And the ftraw cottage to a palace turns,
Over the work prefides. Such was the scene
Of hurrying Carthage, when the Trojan chief
First view'd her growing turrets.
So appear

Th' increafing walls of bufy Manchester,
Sheffield, and Birmingham, whofe reddening fields
Rife and enlarge their fuburbs. Lo, in throngs,
For every realm, the careful factors meet,
Whispering each other. In long ranks the bales,
Like War's bright files, beyond the fight extend.
Straight, ere the founding bell the signal strikes,
Which ends the hour of traffic, they conclude
The speedy compact; and, well-pleas'd, transfer,
With mutual benefit, fuperior wealth
To many a kingdom's rent, or tyrant's hoard.
Whate'er is excellent in art proceeds
From labor and endurance: deep the oak
Muft fink in ftubborn earth its roots obfcure,
That hopes to lift its branches to the skies:
Gold cannot goid appear, until man's toil
Difclofes wide the mountain's hidden ribs,
And digs the dusky ore, and breaks and grinds
Its gritty parts, and laves in limpid ftreams,
With oft-repeated toil, and oft in fire
The metal purifies: with the fatigue,
And tedious procefs of its painful works,
The lufty ficken, and the feeble die.

But chearful are the labors of the loom,
By health and ease accompany'd they bring
Superior treafures fpeedier to the state,

Than those of deep Peruvian mines, wliere flaves
(Wretched requital) drink, with trembling hand,
Pale Palfy's baneful cup. Our happy swains
Behold arifing, in their fattening flocks,

A double wealth; more rich than Belgium's boast,
Who tends the culture of the flaxen reed;
Or the Cathayan's, whofe ignobler care
Nurfes the filk-worm; or of India's fons,
Who plant the cotton-grove by Ganges' ftream.
Nor do their toils and products furnish more,
Than gauds and dreffes, of fantastic web,
To the luxurious: but our kinder toils
Give cloathing to neceffity; keep warm
Th' unhappy wanderer, on the mountain wild
Benighted, while the tempeft beats around.

No, ye foft fons of Ganges, and of Ind,
Ye feebly delicate, life little needs
Your feminine toys, nor afks your nerveless arm
To caft the ftrong-fiung fhuttle, or the fpear.
Can ye defend your country from the storm
Of ftrong invafion? Can ye want endure,
In the befieged fort, with courage firm?
Can ye the weather-beaten veffel fteer,
Climb the tall maft, direct the ftubborn helm,
Mid wild difcordant waves, with fteady courfe?
Can ye kad out, to distant colonies,

Th' o'erflowings of a people, or your wrong'd
Brethren, by impious perfecution driven,
And arm their breafts with fortitude to try
New regions; climes, though barren, yet beyond
The baneful power of tyrants? These are deeds
To which their hardy labors well prepare
The finewy arm of Allion's fons. Pursue,
Ye fons of Albion, with a yielding heart,
Your hardy labours: let the founding loom
Mix with the melody of every vale;

From fair Venetia; fhe from Grecian nymphs;
They from Phenicé,, who obtain'd the dole
From old Ægyptus. Thus around the globe,
The golden-footed fciences their path
Mark, like the fun, enkindling life and joy;
And follow'd close by Ignorance and Pride,
Lead Day and Night o'er realms. Our day arofe
When Alva's tyranny the weaving arts
Drove from the fertile vallies of the Scheld.
With speedy wing, and fcatter'd courfe, they fled,
Like a community of bees, difturb'd

