Trade, liberty, and affluence, all retir'd,
And lett to want and fervitude their feats:
Vile fucceffors! and gloomy ignorance
Following like dreary night, whofe fable hand
Hangs on the purple fkirts of flying day.

[aloft

Sithence the fleeces of Arcadian plains, And Attic, and Theffalian, bore esteem; And thofe in Grecian colonies difpers'd, Caria and Doris, and Ionia's coaft, And fam'd Tarentum, where Galefus' tide, Rolling by ruins hoar of ancient towns, Through folitary vallies feeks the sea. Or green Altinum, by an hundred Alps High-crown'd, whose woods and fnowy peaks Shield her low plains from the rough northern Thofe too of Boetica's delicious fields, With golden fruitage blefs'd of highest taste, What need I name? The Turdetanian tract, Or rich Coraxus, whofe wide looms unroll'd The finest webs? where scarce a talent weigh'd A ram's equivalent. Then only tin To late improv'd Britannia gave renown.

[blaft.

Low the revolving courfe of mighty time, Who loftinefs abafes, tumbles down Olympus brow, and lifts the lowly vale. Where is the majesty of ancient Rome, The throng of heroes in her fplendid streets, The fnowy veft of peace, or purple robe, Slow trail'd triumphal? Where the Attic fleece, And Tarentine, in warmeft litter'd cotes, Or funny meadows cloth'd with coftly care? All in the folitude of ruin loft, War's horrid carnage, vain ambition's duft. Long lay the mournful realms of elder fame In gloomy defolation, till appear'd Beauteous Venetia, first of all the nymphs, Who from the melancholy wafte emerg'd: In Adria's gulf her clotted locks fhe lav'd, And rofe another Venus: each soft joy, Each aid of life, her bufy wit reitor'd; Science reviv'd, with all the lovely arts, And all the graces. Reftituted trade To every virtue lent his helping ftores, And cheer'd the vales around; again the pipe, And bleating flocks, awak'd the cheerful lawn.

[lakes,

The gloffy fleeces now of prime esteem Soft Afia boats, where lovely Caffimere, Within a lofty mound of circling hills, Spreads her delicious ftores; woods, rocks, caves, Hills, lawns, and winding freams; a region term'd The paradife of Indus. Next, the plains Of Lahor, by that arbor ftretch'd immenfe, Through many a realm, to Agra, the proud throne Of India's worshipp'd prince, whofe luft is law: Remote dominions; nor to ancient fame, Nor modern known, till public-hearted Roe, Faithtul, fagacious, active, patient, brave, Led to their diftant climes adventurous trade. Add too the filky wool of Libyan lands,' Of Caza's bowery dales, and brooky Caus, Where lofty Atlas fpreads his verdant feet, While in the clouds his hoary thoulders bend. Next proud Iberia glories in the growth Of high Caftile, and mild Segovian glades. And beauteous Albion, fince great Edgar chas'd The prowling wolf, with many a lock appears Of filky luftre; chief, Siluria, thine;

Thine, Vaga, favour'd ftream; from sheep minute
On Cambria bred: a pound o'erweighs a fleece.
Gay Epfom's too, and Banftead's, and what gleams
On Vecta's ifle, that thelters Albion's fleet,
With all its thunders: or Salopian ftores,
Thofe which are gather'd in the fields of Clun:
High Cotswold alfo 'mong the fhepherd swains
Is oft remember'd, though the greedy plough
Preys on its carpet: He, whofe ruftic mufe,
O'er heath and craggy holt her wing difplay'd,
And fung the bofky bourns of Alfred's fhires,
Has favour'd Cotswold with luxuriant praise.
Need we the levels green of Lincoln note,
Or rich Leiceftra's marly plains, for length
Of whiteft locks and magnitude of fleece
Peculiar; envy of the neighbouring realms?
But why recount our graffy lawns alone,
While ev'n the tillage of our cultur'd plains,
With boty turnip, and luxuriant cole,
Learns thro' the circling year their flocks to feed.
Ingenious trade to clothe the naked world,
Her foft materials, not from theeep alone,
From various animals, reeds, trees, and ftones,
Collects fagacious: in Euboea's ifle

