Led to their distant climes advent'rous trade.

Add, too, the silken wool of Libyan lands, Of Caza's bowery dales, and brooky Caus, 365 Where lofty Atlas spreads his verdant feet, While in the clouds his hoary shoulders bend.

Next proud Iberia glories in the growth Of high Castile, and mild Segovian glades.

And beauteous Albion, since great Edgar chas'd The prowling wolf, with many a lock appears 371 Of silky lustre ; chief, Siluria, thine Thine, Vaga, favour'd stream; from sheep minute On Cambria bred ; a pound o’erweighs a Fleece : Gay Epson's too, and Banstead's, and whát gleams On Vecta's isle, that shelters Albion's feet, With all its thunders; or Salopian stores, Those which are gather'd in the fields of Clun: High Cotswold also ʼmong the shepherd swains Is oft' remember'd, tho' the greedy plough

380 Preys on its carpet. Het whose rustic Muse O'er heath and craggy holt her wing display'd, And sung the bosky bourns of Alfred's shires, Has favour'd Cotswold with luxuriant praise. Need we the levels green of Lincoln note, 385 Or rich Leicestria's marly plains, for length Of whitest locks and magnitude of Fleece Peculiar? envy of the neighbouring realms ! But why recount our grassy lawns alone, While even the tillage of our cultur'd plains, 390

376

# Drayton.

400

With bossy turnip and luxuriant cole,
Learns thro' the circling year their flocks to feed ?

Ingenious Trade, to clothe the naked world
Her soft majerials not from sheep alone,
From various animals, reeds, trees, and stones, 395
Collects sagacious. In Eubea's isle
A wondrous rock † is found, of which are woven
Vests incombustible ; Batavia fax;
Siam’s warm marish yields the fissile cane;
Soft Persia silk; Balasor's shady hills
Tough bark of trees, Peruvian Pito grass ;
And every sultry clime the snowy down
Of cotton', bursting from its stubborn shell
To gleam amid the verdure of the grove.
With glossy hair of Tibet's shagged goat 405
Are light tiara's woven; that wreath the head,
And airy float behind. The beaver's flix
Gives kindliest warmth to weak enervate limbs,
When the pale blood slow rises thro' the veins.
Srill shall o'er all prevail the shepherd's stores 410
For num’rous uses known: none yield such warmth,
Such beauteous hues receive, so long endure;
So pliant to the loom, so various, none.

Wild rovethe flocks, no burd’ning Fleece they bear In fervid climes : Nature gives nought in vain. 415 Carmenian wool on the broad tail alone Resplendent swells, enormous in its growth : As the sleek ram from green to green removes,

A wondrous rock--the asbestos,

On aiding wheels his heavy pride he draws,
And glad resigns it for the hatters' use.

420
Ev’n in the new Columbian world appears
The woolly covering: Apacheria's glades,
And Canses t, echo to the pipes and flocks
Offoreign swains. WhileTime shakes downhis sands,
And works continual change, be none secure : 425
Quicken your labours, brace your slackening nerves,
Ye Britons ! nor sleep careless on the lap
Of bounteous Nature; she is elsewhere kind.
See Missisippi lengthen-on her lawns,
Propitious to the shepherds; see the sheep I 430
Of fertile Arica ||, like camels form’d,
Which bear huge burdens to the sea-beat shore,
And shine with Fleeces soft as feathery down.

Coarse Bothnic locks are not devoid of use; They clothe the mountain car), or mariner

435 Labouring at the wet shrouds or stubborn helm, While the loud billows dash the groaning deck. All may not Strouds's or Taunton's vestures wear, Nor what from Fleece Rataan g mimic flowers Of rich Damascus: many a texture bright 440 Of that material in Prætorium + woven, Or in Norvicum, cheats the curious eye.

If any wool peculiar to our Isle

† Apacheria and Canses, provinces of Louisiania, on the western side of the Missisippi.

I The sheep are called Guanapos.
| Arica, a province of Peru.
Ratacan Fleeces, the Fleeces of Leicestershire. Coventry.

Is given by Nature, 't is the comber's lock,
The soft, the snow-white, and the long-grown flake.
Hither be turn'd the public's wakeful eye 446
This Golden Fleece to guard, with strictest watch,
From the dark hand of pilfering Avarice,
Who, like a spectre, haunts the midnight hour,
When Nature wide around him lies supine

450
And silent, in the tangles soft involv'd
Of death-like sleep: 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. 455

Happy the patriot who can teach the means To check his frauds, and yet untroubled leave Trade's

open

channels. Would a gen'rous aid To honest toil in Cambria's hilly tracks, Or where the Lunet or Coker | wind their streams, Be found sufficient? Far their airy fields, Far from infectious luxury, arise. O might their mazy dales and mountain sides With copious Fleeces of Ierne shine, And gulfy Caledonia, wisely bent

465 On wealthy fisheries and faxen webs, Then would the sister reaims amid their seas, Like the three Graces in harmonious fold, By mutual aid enhance their various charms, And bless remotest climes ! To this lov'd end Awake, Benevolence! to this lov'd end Strain all thy nerves, and every thought explore.

+ Lune, a river io Cumberland. I Coker, a river in Lancashire.

46 1

475

Far, far away whose passions would immure,
In your own little hearts, the joys of life;
(Ye worms of pride!) for your repast alone
Who claim all Nature's stores, woods, waters, meads,
All her profusion; whose vile hands would grasp
The peasants’ scantling, the weak widow's mite,
And in the sepulchre of Self entomb
Whate'er ye can, whate'er ye cannot, use.

480
Know, for superior ends th’Almighty Pow'r
(The Pow'r whose tender arms embrace the worm)
Breathes o'er the foodful earth the breath of life,
And forms us manifold; allots to each
His fair peculiar, wisdom, wit, and strength; 425
Wisdom, and wit, and strength, in sweet 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, satiates every want, 490
And makes the seas profound, and forests wild,
The gardens of his joys. Man, each man, 's born
For the high bus’ness of the public good.

For me, 't is mine to pray that men regard Their occupations with an honest heart

495 And cheerful diligence : like the useful bee, To gather for the hive not sweets alone, But wax, and each material; pleas'd to find Whate'er may sooth distress, and raise the fall'n, In life's rough race. O be it as my wish! 500 'Tis mine to teach th' inactive hand to reap