They barbarous climes enlighten as they run;
Arts, the rich traffic of the soul!
May travel thus from pole to pole,
And gild the world with learning's brighter sun.
Commerce gives learning, virtue, gold!
Ply Commerce then ye Britons bold,
Inured to winds and seas! lest gods repent:
The gods that throned you in the wave,
And, as the trident's emblem, gave
A triple realm that awes the continent:
And awes with wealth: for wealth is power:
When Jove descends, a golden shower,
'Tis navies, armies, empire, all in one-
View, emulate, outshine old Tyre;
In scarlet robed, with gems on fire,
Her Merchants princes! every deck a throne!
She sat an empress! awed the flood!
Her stable column Ocean trod;
She called the nations, and she called the seas,
By both obeyed; the Syrian sings;
The Cyprian's art her viol strings;
Togarmah's steed along her valley neighs.
The fir of Senir makes her floor,
And Bashan's oak, transformed, her oar;
High Lebanon her mast; far Dedan warms
Her mantled host; Arabia feeds;
Her sail of purple Egypt spreads;
Arvad sends mariners; the Persian arms.
The world's last limit bounds her fame,
The Golden City was her name!
Those stars on earth, the topaz, onyx, blaze
Beneath her foot. Extent of coast,
And rich as Nile's let others boast,
Her's the far noblest harvest of the seas.
U merchant land! as Eden fair!
Ancient of empires! Nature's care!
The Queen of Trade is bought, once wise and just,
How venal is her council's tongue:
How riot, violence, and wrong,
Turn gold to dross, her blossom into dust!
To things inglorious, far beneath
Those high-born souls they proudly breathe
Her sordid nobles sink! her mighty bow!
Is it for this the groves around
Return the tabret's sprightly sound?
Is it for this her great ones toss the brow?
What burning feuds 'twixt brothers reign?
To nuptials cold how glows the vein,
Confounding kindred, and misleading right?
The spurious lord it o'er the land,
Bold Blasphemy dares make a stand,
Assault the sky, and brandish all her might!
Tyre's artisan, sweet orator,
Her merchant, sage, big man of war,
Her judge, her prophet, nay, her hoary heads,
Whose brows with wisdom should be crowned,
Her very priests in guilt abound:
Hence the world's cedar all her honour sheds.
What dearth of truth, what thirst of gold!
Chiefs warm in peace, in battle cold!
What youth unlettered! base ones lifted higà!
What public boasts! what private views!
What desert temples! crowded stews!
What women-practised but to roll an eye!
O! foul of heart, her fairest dames
Decline the sun's intruding beams,
To mad the midnight in their gloomy haunts.
Alas! there is who sees them there;
There is who flatters not the fair,
When cymbals tinkle, and the virgin chants.
He sees, and thunders!-Now in vain
The courser paws and foams the rein,
The strength of Ocean! head of Plenty's springs! And chariots stream along the printed soil:
The pride of isles, in wars revered!
Mother of crafts! loved! courted! feared!
Pilot of kingdoms! and support of kings!
Great mart of nations!-but she fell:
Her pampered sons revolt! rebel!
Against his favourite isle loud roars the Main!
The tempest howls, her sculptured dome
Soon the wolf's refuge, dragon's home!
The land one altar! a whole people slain!
The destined Day puts on her frown;
The sable Hour is coming down;
She's on her march from yon almighty throne:
The sword and storm are in her hand;
She trumpets shrill her dread command:
Dark be the light of earth, the boast unknown!
For, oh! her sins, as red as blood,
As crimson deep outcry the flood:
In vain her high presumptuous air,
In gorgeous vestments, rich and rare,
O'er her proud shoulder throws the poor man's toil
In robes or gems, her costly strain,
Green, scarlet, azure, shine in vain!
In vain their golden heads her turrets rear,
In vain high-flavoured, foreign fruits,
Sidonian oils, and Lydian lutes,
Glide o'er her tongue, and melt upon her ear.
In vain wine flows in various streams,
With helm and spear each pillar gleams;
Damascus, vain! unfolds the glossy store,
The golden wedge from Ophir's coasts,
From Arab incense, vain, she boasts;
Vain are her gods, and vainly men adore.
