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LONDON: OR, THE PROGRESS OF COMMERCE.

1 YE northern blasts, and
b The east wind.
Eurus, wont to sweep
2 With rudest pinions o'er the furrow'd waves,
3 Awhile suspend your violence, and waft
4 From sandy
c Bremen is situated on the Weser, and Hamburg on the Elb.
Weser and the broad-mouth'd Elb
5 My freighted vessels to the destin'd shore,
6 Safe o'er th' unruffled main; let every thought,
7 Which may disquiet, and alarm my breast,
8 Be absent now; that, dispossess'd of care,
9 And free from every tumult of the mind,
10 With each disturbing passion hush'd to peace,
11 I may pour all my spirit on the theme,
12 Which opens now before me, and demands
13 The loftiest strain. The eagle, when he tow'rs
14 Beyond the clouds, the fleecy robes of heaven,
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15 Disdains all objects but the golden sun,
16 Full on th' effulgent orb directs his eye,
17 And sails exulting through the blaze of day;
18 So, while her wing attempts the boldest flight,
19 Rejecting each inferior theme of praise,
20 Thee, ornament of Europe, Albion's pride,
21 Fair seat of wealth and freedom, thee my Muse
22 Shall celebrate, O London: thee she hails.
23 Thou lov'd abode of Commerce, last retreat,
24 Whence she contemplates with a tranquil mind
25 Her various wanderings from the fated hour
26 That she abandon'd her maternal clime;
27 Neptunian Commerce, whom Phoenice bore,
28 Illustrious nymph, that nam'd the fertile plains
29 Along the sounding main extended far,
30 Which flowery Carmel with its sweet perfumes,
31 And with its cedars Libanus o'ershades:
32 Her from the bottom of the watry world,
33 As once she stood, in radiant beauties grac'd,
34 To mark the heaving tide, the piercing eye
35 Of Neptune view'd enamour'd: from the deep
36 The God ascending rushes to the beach,
37 And clasps th' affrighted virgin. From that day,
38 Soon as the paly regent of the night
39 Nine times her monthly progress had renew'd
40 Thro' heaven's illumin'd vault, Phoenice, led
41 By shame, once more the sea-worn margin sought:
42 There pac'd with painful steps the barren sands,
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43 A solitary mourner, and the surge,
44 Which gently roll'd beside her, now no more
45 With placid eyes beholding, thus exclaim'd.
46 Ye fragrant shrubs and cedars, lofty shade,
47 Which crown my native hills, ye spreading palms,
48 That rise majestic on these fruitful meads,
49 With you, who gave the lost Phoenice birth,
50 And you, who bear th' endearing name of friends,
51 Once faithful partners of my chaster hours,
52 Farewell! To thee, perfidious God, I come,
53 Bent down with pain and anguish on thy sands,
54 I come thy suppliant: death is all I crave;
55 Bid thy devouring waves inwrap my head,
56 And to the bottom whelm my cares and shame!
57 She ceas'd, when sudden from th' inclosing deep
58 A crystal car emerg'd, with glitt'ring shells,
59 Cull'd from their oozy beds by Tethys' train,
60 And blushing coral deck'd, whose ruddy glow
61 Mix'd with the watry lustre of the pearl.
62 A smiling band of sea-born nymphs attend,
63 Who from the shore with gentle hands convey
64 The fear-subdu'd Phoenice, and along
65 The lucid chariot place. As there with dread
66 All mute, and struggling with her painful throes
67 She lay, the winds by Neptune's high command
68 Were silent round her; not a zephyr dar'd
69 To wanton o'er the cedar's branching top,
70 Nor on the plain the stately palm was seen
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71 To wave its graceful verdure; o'er the main
72 No undulation broke the smooth expanse,
73 But all was hush'd and motionless around,
74 All but the lightly-sliding ear, impell'd
75 Along the level azure by the strength
76 Of active Tritons, rivalling in speed
77 The rapid meteor, whose sulphureous train
78 Glides o'er the brow of darkness, and appears
79 The livid ruins of a falling star.
80 Beneath the Lybian skies, a blissful isle,
81 By
e Triton, a river and lake of antient Lybia.