By fome relentless swain's rapacious hand;
While good Eliza, to the fugitives
Gave gracious welcome; as wife Ægypt erst
To troubled Nilus, whofe nutritious flood
With annual gratitude enrich'd her meads..
Then, from fair Antwerp, an industrious train
Crofs'd the fmooth channel of our fmiling feas;
And in the vales of Cantium, on the banks
Of Stour alighted, and the naval wave
Of fpacious Medway: fome on gentle Yare,
And fertile Waveney, pitch'd; and made their feats
Pleafant Norvicum, and Colceftria's towers:
Some to the Darent sped their happy way:
Berghem, and Sluys, and elder Bruges, chofe
Antona's chalky plains, and ftretch'd their tents
Down to Claufentum, and that bay supine
Beneath the shade of Vecta's cliffy ifle.
Soon o'er the hospitable realm they spread,
With chear reviv'd; and in Sabrina's flood,
And the Silurian Tame, their textures blanch'd:
Not undelighted with Vigornia's fpires,
Nor those, by Vaga's ftream, from ruins rais'd
Of ancient Ariconium; nor lefs pleas'd
With Salop's various fcenes; and that soft tract
Of Cambria, deep-embay'd Dimetian land,
By green hills fenc'd, by ocean's murmur lull'd;
Nurfe of the ruftic bard, who now refounds
The fortunes of the fleece; whofe ancestors
Were fugitives from Superftition's rage,
And erft, from Devon, thither brought the loom ;
Where ivy'd walls of old Kidwelly's towers,
Nodding, ftill on their gloomy brows project
Lancaftria's arms, embofs'd in mouldering stone.

Thus, then, on Albion's coaft, the exil'd band,
From rich Menapian towns, and the green banks
Of Scheld, alighted; and, alighting, fang
Grateful thanksgiving. Yet, at times, they fhift
Their habitations, when the hand of Pride,
Reftraint, or fouthern Luxury, disturbs
Their induftry, and urges them to vales
Of the Brigantes; where, with happier care
Infpirited, their art improves the fleece,
Which occupation erft, and wealth immense,
Gave Brabant's fwarming habitants, what time
We were their fhepherds only; from which state,
With friendly arm, they rais'd us: nathlefs fome
Among our old and stubborn swains misdeem'd,
And envy'd, who enrich'd them; envy'd those,
Whofe virtues taught the varletry of towns
To ufeful toil to turn the pilfering hand.

And ftill, when bigotry's black clouds arise,
(For oft they fudden rife in papal realms),
They, from their ifle, as from fome ark fecure,
Carelefs, unpitying, view the fiery bolts
Of Superftition, and tyrannic rage,

The Icom, that long-renown'd, wide-envy'd gift And all the fury of the rolling storm,

Of wealthy Flandria, who the boon receiv'd

2

Which fierce purfues the fufferers in their flight.

Shall not our gates, fhall not Britannia's arms,
Spread ever open to receive their flight?
A virtuous people, by diftreffes oft
(Diftreffes for the fake of Truth endur'd)
Corrected, dignify'd; creating good
Where-ever they inhabit: this, our fle
Has oft experienc'd; witnefs all ye realms
Of either hemifphere, where commerce flows:
Th' important truth is ftampt on every bale;
Each gloffy cloth, and drape of mantle warm,
Receives th' impreffion; every airy woof,
Cheyney, and bayfe, and ferge, and alepine,
Tammy, and crape, and the long countless lift
Of woollen webs; and every work of steel;
And that cryftalline metal, blown or fus'd,
Limpid as water dropping from the clefts
Of moffy marble: not to name the aids
Their wit has given the fleece, now taught to link
With flax, or cotton, or the filk-worm's thread,
And gain the graces of variety:

Whether to form the matron's decent robe,
Or the thin-fhading trail for Agra's * nymphs;
Or folemn curtains, whofe long gloomy folds
Surround the foft pavilions of the rich.

They too the many-colour'd arras taught
To mimic nature, and the airy shapes
Of sportive fancy: fuch as oft appear
In old Mofaic pavements, when the plough
Up-turns the crumbling glebe of Weldon field;
Or that, o'erfhaded erft by Woodstock's bower,
Now grac'd by Blenheim, in whofe ftately roo:ns
Rife glowing tapestries, that lure the eye
With Marlborough's wars: here Schellenbergh
exults,

Behind furrounding hills of ramparts steep,
And vales of trenches dark; each hideous pafs
Armies defend; yet on the hero leads
His Britons, like a torrent, o'er the mounds.
Another scene is Blenheim's glorious field,
And the red Danube. Here, the rescued states
Crowding beneath his shield: there, Ramillies'
Important battle: next, the tenfold chain
Of Arleux burst, and th' adamantine gates
Of Gaul flung open to the tyrant's throne.