Bell falls! the mighty Nebo bends!
The nations hiss! her glory ends!
To ships, her confidence! she flies from foes;
Foes meet her there: the wind, the wave,
That once aid, strength, and grandeur gave,
Plunge her in seas from which her glory rose.
Her ivory deck, embroidered sail,
And mast of cedar, nought avail,
Or pilot learned! she sinks, nor sinks alone!
Her gods sink with her! to the sky,
Which never more shall meet her eye,
She sends her soul out in one dreadful groan.
What though so vast her naval might,
In her first dawned the British right,
All flags abased her sea-dominion greet.*
What though she longer warred than Troy?
At length her foes that isle destroy,
Whose conquest sailed as far as sailed her fleet.
The kings she clothed in purple, shake
Their awful brows: "O foul mistake!
O fatal pride!" they cry, "this, this is she
Who said-With my own art and arm
In the world's wealth I wrap me warm-
And swelled at heart vain empress of the sea!
This, this is she who meanly soared:
Alas! how low to be adored,
And style herself a god!-Through stormy wars
This eagle-isle her thunder bore,
High-fed her young with human gore,
And would have built her nest among the stars.
"But ah, frail man! how impotent
To stand heaven's vengeance, or prevent!
To turn aside the great Creator's aim!
Shall island kings with him contend,
Who makes the poles beneath him bend,
And shall drink up the sea herself with flame?
"Earth, ether, empyreum, bow,
When from the brazen mountain's brow,
The God of battles takes his mighty bow:
Of wrath prepares to pour the flood,
Puts on his vesture dipped in blood,
And marches out to scourge the world below.
"Ah wretched isle, once called the great!
Ah wretched isle! and wise too late!
The vengeance of Jehovah is gone out;
Thy luxury, corruption, pride,
And, freedom lost, the realms deride;
Adored thee standing; o'er thy ruins shout:
"To scourge with war, or peace bestow,
Was thine, O fallen! fallen low!
'Twas thine of jarring thrones to still debate:
How art thou fallen, down, down, down!
Wide Waste, and Night, and Horror frown,
Where Empire flamed in gold, and balanced states."
An inference from this history. Advice to Britain. More proper to her than other nations. How far the stroke of ty. ranny reaches. What supports our endeavours. The unconsidered benefits of liberty. Britain's obligation to pursue trade. Why above half the globe is sea. Britain's grandeur from her situation. The winds, the seas, the constellations, described. Sir Isaac Newton's praise. Britain compared with other states. The leviathan described. Britain's site and ancient title to the seas. Who rivals her. Of Venice. Holland Some despise trade as mean; censured for it. Trade's glory. The late Czar. Solomon. A surprising instance of magnifi. cence. The merchant's dignity. Compared with men of letters.
HENCE learn, as hearts are foul or pure,
Our fortunes wither or endure:
Nations may thrive or perish by the wave.
What storms from Jove's unwilling frown,
A people's crimes solicit down!
Ocean's the womb of riches and the grave.
This truth, O Britain! ponder well:
Virtues should rise as fortunes swell.
What is large property?—the sign of good,
Of worth superior: if 'tis less,
Another's treasure we possess,
And charge the gods with favours misbestowed.
This counsel suits Britannia's isle,
High-flushed with wealth and Freedom's smile:
To vassals prisoned in the continent,
Who starve at home on meagre toil,
And suck to death their mother soil,
'Twere useless caution, and a truth mispent.
Fell tyrants strike beyond the bone,
And wound the soul; bow genius down,
Lay virtue waste! For worth or arts who strain,
To throw them at a monster's foot?
'Tis property supports pursuit.
Freedom gives eloquence, and freedom gain.
She pours the thought, and forms the style;
She makes the blood and spirits boil:
I feel her now! and rouse, and rise, and rave
In Theban song. O Muse! not thine,
Verse is gay Freedom's gift divine;
The man that can think greatly is no slave.