A wondrous rock + is found, of which are woven
Vetts incombuftible: Batavia, flax;
Siam's warm marith yields the fiffile cane;
Soft Perfia, filk; Balafor's fhady hills
Tough bark of trees; Peruvian Pito, grass;
And every fultry clime the fnowy down
Of cotton, bursting from its ftubborn thell
To gleam amid the verdure of the grove.
With gloffy hair of Tibet's fhagged goat
Are light tiaras woven, that wreath the head,
And airy float behind: the beaver's flix
Gives kindlieft warmth to weak enervate limbs,
When the pale blood flow rifes through the veins.
Still fhall o'er all prevail the fhepherd's ftores,
For numerous ufes known: none yield fuch

warmth,

Such beauteous hues receive, fo long endure: So pliant to the loom, fo various, none.

[bear,

Wild rove the flocks, no burdening fleece they In fervid climes: nature gives nought in vain. Carmenian wool on the broad tail alone Refplendent fwells, enormous in its growth: As the fleek ram from green to green removes, On aiding wheels his heavy pride he draws, And glad refigns it for the hatter's use.

Ev'n in the new Columbian world appears The woolly covering: Apacheria's glades, And Canfes', echo to the pipes and flocks [fands, Of foreign fwains. While time shakes down his And works continual change, be none fecure: Quicken your labours, brace your flackening

Which bear huge burdens to the fea-beat shore, And fhine with fleeces foft as feathery down.

Coarfe Bothnic locks are not devoid of ufe ;
They clothe the mountain carl, or mariner
Labouring at the wet shrouds, or stubborn helm,
While the loud billows dafh the groaning deck.
All may not Stroud's or Taunton's vestures wear;
Nor what, from fleece Rataan *, mimic flowers
Of rich Damafcus: many a texture bright
Of that material in prætorium † woven,
Or in Norvicum, cheats the curious eye.
If any wool peculiar to our fle

Is given by nature, 'tis the comber's lock,
The foft, the fnow-white, and the long-grown
Hither be turn'd the public's wakeful eye, [flake.
This golden fleece to guard, with ftricteft watch,
From the dark hand of pilfering avarice,
Who, like a spectre, haunts the midnight hour,
When nature wide around him lies fupine
And filent, in the tangles foft involv'd

Of death-like fleep: he then the moment marks,
While the pale moon illumes the trembling tide,
Speedy to lift the canvas, bend the oar,
And waft his thefts to the perfidious foe.

Happy the patriot, who can teach the means
To check his frauds, and yet untroubled leave
Trade's open channels. Would a generous aid
To honeft toil, in Cambria's hilly tracts,
Or where the Lunet or Coker wind their ftieams,
Be found fufficient? far, their airy fields,
Far from infectious luxury arife.

O might their mazy dales, and mountain fides
With copious fleeces of Ierne thine,
And gully Caledonia, wifely bent
On wealthy fisheries and flaxen webs;
Then would the fifter realms, amid their feas,
Like the three graces in harmonious fold,
By mutual aid enhance their various charms,
And bleis remote climes---to this lov'd end,
Awake, benevolence; to this lov'd end,
Strain all thy nerves, and every thought explore.
Far, far away, whofe paffions would immure,
In your own little hearts, the joys of life;
(Ye worms of pride) for your repaft alone,
Who claim all nature'sftores, woods, waters, meads,
All her profufion; whofe vile hands would grafp
The peafant's feantling, the weak widow's mite,
And in the fepulchre of felf entomb
Whate'er ye can, whate'er ye cannot ufe.
Know, for fuperior ends th' Almighty power
(The power, whofe tender arms embrace the worm)
Breathes o'er the foodful earth the breath of life,
f And forms us manifold; allots to each

His fair peculiar; wisdom, wit, and strength;
Wifdom, and wit, and ftrength, in fweet accord,
To aid, to cheer, to counsel, to protect,
And twist the mighty bond. Thus feeble man,
With man united, is a nation strong;
Builds tow'ry cities, fatiates every want,
And makes the feas profound, and forests wild,
The gardens of his joys. Man, each man's born
For the high business of the public good.