Triton's floods encircled, Nysa lay.
82 Here youthful Nature wanton'd in delights,
83 And here the guardians of the bounteous horn,
84 While it was now the infancy of time,
85 Nor yet th' uncultivated globe had learn'd
86 To smile,
f Fruitfulness.
Eucarpé,
g Plenty.
Dapsiléa dwelt,
87 With all the nymphs, whose secret care had nurs'd
88 The eldest Bacchus. From the flow'ry shore
89 A turf-clad valley opens, and along
90 Its verdure mild the willing feet allures;
91 While on its sloping sides ascends the pride
92 Of hoary groves, high-arching o'er the vale
93 With day-rejecting gloom. The solemn shade
94 Half round a spacious lawn at length expands,
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95
h This whole description of the rock and grotto is taken from Diod. Siculus, lib. 3. pag. 202.
Clos'd by a tow'ring cliff, whose forehead glows
96 With azure, purple, and ten thousand dyes,
97 From its resplendent fragments beaming round;
98 Nor less irradiate colours from beneath
99 On every side an ample grot reflects,
100 As down the perforated rock the sun
101 Pours his meridian blaze! rever'd abode
102 Of Nysa's nymphs, with every plant attir'd,
103 That wears undying green, refresh'd with rills
104 From ever-living fountains, and enrich'd
105 With all Pomona's bloom: unfading flowers
106 Glow on the mead, and spicy shrubs perfume
107 With inexhausted sweets the cooling gale,
108 Which breathes incessant there; while every bird
109 Of tuneful note his gay or plaintive song
110 Blends with the warble of meandring streams,
111 Which o'er their pebbled channels murm'ring lave
112 The fruit-invested hills, that rise around.
113 The gentle Nereids to this calm recess
114 Phoenice bear; nor Dapsiléa bland,
115 Nor good Eucarpé, studious to obey
116 Great Neptune's will, their hospitable care
117 Refuse; nor long Lucina is invok'd.
118 Soon as the wondrous infant sprung to day,
119 Earth rock'd around; with all their nodding woods,
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120 And streams reverting to their troubled source,
121 The mountain shook, while Lybia's neighb'ring god,
122 Mysterious Ammon, from his hollow cell
123 With deep-resounding accent thus to heaven,
124 To earth, and sea, the mighty birth proclaim'd.
125 A new-born power behold! whom Fate hath call'd
126 The Gods' imperfect labour to complete
127 This wide creation. She in lonely sands
128 Shall bid the tower-encircled city rise,
129 The barren sea shall people, and the wilds
130 Of dreary nature shall with plenty cloath;
131 She shall enlighten man's unletter'd race,
132 And with endearing intercourse unite
133 Remotest nations, scorch'd by sultry suns,
134 Or freezing near the snow-encrusted pole:
135 Where'er the joyous vine disdains to grow,
136 The fruitful olive, or the golden ear;
137 Her hand divine, with interposing aid
138 To every climate shall the gifts supply
139 Of Ceres, Bacchus, and
i Minerva, the tutelary goddess of the Athenians, to whom she gave the olive.
the Athenian maid:
140 The graces, joys, emoluments of life
141 From her exhaustless bounty all shall flow.
142 The heavenly prophet ceas'd. Olympus heard.
143 Streight from their star-bespangled thrones descend
144 On blooming Nysa a celestial band
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145 The ocean's lord to honour in his child;
146 When o'er his offspring smiling thus began
147 The trident-ruler. Commerce be thy name:
148 To thee I give the empire of the main.
149 From where the morning breathes its eastern gale,
150 To th' undiscover'd limits of the West,
151 From chilling Boreas to extremest South
152 Thy sire's obsequious billows shall extend
153 Thy universal reign. Minerva next
154 With wisdom bless'd her, Mercury with art,
155
k Vulcan, the tutelary deity of Lemnos.
