Did ever temple boaft as this, which here
Spreads its bright level many a league around?
At folemn distances its pillars rife,

Sofal's blue rocks, Mozambic's palmy steeps,
And lofty Madagascar's glittering fhores,

Where various woods of beauteous vein and hue,
And gloffy fhells in elegance of form,

For Pond's rich cabinet, or Sloan's, are found.

Such calm oft checks their course, till this bright scene Is brush'd away before the rifing breeze,

That joys the busy crew,

and speeds again
The fail full-fwelling to. Socotra's isle,
For aloes fam'd; or to the wealthy marts
Of Ormus or Gombroon, whose streets are oft
With caravans and tawny merchants throng'd,
From neighbouring provinces and realms afar;
And fill'd with plenty, though dry fandy wastes
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 isle, and harbour fam`d,
Supine beneath the shade 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 seeks upon the strand, whom erst,
Associated by trade, he deck'd and cloath'd;
In vain, whom rage or famine has devour'd,

He

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 gums; the clothier knows their worth
And wool resembling 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 exercise, 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 their fhores,
To mark o'er ocean the thick, rising ifles;
Woody Chaetta, Birter rough with rocks ;
Green-rifing Barmur, Mincoy's purple hills;
And the minute Maldivias, as a fwarm
Of bees in fummer, on a poplar's trunk,
Cluftering innumerable; thefe behind
His ftern receding, o'er the clouds he views
Ceylon's grey peaks, from whofe volcano's rife

Dark fmoke and ruddy flame, and glaring rocks
Daring in air aloft; around whofe feet
Blue cliffs afcend, and aromatic groves,
In various profpect; 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 thofe which rife on Ganges' twenty freams,
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 Ator, on the stream
Of old Hydafpes, Porus' hardy realm ;

And

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

The keels which voyage through Molucca's straitë, Amid a cloud of spicy odours, fail,

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

Near thofe delicious ifles, the beauteous coast
Of China rears its fummits. Know ye not,
Ye fons of trade, that ever-flowery shore,
Thofe azure hills, those woods and nodding rocks
Compare them with the pictures of your chart;
Alike the woods and nodding rocks o'erhang.
Now the tall glofly towers of porcelane,
And pillar'd pagods shine; 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 fhrouds, and bends the stubborn maft:
Thefe, for the artists of the fleece, procure
Various materials; and, for affluent life,

I 3

The

'The flavour'd thea and gloffy painted 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 shady 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, waste and wild,
Journey immenfe! which, to th' attentive ear,
The Mufe, in faithful notes, fhall brief describe.
From the proud mart of Petersburg, ere-while

The watery feat of defolation wide,

Iffue thefe trading caravans, and urge,

Through dazzling fnows, their dreary trackless road; By compafs fteering oft, from week to week,

From