Others may traffic if they please;
Britain, fair daughter of the seas,
Is born for trade, to plough her field, the wave,
And reap the growth of every coast:
A speck of land! but let her boast
Gods gave the world, when they the waters gave
Britain! behold the world's wide face;
Nor covered half with solid space,
Three parts are fluid. Empire of the rea!
And why? for commerce. Ocean streams For that, through all his various names; And if for commerce, Ocean flows for thee.
Britain, like some great potentate
Of Eastern clime, retires in state,
Shuts out the nations! Would a prince draw nigh?
He passes her strong guards, the waves,
Of servant winds admission craves,
Her empire has no neighbour but the sky.
There are her friends; soft Zephyr there,
Keen Eurus, Notus never fair,
Rough Boreas bursting from the pole; all urge,
And urge for her, their various toil;
The Caspian, the broad Baltic boil,
And into life the dead Pacific scourge.
There are her friends, a marshalled train!
A golden host! and azure plain!.
By turns do duty, and by turns retreat;
They may retreat, but not from her;
The stars that quit this hemisphere,
Must quit the skies to want a British fleet.
Hyad, for her, leans o'er her urn;
For her Orion's glories burn,
The Pleiads gleam. For Britons set and rise
The fair faced sons of Mazaroth,
Near the deep chambers of the South,
The raging dog that fires the midnight skies.
These nations Newton made his own;
All intimate with him alone,
His mighty soul did, like a giant, run
To the vast volume's closing star;
Deciphered every character:
His reason poured new light upon the sun.
Let the proud brothers of the land
Smile at our rock and barren strand;
Not such the sea; let Fohe's ancient line
Vast tracks and ample beings vaunt!
The camel low, small elephant;
O Britain! the leviathan is thine.
Leviathan! whom Nature's strife
Brought forth her largest piece of life!
He sleeps an isle! his sports the billows warm!
Dreadful Leviathan! thy spout
Invades the skies; the stars are out:
He drinks a river, and ejects a storm.
The Atlantic surge around our shore,
German and Caledonian roar;
Their mighty Genii hold us in their lap.—
Liear Egbert Edgar, Ethelred;
"The seas are ours, "-the monarchs said—
The floods their hands, their hands the nations, clap
Whence is a rival then to rise?
Can he be found beneath the skies?
No, there they dweil chat can give Britain lea:
The powers of earth, by rival ain,
Her grandeur but the more proclaim,
And prove their distance most as they draw
Proud Venice sits amid the waves,
Her foot ambitious Ocean laves;
Art's noblest boast! but, O! what wondrous odds 'Twixt Venice and Britannia's isle? 'Twixt mortal and immortal toil? Britannia is a Venice built by gods.
Let Holland triumph o'er her focs,
But not o'er friends by whom she rose,
The child of Britain! and shall she contend?
It were no less than parricide
What wonders rise from out the tide!
Her High and Mighty to the rudder bend.
And are there, then, of lofty brow,
Who think trade mean, and scorn to bow
So far beneath the state of noble birth?
Alas! these chiefs but little know
Commerce how high, themselves how low,
The sons of nobles are the sons of earth.
And what have earth's mean sons to do
But reap her fruits, and warm pursue
The world's chief good, not glut on others' toil?
High Commerce from the gods came down,
With compass, chart, and starry crown,
Their delegate to make the nations smile.
Blush, and behold the Russian bow;
From forty crowns his mighty brow
To trade-to toil he turns his glorious hand;
That arm which swept the bloody field,
See! the huge axe or hammer wield,
While sceptres wait, and thrones impatient stan
O shame to subjects! first renown,
Matchless example to the crown!
Old Time is poor; what age boasts such a sight
He drones! adore the man divine-
No; virtue still as mean decline;
Call Russians barb'rous and yourselves polit".
He, too, of Judah, great as wise,
With Hiram strove in merchandise;
Monarchs with monarchs struggle for an oar!
That Merchant sinking to his grave,
A flood of treasure swells the cave;
The king left much, the merchant buried more.•
Vast treasure taken from Solomon's tomb thirteen hus dred years after his death, three thousand talents at one time.
and an immense sum the next.
Is Merchant an inglorious name?
fit for Pindar such a theme,
Too great for me; I pant beneath the weight!