The Lemnian god with industry, and last
156 Majestic Phoebus, o'er the infant long
157 In contemplation pausing, thus declar'd
158 From his enraptur'd lip his matchless boon.
159 Thee with divine invention I endow,
160 That secret wonder, Goddess, to disclose,
161 By which the wise, the virtuous, and the brave,
162 The heaven-taught Poet and exploring Sage
163 Shall pass recorded to the verge of time.
164 Her years of childhood now were number'd o'er,
165 When to her mother's natal soil repair'd
166 The new divinity, whose parting step
167 Her sacred nurses follow'd, ever now
168 To her alone inseparably join'd;
169 Then first deserting their Nyseian shore
170 To spread their hoarded blessings round the world;
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171 Who with them bore the inexhausted horn
172 Of ever-smiling Plenty. Thus adorn'd,
173 Attended thus, great Goddess, thou beganst
174 Thy all enlivening progress o'er the globe,
175 Then rude and joyless, destin'd to repair
176 The various ills, which earliest ages ru'd
177 From one, like thee, distinguish'd bu the gifts
178 Of heaven, Pandora, whose pernicious hand
179 From the dire vase releas'd th' imprison'd woes.
180 Thou, gracious Commerce, from his cheerless caves
181 In horrid rocks, and solitary woods,
182 The helpless wand'rer man forlorn and wild
183 Didst charm to sweet society; didst cast
184 The deep foundations, where the future pride
185 Of mightiest cities rose, and o'er the main
186 Before the wond'ring Nereids didst present
187 The surge-dividing keel, and stately mast,
188 Whose canvas wings, distending with the gale,
189 The bold Phoenician through Alcides' straits
190 To northern Albion's tin-embowel'd fields,
191 And oft beneath the sea-obscuring brow
192 Of cloud-envelop'd Teneriff convey'd.
193 Next in sagacious thought th' ethereal plains
194 Thou trodst, exploring each propitious star
195 The danger-braving mariner to guide;
196 Then all the latent and mysterious powers
197 Of number didst unravel; last to crown
198 Thy bounties, Goddess, thy unrival'd toils
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199 For man, still urging thy inventive mind,
200 Thou gav'st him
l Here the opinion of Sir Isaac Newton is followed, that letters were first invented amongst the trading parts of the world.
letters; there imparting all,
201 Which lifts th' ennobled spirit near to heaven,
202 Laws, learning, wisdom, nature's works reveal'd
203 By god-like Sages, all Minerva's arts,
204 Apollo's music, and th' eternal voice
205 Of Virtue sounding from the historic roll,
206 The philosophic page, and poet's song.
207 Now solitude and silence from the shores
208 Retreat on pathless mountains to reside,
209 Barbarity is polish'd, infant arts
210 Bloom in the desart, and benignant peace
211 With hospitality begin to sooth
212 Unsocial rapine, and the thirst of blood;
213 As from his tumid urn when Nilus spreads
214 His genial tides abroad, the favour'd soil
215 That joins his fruitful border, first imbibes
216 The kindly stream; anon the bounteous God
217 His waves extends, embracing Egypt round,
218 Dwells on the teeming champain, and endows
219 The sleeping grain with vigour to attire
220 In one bright harvest all the Pharian plains:
221 Thus, when Pygmalion from Phoenician Tyre
222 Had banish'd freedom, with disdainful steps
223 Indignant Commerce, turning from the walls
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224 Herself had rais'd, her welcome sway enlarg'd
225 Among the nations, spreading round the globe
226 The fruits of all its climes;
m Athenian. Athens was call'd Cecropia from Cecrops its first king.
Cecropian oil,
227 The Thracian vintage, and Panchaian gums,
228 Arabia's spices, and the golden grain,
229 Which old Osiris to his Aegypt gave,
230 And Ceres to
n Sicily.
Sicania. Thou didst raise
231 Th' Ionian name, O Commerce, thou the domes
232 Of sumptuous Corinth, and the ample round
233 Of Syracuse didst people. All the wealth
234 Now thou assemblest from Iberia's mines,
235 And golden-channel'd Tagus, all the spoils
236 From fair
o Another name of Sicily, which was frequently ravag'd by the Carthaginians.
