, And Cecils, in long-lasting stone preserve! But mimic Art and Nature are im pair'd- Impair'd they seem-or in a varied dress Delude our eyes: the world in change delights; Change then your searches with the varied modes And wants of realms. Sabean frankincense Rare is collected now; few altars smoke Now in the idol fane: Panchaiah views Trade's busy fleet regardless pass her coast: Nor frequent are the freights of snow-white woofs, Since Rome, no more the mistress of the world, Varies her garb, and treads her darken'd streets With gloomy cowl, majestical no more.
See the dark spirit of tyrannic power. The Thracian channel, long the road of Trade To the deep Euxine and its naval streams,
And the Mæotis, now is barr'd with chains And forts of hostile battlement: in aught That joys mankind the arbitrary Turk Delights not insolent of rule, he spreads Thraldom and desolation o'er his realms.
Another path to Scythia's wide domains Commerce discovers: the Livonian gulf Receives her sails, and leads them to the port Of rising Petersburgh, whose splendid streets Swell with the webs of Leeds: the Cossac there, The Calmuc, and Mungalian, round the bales In crowds resort, and their warm'd limbs enfold, Delighted; and the hardy Samoïd,
Rough with the stings of frost, from his dark caves Ascends, and thither hastes, ere Winter's rage O'ertake his homeward step; and they that dwell Along the banks of Don's and Volga's streams; And borderers of the Caspian, who renew That ancient path to India's climes, which fill'd With proudest affluence the Colchian state.
Many have been the ways to those renown'd Luxuriant climes of Indus, early known To Memphis; to the port of wealthy Tyre; To Tadmor, beauty of the wilderness, Who down the long Euphrates sent her sails; And sacred Salem, when her numerous fleets, From Ezion-geber, pass'd th' Arabian gulf.
But later times, more fortunate, have found, O'er occan's open wave, a surer course, Sailing the western coast of Afric's realms, Of Mauritania, and Nigritian tracts, And islands of the Gorgades, the bounds, On the Atlantic brine, of ancient trade; But not of modern, by the virtue led Of Gama and Columbus. The whole globe Is now, of commerce, made the scene immense, Which daring ships frequent, associated, Like doves, or swallows, in th' ethereal flood, Or, like the eagle, solitary seen.
Some, with more open course, to Indus steer; Some coast from port to port, with various men And manners conversant; of th' angry surge, That thunders loud, and spreads the cliffs with foam, Regardless, or the monsters of the deep, Porpoise, or grampus, or the ravenous shark, That chase their keels; or threatening rock, o'erhead, Of Atlas old; beneath the threatening rocks, Reckless, they furl their sails, and bartering take Soft flakes of wool; for in soft flakes of wool, Like the Silurian, Atlas' dales abound.
The shores of Sus inhospitable rise, And high Bojador; Zara too displays Unfruitful deserts; Gambia's wave inisles An ouzy coast, and pestilential ills Diffuses wide; behind are burning sands, Adverse to life, and Nilus' hidden fount.
On Guinea's sultry sand, the drapery light Of Manchester or Norwich is bestow'd For clear transparent gums, and ductile wax, And snow-white ivory; yet the valued trade, Along this barbarous coast, in telling, wounds The generous heart, the sale of wretched slaves; Slaves, by their tribes condemn'd, exchanging death For life-long servitude; severe exchange! These till our fertile colonies, which yield The sugar-cane, and the Tobago-leaf, And various new productions, that invite Increasing na is to their crowded wharfs.
With just humanity of heart pursue
The gainful commerce: wickedness is blind: Their sable chieftains may in future times Burst their frail bonds, and vengeance execute On cruel unrelenting pride of heart
And avarice. There are ills to come for crimes. Hot Guinea too gives yellow dust of gold, Which, with her rivers, rolls adown the sides Of unknown hills, where fiery-winged winds, And sandy deserts, rous'd by sudden storms, All search forbid: howe'er, on either hand, Valleys and pleasant plains, and many a tract Deem'd uninhabitable erst, are found Fertile and populous: their sable tribes, In shade of verdant groves, and mountains tall, Frequent enjoy the cool descent of rain, And soft refreshing breezes: nor are lakes Here wanting; those a sea-wide surface spread, Which to the distant Nile and Senegal Send long meanders: whate'er lies beyond, Of rich or barren, Ignorance o'ercasts With her dark mantle. Mon'motapa's coast Is seldom visited; and the rough shore Of Caffres, land of savage Hottentots, Whose hands unnatural hasten to the grave Their aged parents: what barbarity And brutal ignorance, where social trade Is held contemptible! Ye gliding sails, From these inhospitable gloomy shores Indignant turn, and to the friendly Cape, Which gives the cheerful mariner good hopə Of prosperous voyage, steer: rejoice to view, What trade, with Belgian industry, creates, Prospects of civil life, fair towns, and lawns, And yellow tilth, and groves of various fruits, Delectable in husk or glossy rind:
There the capacious vase from crystal springs Replenish, and convenient store provide, Like ants, intelligent of future need.
