The purple stain on fleecy woofs he spread,
Which lur'd the eye, adorning many a nymph,
And drew the pomp of trade to rising Tyre.
Our vallies yield not, or but fparing yield,
The dyer's gay materials. Only weld,
Or root of madder, here, or purple woad,
By which our naked ancestors obfcur'd
Their hardy limbs, inwrought with myftic forms,
Like Egypt's obelisks. The powerful fun
Hot India's zone with gaudy pencil paints,
And drops delicious tints o'er hill and dale,
Which trade to us conveys. Not tints alone,
Trade to the good physician gives his balms;
Gives chearing cordials to th' afflicted heart.;
Gives to the wealthy, delicacies high;
Gives, to the curious, works of nature rare;
And when the prieft difplays, in juft difcourfe,
Him, the all-wife Creator, and declares
His prefence, power, and goodness, unconfin'd,
'Tis trade, attentive voyager, who fills
His lips with argument. To cenfure trade,
Or hold her busy people in contempt,
Let none prefume. The dignity, and grace,
And weal, of human life, their fountains owe
To feeming imperfections, to vain wants,
Or real exigencies; paffions swift
Forerunning reafon; strong contrarious bents,
The steps of men difperfing wide abroad
O'er realms and feas. There, in the folemn fcene,
Infinite wonders glare before their eyes,
Humiliating the mind enlarg'd; for they
The cleareft fenfe of Deity receive,
Who view the widest prospect of his works,
Ranging the globe with trade through various climes Who see the fignatures of boundless love,
Nor lefs the judgments of Almighty Power,
That warn the wicked, and the wretch who 'fcapes
From human juftice: who, aftonish'd, view
Etna's loud thunders and tempeftuous fires;
The dust of Carthage; defert fhores of Nile;
Or Tyre's abandon'd fummit, crown'd of old
With ftately towers; whofe merchants, from their ifles,
And radiant thrones, affembled in her marts;
Whither Arabia, whither Kedar, brought
Their fhaggy goats, their flocks, and bleating lambs
Where rich Damafcus pil'd his fleeces white,
Prepar'd, and thirsty for the double tint,
And flowering fhuttle. While th' admiring world
Crowded her streets; ah! then the hand of Pride
Sow'd imperceptible his poifonous weed,
Which crept deftructive up her lofty domes,
As ivy creeps around the graceful trunk
Of fome tall oak. Her lofty domes no more,
Not ev'n the ruins of her pomp, remain ;
Not ev'n the duft they funk in; by the breath
Of the Omnipotent offended hurl'd
Down to the bottom of the ftormy deep :
Only the folitary rock remains,
Her ancient fcite; a monument to thofe,
Who toil and wealth exchange for floth and pride.
bor. The feveral methods of fpinning. Defcription of the loom, and of weaving. Variety of looms. The fulling-mill described, and the progrefs of the manufacture. Dying of cloth, and the excellence of the French in that art. Frequent negligence of our artificers. The ill confequences of idleness. Country-workhoufes propofed; with a defcription
Good effects of industry exemplified in the profpect of Burftal and Leeds; and the cloth-market there defcribed. Preference of the labors of the loom to other manufactures, illuftrated by fome comparisons. Hiftory of the art of weaving its removal from the Netherlands, and fettlement in fe- veral parts of England. Cenfure of thofe, who would reject the perfecuted and the stranger. Our trade and profperity owing to them. Of the manufacture of tapestry, taught us by the Saracens. Tapestries of Blenheim defcribed. Different arts, procuring. wealth to different countries. Numerous in
habitants, and their industry, the surest source of it. Hence a wish, that our country were open to all men. View of the roads and rivers, through which our manufactures are conveyed. Our navigations not far from the feats of our manufactures: other countries lefs happy. The difficult work of Egypt. in joining the Nile to the Red Sea; and of France in attempting, by canals, a communication between the Ocean and the Mediterranean. Such junctions may more easily be performed in England, and the Trent and Severn united to the Thames. Defcription of the Thames, and the port of London.
PROCEED, Arcadian Mufe; refume the pipe
Of Hermes, long difus'd, though fweet the tone,
And to the fongs of Nature's chorifters
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 pasture spreads,
G
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 lives by toil:
Beast, bird, air, fire, the heavens, and rolling worlds,
All live by action: nothing lies at rest,
But death and ruin: man is born to care;
Fashion'd, improv'd, by labor. 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 chieftains from the fpade, or furrowing plough,
Or bleating fheepfold. Hence utility
Through all conditions; hence the joys of health;
Hence ftrength 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 toil that makes them wealth; that makes the fleece (Yet ufelefs, rifing in unfhapen heaps);
Anon, in curious woofs of beauteous hue,
A vefture 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;
Grey dawn appears; the golden morn afcends,
And paints the glittering rocks, and purple woods,
And flaming fpires; arife, begin your toils;
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