Like the Silurian, Atlas' dales abound.

The fhores of Sus inhofpitable rife,
And hign Bojador; Zara too difplays
Unfruitful deferts; Gambia's wave inifles
An ouzy coalt, and peftilential ills
Difiufes wide; behind are burning fands,
Adverfe to I te, and Nilus' hidden fount.

On Guinea's fultry fand, the drapery light
Of Manchester or Norwich is beftow'd
For clear transparent gums, and ductile wax,
And frow-white ivory; yet the valued trade,
Along this barbarous coaft, in telling, wounds
The generous heart, the fale of wretched flaves;
Slaves, by their tribes condemn'd, exchanging
death

For life-long fervitude; fevere exchange!
Teefe till our fertile colonies, which yield
The fugar-cane, and the Tobago-leaf,
And various new productions, that invite
Increafing natives to their crouded wharts.

But let the man, whofe rough tempeftuous hours

In this adventurous traffic are involv'd,
With just humanity of heart purfue

:

The gainful commerce: wickedness is blind:
Their fable chieftains may in future times
Burft their fral bonds, and vengeance execute
On cruel unrelenting pride of heart
And avarice. There are ills to come for crimes.
Hot Guinea too gives yellow duft of gold,
Which, with her rivers, rolls adown the fides
Of unknown hills, where fiery-winged winds,
And fandy deferts, rous'd by fudden storms,
All fearch forbid: howe'er, on either hand,
Vallies and pleafant plains, and many a tract
Deem'd uninhabitable erft, are found
Fertile and populous; their fable tribes,
In fhade of verdant groves, and mountains tall,
Frequent enjoy the cool defcent of rain,
And foft refreshing breezes nor are lakes
Here wanting; those a fea-wide surface spread,
Which to the diftant Nile and Senegal
Send long meanders: whate'er lies beyond,
Of rich or barren, ignorance o'ercafts
With her dark mantle. Mon'motapa's coaft
Is feldom vifited; and the rough shore
Of Caffres, land of favage Hottentots,
Whofe hands unnatural ha ten to the grave
Their aged parents: what barbarity
And brutal ignorance, where focial trade
Is held contemptible! Ye gliding fails,
From thefe inhofpitable gloomy fhores
Indignant turn, and to the friendly Cape,
Which gives the chearful mariner good hope
Of profperous voyage, fteer: rejoice to view,
What trade, with Belgian induftry, creates,
Profpects of civil life, fair towns, and lawns,
And yellow tilth, and groves of various fruits,
Delectable in busk or gloffy rind:

There the capacious vafe from crystal springs
Replenifh, and convenient ftore provide,
Like ants, intelligent of future need.

See, through the fragrance of delicious airs,
That breathe the fmell of balms, how traffic fhapes
A winding voyage, by the lofty coaft
Of Sofala, thought Ophir; in whofe hills
Ev'n yet fome portion of its ancient wealth
Remains, and fparkles in the yellow fand

Of its clear ftreams, though unregarded now,
Ophirs more rich are found. With eafy courfe
The veffels glide; unless their speed be stop'd
By dead calms, that oft lie on thofe fmooth feas
While every zephyr fleeps: then the throuds drop;
The downy feather, on the cordage hung,
Moves not; the flat fea fhines like yellow gold,
Fus'd in the fire; or like the marble floor
Of fome old temple wide. But where fo wide,
In old or later time, its marble floor
Did ever temple boaft as this, which here
Spreads its bright level many a league around?
At folemn diftances its pillars rife,
Sofal's blue rocks, Mozambic's palmy steeps,
And lofty Madagascar's glittering flores,
Where various woods of beauteous vein and liue,
And gloffy thells in elegance of form,