For me, 'tis mine to pray, that men regard

Their occupations with an honeft heart,
And cheerful diligence: like the useful bee,
To gather for the hive not (weets alone,
But wax, and each material; pleas'd to find
Whate'er may footh diftrefs, and raise the fall'n,
In life's rough race: O be it as my wifh!
'Tis mine to teach th' inactive hand to reap
Kind nature's bounties, o'er the globe diffus'd.
For this, I wake the weary hours of rest;
With this de fire, the merchant I attend;
By this impell'd, the shepherd's hut I feek,
And, as he tends his flock, his lectures hear
Attentive, pleas'd with pure fimplicity,
And rules divulg'd beneficent to theep:
Or turn the compafs o'er the painted chart,
To mark the ways of traffic; Volga's ftream,
Gold Hudfon's cloudy ftreights, warm Afric's cape,
Latium's firm roads, the Ptolemean folle,
And China's long canals; thofe noble works,
Thote high effects of civilizing trade,
Employ me, fedulous of public weal:
Yet not unmindful of my facred charge;
But alfo mindful, thus devifing good,
At vacant feafons, oft; when evening mild
Purples the vallies, and the thepherd counts
His flocks, returning to the quiet fold,
With dumb complacence: for religion, this,
To give our every comfort to diftrefs,
And follow virtue with an humble mind;
This pure religion. Thus, in elder time,
The reverend Blafius wore his leifure hours,
And lumbers, broken oft: till, fill'd at length
With infpiration, after various thought,
And trials manifold, his well-known voice
Gather'd the poor, and o'er Vulcanian floves,
With tepid lees of oil, and fpiky comb,
Show'd how the fleece might stretch to greater
length.

And caft a gloffier whiteness. Wheels went around;
Matrons and maids with fongs reliev'd their toil;
And every loom receiv'd the fofter yarn.

What poor, what widow, Blafius, did not blefs Thy teaching hand? Thy bofom, like the morn, Opening its wealth? What nation did not feek, Of thy new model'd wool, the curious webs!

Hence the glad cities of the loom his name Honour with yearly feftals: through their streets The pomp, with tuneful founds, and order juít, Denoting labour's happy progress, moves, Procellion flow and folemn: first the rout; Then fervient youth, and magisterial eld; Each after each, according to his rank, His fway, and office, in the common weal; And to the board of imiling plenty's ftores Alfemble; where delicious cates and fruits Of every clime are pil'd; with free hand, Toil only taftes the feafts, by nervelets cafe Unrelith'd. Various mirth and fong refound; And oft they interpofe improving talk, Divulging each to other knowledge rare, Sparks, from experience, that fometimes arife; Till night weighs down the fenfe, or morning's dawn Rouies to labour, man to labour born.

[hand,

Then the fleek brightening lock, from hand to Renews its circling courfe: this feels the card; That, in the comb, admires its growing length; This, blauch'd, emerges from the oily wave;

PROCEED, Arcadian mufe; refume the pipe
Or Hermes, long difus'd, though sweet the tone,
And to the fongs of nature's choirifters
Harmonious. Audience pure be thy delight,
Though few for every note which virtue wounds,
However pleafing to the vulgar herd,
To the purg'd ear is difcord. Yet too oft
Has falfe diffembling vice to amorous airs
The reed apply'd, and heedlefs youth allur'd:
Too oft, with bolder found, enflam'd the rage
Of horrid war. Let now the fleecy looms
Direct our rural numbers, as of old,
When plains and sheepfolds were the mufes' haunts.
So thou, the friend of every virtuous deed
And aim, though feeble, fhalt these rural lays
Approve, O Heathcote, whofe benevolence
Vifits our vallies; where the pafture ipreads,
And where the bramble; and would justly act
True charity, by teaching idle want
And vice the inclination to do good;
Good to themselves, and in themselves to all,
Through grateful toil. Ev'n nature liyes by toil :
Beaft, bird, air, fire, the heavens, and rolling
All live by action: nothing lies at reft, [worlds,
But death and ruin: man is born to care;
Fashion'd, improv'd, by labour. This of old,
Wife ftates obferving, gave that happy law,
Which doom'd the rich and needy, every rank,
To manual occupation; and oft call'd
Their cheftians from the fpade, or furrowing plough,
Or bleeting sheepfold. Hence utility
Through all conditions; hence the joys of health;
Hence itrength of arm, and clear judicious thought;
Hence corn, and wine, and oil, and all in life
Delectable. What fimple nature yields
(And nature does her part) are only rude
Materials, cumbers on the thorny ground;
'Tis toils that make them wealth; that makes
the fleece