See, through the fragrance of delicious airs, That breathe the smell of balms, how Traffic shapes A winding voyage, by the lofty coast Of Sofala, thought Ophir; in whose hills E'en yet some portion of its ancient wealth Remains, and sparkles in the yellow sand Of its clear streams, though unregarded now; Ophirs more rich are found. With easy course The vessels glide; unless their speed be stopp'd By dead calms, that oft lie on those smooth seas While every zephyr sleeps; then the shrouds drop; The downy feather, on the cordage hung, Moves not; the flat sea shines like yellow gold, Fus'd in the fire; or like the marble floor Of some old temple wide. But where so wide, In old or later time, its marble floor Did ever temple boast as this, which here Spreads its bright level many a league around? At solemn distances its pillars rise, Sofal's blue rocks, Mozambic's palmy steeeps, And lofty Madagascar's glittering shores, Where various woods of beauteous vein and hue, And glossy shells in elegance of form, For Pond's rich cabinet, or Sloan's, are found. Such calin oft checks their course, till this bright
Is brush'd away before the rising breeze, That joys the busy crew, and speeds again The sail full-swelling to Socotra's isle,
But let the man, whose rough tempestuous hours For aloes fam'd; or to the wealthy marts
In this adventurous traffic are involv'd,
Of Ormus or Gombroon, whose streets are oft
With caravans and tawny merchants throng'd, From neighbouring provinces and realms afar; And fill'd with plenty, though dry sandy wastes Spread naked round; so great the power of trade. Persia few ports; more happy Indostan Beholds Surat and Goa on her coasts, And Bombay's wealthy isle, and harbour fam'd, Supine beneath the shade of cocoa groves. But what avails, or many ports or few? Where wild Ambition frequent from his lair Starts up; while fell revenge and famine lead To havoc, reckless of the tyrant's whip, Which clanks along the valleys: oft in vain The merchant secks upon the strand, whom erst, Associated by trade, he deck'd and cloth'd; In vain, whom rage or famine ha devour'd, He secks; and with increas'd affection thinks On Britain. Still howe'er combaya's wharfs Pile-up blue indigo, and, of frequent use, Pungent salt-petre, woods of purple grain, And many-colour'd saps from leaf and flower, And various gums; the clothier knows their worth; And wood resembling cotton, shorn from trees, Not to the fleece unfriendly; whether mixt In ward or woof, or with the line of flax, Or sotter silk's material: though its aid To vulgar eyes appears not; let none deem The fleece, in any traffic, unconcern'd; By every traffic aided: while each work Of art yields wealth to exercise the loom, And every loom employs each hand of art. Nor is there wheel in the machine of trade, Which Leeds, or Cairo, Lima, or Bombay, Helps not, with harmony, to turn around, Though all unconscious of the union act. Few the peculiars of Canara's realm, Or sultry Malabar; where it behoves The wary pilot, while he coasts the shores, To mark o'er ocean the thick rising isles; Woody Chaetta, Birter rough with rocks; Green-rising Barmur, Mincoy's purple hills; And the minute Maldivias, as a swarm Of bees in summer, on a poplar's trunk, Clustering innumerable; these behind His stern receding, o'er the clouds he views Ceylon's grey peaks, from whose volcanos rise Dark smoke and ruddy flame, and glaring rocks Darting in air aloft ; around whose feet Blue cliff's ascend, and aromatic groves, In various prospect; Ceylon also, deem'd The ancient Ophir. Next Bengala's bay, On the vast globe the deepest, while the prow Turns northward to the rich disputed strand Of Cor'mandel, where Traffic grieves to see Discord and Avarice invade her realms, Portending ruinous war, and cries aloud, "Peace, peace, ye blinded Britons, and ye Gauls; Nation to nation is a light, a fire, Enkindling virtue, sciences, and arts:" But cries aloud in vain. Yet wise defence, Against ambition's wide-destroying pride, Madras erected, and St. David's fort,
And those which rise on Ganges' twenty streams, Guarding the woven fleece, Calcutta's tower, And Maldo's and Patana's: from their holds The shining bales our factors deal abroad, And see the country's products, in exchange, Before them heap'd: cotton's transparent webs, Aloes, and cassia, salutiferous drugs, Alom, and lacque, and clouded tortoiseshell,
And brilliant diamonds, to decorate Britannia's blooming nymphs. For these, o'er all, The kingdoms round, our draperies are dispers'd, O'er Bukor, Cabul, and the Bactrian vales, And Cassimere, and Atoc, on the stream Of old Hydaspes, Porus' hardy realm; And late-discover'd Tibet, where the fleece, By art peculiar, is compress'd and wrought To threadless drapery, which, in conic forms, Of various hues, their gaudy roofs adorns.