For Pond's rich cabinet, or Sloan's, are found.
Such calm oft checks their courfe, till this bright

fcene

Is brufh'd away before the rifing breeze,
That joys the bufy crew, and speeds again
The fail full-fwelling to Socotra's ifle,
For aloes fam'd; or to the wealthy marts
Of Ormus or Gombroon, whofe streets are oft
With caravans and tawny merchants throng'd,
From neighbouring provinces and realms afar ;
And fill'd with plenty, though dry fandy waftes
Spread naked round; fo great the power of trade.
Perfia few ports; more happy Indostan
Beholds Surat and Goa on her coafts,
And Bombay's wealthy ifle, and harbour fam'd,
Supine beneath the fhade 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 vallies: oft in vain
The merchant feeks upon the ftrand, whom erst,
Affociated by trade, he deck'd and cloath'd;
In vain, whom rage or famine has devour'd,
He feeks; and with increas'd affection thinks
On Britain. Still howe'er Bombaya's wharfs
Pile-up blue indigo, and, of frequent use,
Pungent falt-petre, woods of purple grain,
And many-colour'd faps from leaf and flower,
And various guns; the clothier knows their worth;
And wool refembling cotton, fhorn from trees,
Not to the fleece unfriendly; whether mixt
In warp or woof, or with the line of flax,
Or fofter filk'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 exercife 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 fultry Malabar; where it behoves
The wary pilot, while he coafts the shores,
To mark o'er ocean the thick rifing ifles;
Woody Chaetta, Birter rough with 10cks;
Green-rifing Barmur, Mincoy's purple hills;
And the minute Maldivias, as a (warm
Of bees in fummer, on a poplar's trunk,

Cluftering innumerable; these behind

His ftern receding, o'er the clouds he views
Ceylon's grey peaks, from whofe volcano's rife
Dark smoke and ruddy flame, and glaring rocks
Daring in air aloft; around whofe feet
Blue cliffs afcend, and aromatic groves,
In various profpećt; Ceylon alfo 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 fee
Difcord 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, fciences, and arts:
But cries aloud in vain. Yet wife defence,
Against ambition's wide-deftroying pride,
Madrafs erected, and Saint David's fort,

And those which rife on Ganges' twenty ftreams,
Guarding the woven fleece, Calcutta's tower,
And Maldo's and Patana's: from their holds
The fhining bales our factors deal abroad,
And fee the country's products, in exchange,
Before them heap'd: cotton's transparent webs,
Aloes, and caffia, falutiferous drugs,

Alom, and lacque, and clouded tortoiseshell,
And brilliant diamonds, to decorate

Britannia's blooming Nymphs. For thefe, o'er all
The kingdoms round, our draperies are difpers'd,
O'er Bukor, Cabul, and the Bactrian vales,
And Caffimere, and Atoc, on the stream
Of old Hydafpes, Porus' hardy realm;

And late-difcover'd Tibet, where the fleece,
By art peculiar, is comprefs'd and wrought
To threadlefs drapery, which, in conic forms,
Of various hues, their gaudy roofs adorns.

The keels which voyage through Molucca's
ftraits,

Amid a cloud of fpicy odours, fail,

From Java and Sumatra breath'd, whose woods
Yield fiery pepper, that deftroys the moth
In woolly vestures: Ternate and Tidore
G've to the feftal board the fragrant clove
And nutmeg, to thofe narrows bounds confin'd;
While gracious Nature, with unfparing hand,
The needs of life o'er every region pours.

Near thofe delicious ifles, the beauteous coaft
Of China rears its fummits. Know ye not,
Ye fons of trade, that ever-flowery fhore,
Thofe azure hilis, those woods and nodding rocks
Compare them with the pictures of your chart;
Alike the woods and nodding rocks o'erhang.
Now the tall gloffy towers of porcelane,
And pillar'd pago ls fhine; rejoic'd they fee
The port of Canton opening to their prows,
And in the winding of the river moor.

Upon the ftrand they heap their gloffy bales, And works of Birmingham, in brass or steel, And flint, and ponderous lead from deep cells rais'd,

Fit ballaft in the fury of the ftorm,

That tears the throuds, and bends the ftubborn mait:

Theft, for the art fts of the fleece, procure
Various materials; and, for affluent life,
The flavour'd thea and gloffy pain. ed vafe;
Things elegant, ill-titled luxuries,

In temperance us'd, delectable and good.