(Yet ufeless, rifing in unfhapen heaps);
Anon, in curious woofs of beauteous hue,
A vetture ufefully fuccinct and warm.
Or trailing in the length of graceful folds,
A royal mantle. Come, ye village nymphs,
The fcatter'd mifts reveal the dusky hills;
Gray dawn appears; the golden morn afcends,
And paints the glittering rocks, and purple woods,
And flaming fpires; arife, begin your toils;
Behold the fleece beneath the fpiky comb
Drop its long locks, or, from the mingling card,
Spread in foft flakes, and fwell the whiten'd floor.
Come, village nymphs, ye matrons, and ye maids,
Receive the foft material: with light step
Whether ye turn around the spacious wheel,
Or, patient fitting, that revolve, which forms
A narrower circle. On the brittle work

Point your quick eye; and let the hand affift
To guide and firetch the gently-leffening thread:
Even, unknotted twine, will praife your kill.
A different fpinning every different web
Alks from your glowing fingers: fome require
The more compact, and fome the loofer wreath;
The laft for foftnefs, to delight the touch
Of chamber'd delicacy: fcarce the cirque
Need turn around, or twine the lengthening flake.
There are, to speed their labour, who prefer
Wheels double-fpol'd, which yield to either hand
A feveral line and many, yet adhere
To th' ancient diftaff, at the bofom fix'd,
Cafting the whirling fpindle as they walk:
At home, or in the theepfold, or the mart,
Alike the work proceeds. This method ftill
Norvicum favours, and th' Icenian * towns:
It yields their airy ftuffs an apter thread.
This was of old, in no inglorious days,
The mode of fpinning, when th' Egyptian prince
A golden ditaff gave that beauteous nymph,
Too beau tous Helen: no uncourtly gift
Then, when each gay diverfion of the fair
Led to ingenious ufe. But patient art,
That on experience works, from hour to hour,
Sagacious, has a fpiral engine † form'd,
Which, on an hundred ipoles, an hundred threads,
With one huge wheel, by lapfe of water, twines,
Few hands requiring; eafy-tended work,
That copioufly fupplies the greedy loom.

Nor hence, ye nymphs, let anger cloud your

brows:

The more is wrought, the more is ftill requir'd;
Blithe o'er your toils, with wonted fong, proceed:
Fear not furcharge; your hands will ever find
Ample employment. In the ftrife of trade,
Thefe curious inftruments of speed obtain
Various advantage, and the diligent
Supply with exercife, as fountains fure,
Which, ever-gliding, feed the flowery lawn.
Nor, fhould the careful ftate, feverely kind,
In every province, to the houfe of toil
Compel the vagrant, and each implement
Of ruder art, the comb, the card, the wheel,
Teach their unwilling hands, nor yet complain.
Yours, with the public good, fhall ever rife,
Ever, while o'er the lawns, and airy downs
The bleating fheep and thepherd's pipe are heard;
While in the brook ye blanch the glittening fleece,
And th' amorous youth, delighted with your toils,
Quavers the choiceft of his fonnets, warm'd
By growing traffic, friend to wedded love.

The amorous youth, with various hopes inflam'd,

* The Iceni were the inhabitants of Suffolk. Paul's engine for cotton and fine soul.