The keels which voyage through Molucca's straits, Amid a cloud of spicy odours sail, Froin Java and Sumatra breath'd, whose woods Yield fiery pepper, that destroys the moth In woolly vestures: Ternate and Tidore Give to the festal board the fragrant clove And nutmeg, to those narrow bounds confin'd; While gracious Nature, with unsparing hand, The needs of life o'er every region pours.
Near those delicious isles, the beauteous coast Of China rears its summits. Know ye not, Ye sons of trade, that ever-flowery shore, Those azure hills, those woods and nodding rocks? Compare them with the pictures of your chart; Alike the woods and nodding rocks o'erhang. Now the tall glossy towers of porcelain, And pillar'd pagods shine; rejoic'd they see The port of Canton opening to their prows, And in the winding of the river moor.
Upon the strand they heap their glossy bales, And works of Birmingham, in brass or steel, And flint, and ponderous lead from deep cells rais'd, Fit ballast in the fury of the storm,
That tears the shrouds, and bends the stubborn mast: These, for the artists of the fleece procure Various materials; and, for affluent life, The flavour'd thea and glossy painted vase; Things elegant, ill-titled luxuries,
In temperance us'd, delectable and good. They too from hence receive the strongest thread Of the green silkworm. Various is the wealth Of that renown'd and ancient land, secure In constant peace and commerce; tilled to th' height Of rich fertility; where, thick as stars, Bright habitations glitter on each hill, And rock, and shady dale; e'en on the waves Of copious rivers, lakes, and bordering seas, Rise floating villages; no wonder; when, In every province, firm and level roads, And long canals, and navigable streams, Ever, with ease, conduct the works of toil To sure and speedy markets, through the length Of many a crowded region, many a clime, To the imperial towers of Cambalu,
Now Pekin, where the fleece is not unknown; Since Calder's woofs, and those of Exe and Frome, And Yare, and Avon slow, and rapid Trent, Toither by Ru sic caravans are brought, Through Scythia's numerous regions, waste and wild, Journey immense! which, to th' attentive ear, The Muse, in faithful notes, shall brief describe. From the proud n art of Petersburg, ere-while The watery seat of desolation wide, Issue these trading caravans, and urge, Through dazzling snows, their dreary trackless By compass steering oft, from week to week, From month to month; whole seasons view their toils.
Neva they pass, and Kesn a's gloomy flood, Volga, and Don, and Oka's torrent prone,
Threatening in vain; and many a cataract, In its fall stopt, and bound with bars of ice.
Close on the left unnumber'd tracts they view White with continual frost; and on the right The Caspian-lake, and ever-flowery realms, Though now abhorr'd, behind them turn, the haunt Of arbitrary Rule, where regions wide Are destin'd to the sword; and on each hand Roads hung with carcases, or under foot Thick strown; while in their rough bewilder'd vales
The blooming rose its fragrance breathes in vain, And silver fountains fall, and nightingales Attune their notes where none are left to hear.