They too from hence receive the strongest thread
Of the green filkworm. Various is the wealth
Of that renown'd and ancient land, fecure
In conftant peace and commerce; till'd to th
height

Of rich fertility; where, thick as stars,
Bright habitations glitter on each hill,
And rock, and fhady dale; ev'n on the waves
Of copious rivers, lakes, and bordering feas,
Rife floating villages; no wonder; when,
In every province, firm and level roads,
And long canals, and navigable streams,
Ever, with eafe, conduct the works of toil
To fure and fpeedy 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 thofe of Exe and Frome,
And Yare, and Avon flow, and rapid Trent,
Thither by Ruffic caravans are brought,
Through Scythia's numerous regions, wate and
wild,

Journey immenfe! which, to th' attentive ear,
The Mufe, in faithful notes, fhall brief defcribe.
From the proud mart of Peterburg, ere-while
The watery feat of defolation wide,

Iffue thefe trading caravans, and urge,
Through dazzling fnows, their dreary trackless
road;

By compass steering oft, from week to week,
From month to month; whofe feafons view their

tols.

Neva they pafs, and Kef.na's gloomy flood,
Volga, and Don, and Oka's torrent prone,
Threatening in vain; and many a cataract,
In its fall ftopt, and bound with bars of ice.

Clofe on the left unnumber'd tracts they view
White with continual fioft; and on the right
The Cafpian-lake, and ever-flowery realms,
Though now abhorr'd, behind them turn, the
haunt

Of arbitrary rule, where regions wide

Are defun'd to the fword; and on each hand
Roads hung with carcafes, or under foot
Thick frown; while, in their rough bewilder'd
vales,

The blooming rofe its fragrance breathes in vain,
And filver fountains fall, and nightingales
Attune their notes, where none are left to hear.
Sometimes o'er level ways, on eafy fleds,
The generous horfe conveys the fons of trade;
And ever and anon the docile dog;

And now the light rein-deer, with rapid pace,
Skims over icy lakes; row flow they climb
Aloft o'er clouds, and then adown defcend

To hollow vallies, till the eye beholds

The roofs of Tool, whofe hill-crowning walls
Shire, Ike the rifing moor, through watery mists:
Tool, th' abode of thofe unfortunate
Exiles of angry ftate, and thrails of war;
Solemn fraternity! where carl, and prince,
Soldier, and ftatefnan, and uncrested chief,
On the dark level of adverfity,

Converfe familiar; while, amid the cares
And toils for hunger, thirft, and nakedness,
Their little public fmiles, and the bright parks
Of trade are kindled: trade arifes oft,

And virtue, hem devenit, and wants

Be witnefs, Carthage; witness, ancient Tyre;
And thou, Batavia, daughter of diftrefs.

This, with his hands, which erft the truncheon held,

The hammer lifts; another bends and weaves The flexile willow; that the mattoc 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-fpreading cultures, pastures green, And yellow tillages in opening woods: Thence on, through Narim's wilds, a pathlefs road They force, with rough entangling thorns perplext; Land of the lazy Oftiacs, thin difpers'd, Who, by avoiding, meet the toils they loathe, Tenfold augmented; miferable tribe, Void of commercial comforts: who, nor corn, Nor pulfe, nor oil, nor heart-enlivening wine, Know to procure; nor fpade, nor feythe, nor fhare, Nor focial aid: beneath their thorny bed The ferpent hiffes, while in thickets nigh Loud howls the hungry wolf. So on they fare, And pafs by fpacious lakes, hegirt with rocks And azure mountains; and the heights admire Of white Imaus, whofe fnow-nodding craggs Frighten the realms beneath, and from their urns Pour mighty rivers down, th' impetuous streams Of Oby, and Irtis, Jenifca, swift, Which ruch upon the northern pole, upheave Its frozen feas, and lift their hills of ice.

Thefe rugged paths and savage landscapes pafs'd,
A new scene ftrikes their eyes: among the clouds
Aloft they view, what feems a chain of cliffs,
Nature's proud work; that matchlefs work of art,
The wall of Sina, by Chihoham's power,
In earliest times, erected. Warlike troops
Frequent are feen in haughty march along
Its ridge, a vaft extent, beyond the length
Of many a potent empire; towers and ports,
Three times a thoufand, lift thereon their brows
At equal spaces, and in profpect 'round
Cities, and plains, and kingdoms, overlook.

At length the gloomy paffage they attain
Of its deep-vaulted gates, whofe opening folds
Conduct at length to Pekin's glittering spires
The deftin'd mart, where joyous they arrive.