A fhade obfcures the reft-Ah, then, what power
Invidious from the lifted fickle fnatch'd
The harveft of the plain? So lively glows
The fair delufion, that our paffions rife
In the beholding, and the glories fhare
Of vifionary battle. This bright art
Did zealous Europe learn of pagan hands,
While the affay'd, with rage of holy war,
To defolate their fields: but old the fkill:
Long were the Phrygians' picturing looms renown'd;
Tyre alfo, wealthy feat of arts, excell'd,
And elder Sidon, in th' historic web.

Far-diftant Tibet in her gloomy woods
Rears the gay tent, of blended wool unwoven,
And glutinous materials: the Chinese
Their porcelain, Japan its varnish boasts.
Some fair peculiar graces every realm,
And each from each a share of wealth acquires.

There is woven at Manchester, for the EaftIndies, a very thin ftuff, of thread and cotton; which is cooler than the manufactures of that country where the material is only cotton.

But chief by numbers of industrious hands
A nation's wealth is counted: numbers raife
Warm emulation: where that virtue dwells,
There will be Traffick's feat; there will fhe build
Her rich empor.um. Hence ye happy swains,
With hofpitality inflame your breaft,

And emulation: the whole world receive,
And with their arts, their virtues, deck your isle.
Each clime, each fea, the fpacious orb of each,
Shall join their various ftores, and amply feed
The mighty brotherhood; while ye proceed,
Active and enterprizing, or to teach

The ftream a naval courfe, or till the wild,
Or drain the fen, or ftretch the long canal,
Or plow the fertile billows of the deep.
Why to the narrow circle of our coast
Should we fubm.t our limits, while each wind
Affifts the stream and fail, 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 ifle,
Thus only may Britannia be enlarg'd.—
But whither, by the vifions of the theme
Smit with fublime delight, but whither strays
The raptur'd Mufe, forgetful of her task?

No common pleasure warms the generous mind,
When it beholds the labors of the loom;
How widely round the globe they are difpers'd,
From little tenements by wood or croft,
Through many a flender path, how fedulous,
As rills to rivers broad, they fpeed their way
To public roads, to Foffe, or Watling-ftreet,
Or Armine, ancient works: and thence explore,
Through every navigable wave, the fea,

That laps the green earth round: through Tyne,
and Tees,

Through Weare, and Lune, and merchandizing
Hull,

And Swale, and Aire, whofe crystal weaves reflect
The various colours of the tin&tur'd web;
Through Ken, fwift rolling down his rocky dale,
Like giddy youth impetuous, then at Wick
Curbing his train, and with the fober pace
Of cautious Eld, meandering to the deep;
Through Dart, and fullen Exe, whose murmuring

wave

Envies the Dune and Rother, who have won
The ferge and kerfie to their blanching streams;
Through Towy, winding under Merlin's towers,
And Ufk, that frequent, among hoary rocks,
On her deep waters paints th' impending scene,
Wild torrents, craggs, and woods, and mourtain
fnows.

The northern Cambrians, an induftrious tribe,
Carry their labors on pis...can steeds,
Offize exceeding not Leiceftrian theep.
Yet ftrong and sprightly over hill and dale
They travel unfatigued, and lay their bales
In Salop's streets, beneath whofe lofty walls
Pearly Sabrina waits them with her barks,
And spreads the fwelling fheet. For no-where far
From fome transparent river's naval courfe
Arife, and fall, our various hills and vales,
No-where far diftant from the mafted wharf,
We need not vex the ftrong laborious hand
With toil enormous, as th' Egyptian king,

Fruits of fpontaneous growth, the citron bright,
The fig, and orange, and heart-chearing wine.
Those ships, from ocean broad, which voyage
through

The gates of Hercules *, find many feas,
And bays unnumber'd, opening to their keels;
But fhores inhofpitable oft, to fraud
And rapine turn'd, or dreary tracts become
Of defolation. The proud Roman coasts,
Fall'n, like the Punic, to the dashing waves
Refign their ruins: Tiber's boasted flood,
Whofe pompous moles o'erlook'd the subject deep,
Now creeps along, through brakes and yellow
duft,

While Neptune scarce perceives its murmuring rill:
Such are th' effects, when Virtue flacks her hand;
Wild Nature back returns: along these shores
Neglected trade with difficulty toils,
Collecting flender ftores, the fun-dry'd grape,
Or capers from the rock, that prompt the taste
Of luxury. Ev'n Egypt's fertile strand,
Bereft of human difcipline, has lost
Its ancient luftre: 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 feas with splendor rose,
Only Byzantium, of peculiar fite,
Remains in profperous ftate; and Tripolis,
And Smyrna, facred ever to the Mufe.

