Humiliating the mind enlarg'd; for they
The clearest sense of Deity receive,
Who view the wideft profpect of his works,
Ranging the globe with trade through various climes : Who fee 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; desert shores 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 fleeks, and bleating lambs;
Where rich Damafcus pil'd his fleeces white,
Prepar'd, and thirty for the double tint,
And flowering shuttle. While th' admiring world
Crowded her ftreets; 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 stormy 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 spinning. Defcription of the loom, and of weaving. Variety of looms. The fulling-mill described, and the progress 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-workhouses proposed; with a description 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. History of the art of weaving: its removal from the Netherlands, and fettlement in feveral parts of England. ́ Cenfure of those, who would reject the perfecuted and the ftranger. Our trade and profperity owing to them. Of the manufacture of tapestry, taught us by the Saracens. Tapestries of Blenheim described. Different arts, procuring wealth to different countries. Numerous in
habitants, and their industry, the furest 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.
ROCEED, Arcadian Mufe; refume the pipe Of Hermes, long difus'd, though sweet the tone, And to the fongs of Nature's choristers
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 heedless youth allur'd:
Too oft, with bolder found, enflam'd the rage
Of horrid war. Let now the fleecy looms
Dircet our rural numbers, as of old,
When plains and theepfolds were the Mufes' haunts.
So thou, the friend of every virtuous deed
And aim, though feeble, halt these rural lays
Approve, O Heathcote, whofe benevolence
Vifits our vallies; where the pasture spreads,
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And where the bramble; and woaid justly act
True charity, by teaching idle want
And vice the inclination to do good,
Good to themselves, and in themfelves to all,
Through grateful toil. Ev'n nature lives by toil:
Beast, bird, air, fire, the heavens, and rolling world
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 usefully 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;
Behold the fleece beneath the fpiky comb
Drop its long locks, or, from the mingling card,
Spread in foft flakes, and swell the whiten'd floor.
Come, village nymphs, ye matrons, and ye maids,
Receive the foft material: with light step
Whether ye turn around the fpacious wheel,
Or, patient fitting, that revolve, which forms
A narrower circle. On the brittle work
Point your quick eye; and let the hand affift
To guide and stretch the gently-leffening thread:"
Even, unknotted twine, will praise your skill.
A different fpinning every different web
Afks from your glowing fingers: fome require
The more compact, and some the loofer wreath;
The last for softness, to delight the touch
Of chamber'd delicacy: fcarce the cirque
Need turn around, or twine the lengthening flake.
There are, to speed their labor, who prefer
Wheels double-fpol'd, which yield to either hand
A feveral line and many, yet adhere
To th' ancient diftaff, at the bofom fix'd,
Cafting the whirling fpindle as they walk:
At home, or in the fheepfold, or the mart,
Alike the work proceeds. This method still
Norvicum favours, and th' Icenian * towns:
It yields their airy ftuffs an apter thread.
This was of old, in no inglorious days,
The mode of fpinning, when th' Egyptian prince
* The Iceni were the inhabitants of Suffolk.
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