If loud as Ocean's were my voice,
If words and thoughts to court my choice
Outnumbered sands, I could not reach its height.
Merchants o'er proudest heroes reign;
Those trade in blessing, these in pain,
Thy spirit pour like vernal showers;
My verse shall burst out with the flowers,
While Britain's trade advances with her sun
Though Britain was not born to fear,
Grasp not at bloody fame for war;
Nor war decline, if thrones your right invade:
Jove gathers tempest black as night;
Jove pours the golden flood of light:
At slaughter swell, and shout while nations groan: Let Britain thunder, or fet Britain trade.
With purple monarchs merchants vie:
If great to spend, what to supply?
Britain, a comet or a star,
Priests pray for blessings, merchants pour 'em In commerce this, or that in war;
Kings Merchants are, in league, and love,
Earth's odours pay soft airs above,
That o'er the teeming field prolific range.
Planets are Merchants, take, return,
Lustre and heat; by traffic burn:
The whole creation is one vast Exchange.
Is Merchant an inglorious name?
What say the sons of lettered Fame,
Proud of their volumes, swelling in their cells?
In open life, in change of scene,
'Mid various manners, throngs of men,
Experience, arts, and solid wisdom dwells.
Trade, Art's mechanic, Nature's stores
Well weighs; to starry science soars:
Reads warm in life (dead-coloured by the pen)
The sites, tongues, interests, of the ball:
Who studies trade, he studies all.
Accomplished Merchants are accomplished men.
Pindar invoked. His praise. Britain should decline war, out boldly assert her trade. Encouraged from the throne. Britain's condition without trade. Trade's character, and sur
prising deeds. Carthage. Solomon's temple. St. Paul's Church. The miser's character. The wonderful effects of trade. Why religion recommended to the Merchant. What false joy. What true. What religion is to the Merchant. Why trade more glorious in Britons than others. How warmly and how long to be pursued by us. The Briton's legacy. Columbus. His praise. America described. Worlds still unknown. Queen Elizabeth. King George IL His glory navally represented.
How shall I farther rouse the soul!
How Sloth's lascivious reign control
By verse with unextinguished ardour wrought?
How every breast inflame with mine?
How bid my theme still brighter shine,
With wealth of words and unexhausted thought?
O thou Dircæan swan on high,
Round whom familiar thunders fly!
While Jove attends a language like his own,
Let Britons shout! earth, seas, and skies resound'
Commerce to kindle, raise, preserve,
And spirit dart througn every nerve,
Hear from the throne* a voice through time re nowned.
So fall from heaven the vernal showers,
To cheer the glebe, and wake the flowers:
The bloom called forth, sees azure skies displayed.
The bird of voice is proud to sing,
Industrious bees ply every wing,
Distend their cells, and urge their golden trade.
Trade once extinguished, Britain's sun
Is gone out too; his race is run;
He shines in vain; her isle's an isle indeed,
A spot too small to be o'ercome:
Ah, dreadful safety! wretched doom!
No foe will conquer what no foe can feed.
Trade's the source, sinew, soul of all:
Trade's all herself: her's, her's the ball:
Where most unseen, the goddess still is there.
Trade leads the dance, Trade lights the blaze,
The courtier's pomp! the student's ease!
'Twas Trade at Blenheim fought, and closed the
What Rome and all her gods defies?
The Punic oar; behold it rise
And battle for the world! Trade gave the call:
Rich cordials from his naval art
Sent the strong spirits to his heart,
That bid an Afric Merchant grasp the ball.
Where is, on earth, Jevovah's home?
Trade marked the soil, and built the dome,
In which his majesty first deigned to dwell;
The walls with silver sheets o'erlaid,
Rich as the sun, through gold unweighed,
Bent the mooned arch, and bid the column sweil
Grandeur unknown to Solomon !t
Beneath yon load; created, sure, not made'
Methinks the lab'ring earth should groan
•The King's Speech.
↑ St. Paul s built by the coal-tas.
Servant and rival of the skies!