Sometimes o'er level ways, on easy sleds, The generous horse conveys the sons of trade; And ever and anon the docile dog; And now the light rein-deer, with rapid pace, Skims over icy lakes; now slow they climb Aloft o'er clouds, and then adown descend To hollow valleys, till the eye beholds The roofs of Tobol, whose hill-crowning walls Shine, like the rising Moon, through watery mists: Tobol, th' abode of those unfortunate Exiles of angry state, and thralls of war; Solemn fraternity! where carl, and prince, Soldier, and statesman, and uncrested chief, On the dark level of adversity,
Converse familiar; while, amid the cares And toils for hunger, thirst, and nakedness, Their little public smiles, and the bright sparks Of trade are kindled: trade arises oft, And virtue, from adversity and want: Be witness, Carthage; witness, ancient Tyre; And thou, Batavia, daughter of Distress. This, with his hands, which erst the truncheon held, The hammer lifts; another bends and weaves The flexile willow; that the mattock drives: All are employ'd; and by their works acquire Our fleecy vestures. From their tenements, Pleas'd and refresh'd, proceeds the caravan Through lively-spreading cultures, pastures green, And yellow tillages in opening woods: Thence on, through Narim's wilds, a pathless road They force, with rough entangling thorns perplext; Land of the lazy Ostiacs, thin dispers'd, Who, by avoiding, meet the toils they loathe, Tenfold augmented; miserable tribe, Void of commercial comforts: who, nor corn, Nor pulse, nor oil, nor heart enlivening wine, Know to procure; nor spade, nor scythe, nor share, Nor social aid: beneath their thorny bed The serpent hisses, while in thickets nigh Loud bowls the hungry wolf. So on they fare, And pass by spacious lakes, begirt with rocks And azure mountains; and the heights admire Of white Imaus, whose snow-nodding crags Frighten the realms beneath, and from their urns Pour mighty rivers down, th' impetuous streams Of Oby, and Irtis, and Jenisca, swift, Which rush upon the northern pole, upheave Its frozen seas, snd lift their hills of ice.. These rugged paths and savagelandscapes pass'd, A new scene strikes their eyes: among the clouds Aloft they view, what seems a chain of cliffs, Nature's proud work; that matchless work of art, The wall of Sina, by Chihoham's power, In earliest times, erected. Warlike troops Frequent are seen in haughty march along Its ridge, a vast extent, beyond the length
Of many a potent empire; towers and ports, Three times a thousand, lift thereon their brows At equal spaces, and in prospect 'round, Cities, and plains, and kingdoms, overlook.
At length the gloomy passage they attain Of its deep-vaulted gates, whose opening folds Conduct at length to Pekin's glittering spires, The destin'd mart, where joyous they arrive.
Thus are the textures of the fleece convey'd To Sina's distant realm, the utmost bound Of the flat floor of steadfast Earth; for so Fabled Antiquity, ere peaceful Trade Inform'd the opening mind of curious man.
Now to the other hemisphere, my Muse, A new world found, extend thy daring wing. Be thou the first of the harmonious Nine From high Parnassus, the unweary'd toils Of industry and valour, in that world Triumphant, to reward with tuneful song.
Happy the voyage, o'er th' Atlantic brine, By active Raleigh made, and great the joy, When he discern'd above the foamy surge A rising coast, for future colonies, Opening her bays, and figuring her capes, E'en from the northern tropic to the pole. No land gives more employment to the loom, Or kindlier feeds the indigent; no laud With more variety of wealth rewards The hand of labour: thither from the wrongs Of lawless rule, the free-born spirit flies; Thither Affliction, thither Poverty, And arts and sciences: thrice happy clime, Which Britain makes th' asylum of mankind!
But joy superior far his bosom warms, Who views those shores in every culture dress'd; With habitations gay, and numerous towns, On hill and valley; and his countrymen Form'd into various states, powerful and rich, In regions far remote: who from our Icoms Take largely for themselves, and for those tribes Of Indians, ancient tenants of the land, In amity conjoin'd, of civil life The comforts taught, and various new desires, Which kindle arts, and occupy the poor, And spread Britannia's flocks o'er every dale.
Ye, who the shuttle cast along the loom, The silkworm's thread inweaving with the fleece, Pray for the culture of the Georgian tract, Nor slight the green Savannahs, and the plains Of Carolina, where thick woods arise Of mulberries, and in whose water'd fields Up-springs the verdant blade of thirsty rice. Where are the happy regions, which afford More implements of commerce, and of wealth? Fertile Virginia, like a vigorous bough, Which overshades some crystal river, spreads Her wealthy cultivations wide around, And, more than many a spacious realm, rewards The fleecy shuttle: to her growing marts, The Iroquese, Cheroques, and Oubacks, come, And quit their feathery ornaments uncouth, For woolly garments: and the cheers of of life, The cheers, but not the vices, learn to taste. Blush, Europeans, whom the circling cup Of Luxury intoxicates; ye routs,
Who, for your crimes, have fled your native land;" And ye voluptuous idle, who, in vain, Seek easy habitations, void of care: The sons of Nature, with astonishment And detestation, mark your evil deeds;
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