Thus are the textures of the fleece convey'd
To Sina's diftant realm, the utmost bound
Of the flat floor of fteciaft Earth; for fo
Fabled Antiquity, ere peaceful Trade
Inform'd the opening mind of curious man.

Now to the other hemifphere, my Muse,
A new work found, extend thy daring wing.
Be thou the firit of the harmonious Nine
From high Parnaffus, the unweary'd toils
Of induftry and valour, in that world
Triumphant, to reward with tuneful fong.
Happy the voyage, o'er th' Atlantic brine,
By active Raleigh made, and great the joy,
When he difcern'd, above the foamy furge,
A rifing coaft, for future colonies,
Opening her bays, and figuring her capes,
Ev'n from the northern tropic to the pole.
No land gives more employment to the loom,
Or kindlier feeds the indigent; no land
With more variety of wealth rewards
The hand of labour: thither, from the wrongs
Of lawless rule, the free-born fpirit flies;

Thither Affliction, thither Poverty,
And Arts and Sciences: thrice happy clime,
Which Britain makes th' afylum of mankind!

But joy fuperior far his boom warms,
Who views thofe fhores in every culture drefs'd;
With habitations gay, and numerous towns,
On hill and valley; and his countrymen
Form'd into various ftates, powerful and rich,
In regions far remote: who from our looms
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 defires,
Which kindle arts, and occupy the poor,
And spread Britannia's flocks o'er every dale.

Ye, who the shuttle caft along the loom, The filk-worm's thread inweaving with the fleece,

Pray for the culture of the Georgian tract,
Nor flight the green Savannahs, and the plains
Of Carolina, where thick woods arise
Of mulberries, and in whofe water'd fields
Up-fprings 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 fome crystal river, spreads
Her wealthy cultivations wide around,
And, more than many a spacious realm, rewards
The fleecy fhuttle: to her growing marts,
The Iroquefe, Cheroques, and Oubacks, come,
And quit their feathery ornaments uncouth,
For woolly garments; and the cheers 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 eafy habitations, void of care:

The fons of nature, with astonishment,
And deteftation, mark your evil deeds;
And view, no longer aw'd, your nervelefs arms,
Unfit to cultivate Ohio's banks.

See the bold emigrants of Accadie,
And Massachuset, happy in thofe arts
That join the politics of Trade and War,
Bearing the palm in either: they appear
Better exemplars; and that hardy crew,
Who, on the frozen beach of Newfoundland,
Hang their white fish amid the parching winds :
The kindly fleece, in webs of Duffield woof,
Their limbs, benumb'd, enfolds with cheerly
warmth,

And frize of Cambria, worn by thofe, who feek, Through gulphs and dales of Hudfon's winding

bay,

The beaver's fur, though oft they seek in vain,
While Winter's frofty rigor checks approach,
Iv'n in the fiftieth latitude. Say why
(if ye, the travel'd fons of commerce, know),
Wherefore lie bound their rivers, lakes, and dales,
Half the fun's annual courfe, in chains of ice?
While the Rhine's fertile thore, and Gallic realms,
By the fame zone encircled, long enjoy
Warm beams of Phoebus, and fupine, behold
Their plains and hillocks blush with clustering

vines.

Muft it be ever thus? or may the hand Ot mighty Labor drain their gusty lakes, Enlarge the brightening fky, and, peopling, warm The opening vallies, and the yellowing plains? Or rather shall we burft strong Darien's chain, Steer our bold flects between the cloven rocks, And through the great Pacific every joy Of civil life diffuse? Are not her ifles

His vengeance felt, and fair occafion gave
To thew humanity and continence,
To Scipio's not inferior. Then was left
No corner of the globe fecure to pride
And violence: although the far-ftretch'd coaft
Of Chili, and Peru, and Mexico,
Arm'd in their evil caufe; though fell Disease,
Un'bating Labor, tedious Time, confpir'd,

calm,

Inhabitants, and manners? haply, too,
Peculiar fciences, and other forms

Of trade, and useful products, to exchange
For woolly veftures? 'Tis a tedious courfe
By the Antarctic circle: nor beyond
Those fea-wrapt gardens of the dulcet reed,
Bahama and Caribbee, may be found

Safe mole or harbour, till on Falkland's ifle
The standard of Britannia fhall arife.
Proud Buenos Aires, low-couched Paraguay,
And rough Corrientes, mark, with hostile eye,
The labouring veffel: neither may we truft
The dreary naked Patagonian land,
Which darkens in the wind.