Heaven's arch alone can higher rise;
Wear out the stars in trade! eternal run
From age to age, the noble glow,
What hand immortal raised thee?-Humble Trade. A rage to gain and to bestow:
Where had'st thou been if left at large,
Those sinewy arms that tugged the barge
Had caught at Pleasure on the flowery green?
If they that watched the midnight star
Had swung behind the rolling car,
While ages last! in trade burn out the sun.
Trade, Britain's all, our sires sent down,
With toil, blood, treasure, ages won:
This Edgar great bequeathed; this Edward bold
Let Forbisher's, let Raleigh's fire!
Or filled it with disgrace, where had'st thou been? Olet Columbus' shade inspire!
As by repletion men consume,
Abundance is the miser's doom.
Expend it nobly; he that lets it rust,
Which, passing numerous hands, would shine;
Is not a man, but living mine,
Foe to the gods, and rival to the dust.
Trade barbarous lands can polish fair,
Make earth well worth the wise man's care,
Call forth her forests, charm them into fleets:
Can make one house of human race,
Can bid the distant poles embrace;
Her's every sun; and India India meets.
Trade monarchs crown, and arts imports,
With bounty feeds with laurel courts;
Trade gives fair Virtue fairer still to shine,
Enacts those guards of gain, the laws,
Exalts e'en Freedom's glorious cause:
Trade, warned by Tyre, O make religion thine!
You lend each other mutual aid:
Why is heaven's smile in wealth conveyed?
Not to place vice, but virtues, in our power.
Pleasure declined is luxury,
Boundless in time and in degree;
Pleasure enjoyed, the tumult of an hour.
False joy's a discomposing thing,
That jars on Nature's trembling string,
Tempests the spirits, and untunes the frame:
True joy the sunshine of the soul,
A bright serene that calms the whole,
New worlds disclose, with Drake surround an old Columbus! scare inferior fame
For thee to find, than heaven to frame,
That womb of gold and gem:* her wide domain
An universe! her rivers seas!
Her fruits, both men and gods to please!
Heaven's fairest birth! and but for thee in vain.
Worlds still unknown deep shadows wrap;
Call wonders forth from Nature's lap;
New glory pour on her eternal sire:
O noble search! O glorious care!
Are you not Britons? why despair?
New worlds are due to such a godlike sire.
Swear by the great Eliza's soul,
That trade as long as waters roll:
Ah! no; the gods chastise my rash decree:
By great Eliza do not swear;
For thee, O George! the gods declare,
And thou for them! late time shall swear by thee.
Truth, bright as stars, with thee prevails;
Full be thy fame as swelling sails;
Constant as tides, thy mind; as masts elate;
Thy justice an unerring helm,
To steer Britannia's fickle realm;
Thy numerous race sure anchor of her state.
What is the bound of Britain's power. most famed in history. The sign Lyra. tions are. Argo. The Whale. The
Which they ne'er knew whom other joys inflame. The Lion. Libra. Virgo. Berenice.
Merchant! religion is the care
To grow as rich—as angels are;
Bayond that of the What the constellaDolphin. Eridam The British lady censured. The Moon. What the sea is. Apostrophe to the Em peror. The Spanish Armada. How Britain should speak her resentment. What gives power. What natives do in war. The Tartar. Mogul. Africa. China. Who master of the
To know false coin from true; to sweep the main, world. What the history of the world is. The genealogy of
The mighty stake secure, beyond
The strongest tie of field or fund:
Commerce gives gold, religion makes it gain.
Join then religion to thy store,
Or India's mines will make thee poor.
Greater than Tyre! O bear a nobler mind,
Sea sovereign isle! proud War decline,
Trade patronize! What glory thine,
Ardent to bless, who could subdue mankind?
Rich Commerce ply, with warmth divine,
Rv day, by night; the stars are thine
Glory. Mistakes about it. Peace the Merchant's harves
Ships of divine origin. Merchants ambassadors. The Briton's
voyage. Praise the food of Glory. Britain's record.
BRITANNIA'S state what bounds confine!
(Of rising thought! O golden mine!)
Mountains, Alps, streams, gulfs, oceans, set nɩ
bound;
She sallies till she strikes the star;
Expanding wide, and launching far
As wind can fly, or rolling wave resound.
|