To thefe refort the delegates of trade,
Social in life, a virtuous brotherhood;
And bales of fofteft wool from Bradford looms,
Or Stroud, difpenfe; yet fee, with vain regret,
Their ftores, once highly priz'd, no longer now
Or fought, or valued copious webs arrive,
Smooth-wov'n of other than Britannia's fleece,
On the throng'd strand alluring; the great skill
Of Gaul, and greater industry, prevails;
That proud imperious foe. Yet, ah-'tis not-
Wrong not the Gaul; it is the foe within,
Impairs our ancient marts: it is the bribe;
'Tis he, who pours into the fhops of trade
That impious poison: it is he, who gains
The facred feat of parliament by means,
That vitiate and emafculate the mind;
By floth, 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.

1

Reftore the mimic art, and the clear mien
Of patriot fages, Walfinghams and Yokes,
And Cec.ls, in long-lasting stone preferve
But mimic art and nature are impair'd―
Impair'd they feem-or in a varied drefs
Delude our eyes: the world in change delights;
Change then your fearches, with the varied modes
And wants of realms. Sabean frankincenfe
Rare is collected now: few altars fmoke
Now in the idol fane: Panchajan views
Trade's bufy fleets regardless pafs her coaft:
Nor frequent are the freights of fnow-white woofs,
Since Rome, no more the mistress of the world,
Varies her garb, and treads her darken'd streets
With gloomy coul, 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 Mootis, now is barr'd with chains,
And forts of hoftile battlement: in aught
That joys mankind the arbitrary Turk
Delights not infolent of rule, he spreads
Thraldom and defolation o'er his realms.

Another path to Scythia's wide domains,
Commerce difcovers: the Livonian gulph
Receives her fails, and leads them to the port
Of rifing Petersburgh, whofe fplendid streets
Swell with the webs of Leeds: the Coffac there,
The Calmuc, and Mungalian, round the bales
In crowds refort, and their warm'd limbs enfold,
Delighted; and the hardy Samoïd,

Rough with the ftings of froft, from his dark caves
Afcends, and thither haftes, ere winter's rage
O'ertake his homeward ftep; and they that dwell
Along the banks of Don's and Volga's ftreams;
And borderers of the Cafpian, 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 fent her fails;
And facred Salem, when her numerous fleets,
From Ezion-geber, pafs'd th' Arabian gulph.

But later times, more fortunate, have found,
O'er ocean's open wave, a furer course,
Sailing the western coast of Afric's realms,
Of Mauritania, and Nigritian tracts,
And iflands of the Gorgades, the bounds,
On the Atlantic brine, of ancient trade;

Meantime (while thofe, who dare be juft, But not of modern, by the virtue led

oppofe

The various powers of many-headed vice)
Ye delegates of trade, by patience rife
O'er difficulties: in this fultry clime

Note what is found of ufe: 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, rife to high efteem.
Nor what the peasant, near fome lucid wave,
Pactolus, Simois, or Mæander flow,
Renown'd in ftory, with his plough up-turns,
Neglect; the hoary medal, and the vafe,
Statue, and buft, of old magnificence
Beautiful reliques: oh, could modern time

*The ftreights of Gibraltar.

Of Gama and Columbus. The whole globe
Is now, of commerce, made the scene immenfe,
Which daring fhips frequent, affociated,
Like doves, or fwallows, in th' ethereal flood,
Or, like the eagle, solitary seen.

Some, with more open courfe, to Indus fteer;
Some coaft from port to port, with various men
And manners converfant; of th' angry furge,
That thunders loud, and fpreads the cliffs with
foam,

Regardless, or the monsters of the deep,
Porpoife, or grampus, or the ravenous fhark,
That chace their keels; or threatening rock,
o'erhead

Of Atlas old; beneath the threatening rocks,
Reckless, they furl their fails, and bartering take,
Soft flakes of wool; for in foft flakes of wool,