No traffic there,

No barter for the fleece. There angry storms
Bend their black brows, and, raging, hurl around
Their thunders. Ye adventurous mariners,

Be firm; take courage from the brave. 'Twas there

Perils and conflicts inexpreffible

Anfon, with steady undefpairing breast,
Endur'd, when o'er the various globe he chac'd
His country's foes. Faft-gathering tempefts rouz'd
Huge ocean, and involv'd him: all around
Whirlwind, and fnow, and hail, and horror: now,
Rapidly, with the world of waters, down
Defcending to the channels of the deep,

He view'd th' uncover'd bottom of th' abyss;
And now the stars, upon the loftiest point
Tofs'd of the fky-mix'd furges. Oft the burft
Of loudest thunder, with the dash of feas,
Tore the wild-flying fails and tumbling mafts;
While flames, thick-flashing in the gloom, reveal'd
Ruins of decks and shrouds, and fights of death.
Yet on he far'd, with fortitude his chear,
Gaining, at intervals, flow way beneath
Del Fuego's rugged cliffs, and the white ridge,
Above all height, by opening clouds reveal'd,
Of Montegorda, and inacceffible

Wreck-threatening Staten-lands o'erhanging shore,
Enormous rocks on rocks, in ever-wild
Pofture of falling; as when Pelion, rear'd,

On Offa, and on Offa's tottering head

Woody Olympus, by the angry gods

Precipitate on earth were doom'd to fall.

Though that wide fea, which spreads o'er half the world,

Deny'd all hofpitable land or port;

Where, seasons voyaging, no road he found
To moor, no bottom in th' abyfs, whereon
To drop the fastening anchor; though his brave
Companions ceas'd, fubdued by toil extreme;
Though folitary left in Tinian's feas,

Where never was before the dreaded found
Of Britain's thunder heard; his wave-worn bark
Met, fought, the proud Iberian, and o'ercame.
So fare it ever with our country's foes!

Rejoice, ye nations, vindicate the sway
Ordain'd for common happiness. Wide, o'er
The globe terraqueous, let Britannia pour
The fruits of plenty from her copious horn.
What can avail to her, whofe fertile earth..
By Ocean's briny waves are circumfcrib'd,
The armed hoft, and murdering fword of war,
And conqueft o'er her neighbours? She ne'er breaks
Her folemn compacts, in the luft of rule:
Studious of arts and trade, the ne'er disturbs
The holy peace of ftates. 'Tis her delight
To fold the world with harmony, and spread,
Among the habitations of mankind,
The various wealth of Toil, and what her fleece,
To clothe the naked, and her skilful looms,
Peculiar give. Ye too rejoice, ye fwains;
Increasing commerce shall reward your cares.
A day will come, if not too deep we drink
The cup, which luxury on careless wealth,
Pernicious gift, bestows; a day will come,
When, through new channels failing, we shall clothe
The Californian coaft, and all the realms
That stretch from Anian's ftreights to proud Japan;
And the green ifles, which on the left arife
Upon the glaffy brine, whofe various capes
Not yet are figur'd on the failors chart:
Then every variation fhall be told

Of the magnetic fteel; and currents mark'd.
Which drive the heedlefs veffel from her course.

That portion too of land, a tract immense, Beneath the Antarctic spread, fhall then he known, And new plantations on its coaft arife.

Then rigid Winter's ice no more shall wound
The only naked animal; but man

branch,

Which from a poplar falls into a loud

Impetuous cataract, though deep immers'd,
Yet re-afcends, and glides, on lake or ftream,
Smooth through the vallies; fo his way he won
To the ferene Pacific, flood immenfe,

And rear'd his lofty mafts, and spread his fails.
Then Paita's walls, in watting flames involv'd,
VOL. VII.

Th' exulting Muse shall then, in vigor fresh,
Her flight renew. Mean-while, with weary wing,
O'er Ocean's wave returning, the explores
Siluria's flowery vales, her old delight,

The shepherd's haunts, where the first fprings arise
Cf Britain's happy trade, now fpreading wide,
Wide as th' Atlantic and Pacific feas,

Or as air's vital fluid oler the globe.