Trinacria wasted, all the powers
237 Of conquer'd Afric's tributary realms
238 To fix thy empire on the Lybian verge,
239 Thy native tract; the nymphs of Nysa hail
240 Thy glad return, and echoing joy resounds
241 O'er Triton's sacred waters, but in vain:
242 The irreversible decrees of heaven
243 To far more northern regions had ordain'd
244 Thy lasting seat; in vain th' imperial port
245 Receives the gather'd riches of the world;
246 In vain whole climates bow beneath its rule;
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247 Behold the toil of centuries to Rome
248 Its glories yields, and mould'ring leaves no trace
249 Of its deep-rooted greatness; thou with tears
250 From thy extinguish'd Carthage didst retire,
251 And these thy perish'd honours long deplore.
252 What though rich
p Cadiz.
Gades, what though polish'd Rhodes,
253 With Alexandria, Aegypt's splendid mart,
254 The learn'd
q Marfeilles, a Grecian colony, the most civilized, as well as the greatest trading city of antient Gaul.
Massylians, and
r Genoa.
Ligurian towers,
255 What though the potent Hanseatic league,
256 And Venice, mistress of the Grecian isles,
257 With all th' Aegean floods, awhile might sooth
258 The sad remembrance; what though, led through climes
259 And seas unknown, with thee th' advent'rous sons
260 Of
s The Portuguese discover'd the Cape of Good Hope in 1487.
Tagus pass'd the stormy cape, which braves
261 The huge Atlanic; what though Antwerp grew
262 Beneath thy smiles, and thou propitious there
263 Didst shower thy blessings with unsparing hands:
264 Still on thy grief-indented heart impress'd
265 The great Amilcar's valour, still the deeds
266 Of Asdrubal and Mago, still the loss
267 Of thy unequal Annibal remain'd:
268 Till from the sandy mouths of echoing Rhine,
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269 And sounding margin of the Scheld and Maese,
270 With sudden roar the angry voice of war
271 Alarm'd thy languor; wonder turn'd thy eye.
272 Lo! in bright arms a bold militia stood,
273 Arrang'd for battle: from afar thou saw'st
274 The snowy ridge of Apennine, the fields
275 Of wild Calabria, and Pyrene's hills,
276 The Guadiana, and the Duro's banks,
277 And rapid Ebro gath'ring all their powers
278 To crush this daring populace. The pride
279 Of fiercest kings with more inflam'd revenge
280 Ne'er menac'd freedom; nor since dauntless Greece,
281 And Rome's stern offspring none hath e'er surpass'd
282 The bold
t The Dutch.
Batavian in his glorious toil
283 For liberty, or death. At once the thought
284 Of long-lamented Carthage flies thy breast,
285 And ardent, Goddess, thou dost speed to save
286 The generous people. Not the vernal showers,
287 Distilling copious from the morning clouds,
288 Descend more kindly on the tender flower,
289 New-born and opening on the lap of Spring,
290 Than on this rising state thy cheering smile,
291 And animating presence; while on Spain,
292 Prophetic thus, thy indignation broke.
293 Insatiate race! the shame of polish'd lands!
294 Disgrace of Europe! for inhuman deeds
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295 And insolence renown'd! what demon led
296 Thee first to plough the undiscover'd surge,
297 Which lav'd an hidden world? whose malice taught
298 Thee first to taint with rapine, and with rage,
299 With more than savage thirst of blood the arts,
300 By me for gentlest intercourse ordain'd,
301 For mutual aids, and hospitable ties
302 From shore to shore? Or, that pernicious hour,
303 Was heaven disgusted with its wondrous works,
304 That to thy fell exterminating hand
305 Th' immense Peruvian empire it resign'd,
306 And all, which lordly
u Montezuma, emperor of Mexico.
Montezuma sway'd?
307 And com'st thou, strengthen'd with the shining stores
308 Of that gold-teeming hemisphere, to waste
309 The smiling fields of Europe, and extend
310 Thy bloody shackles o'er these happy seats
311 Of liberty? Presumptuous nation, learn,
312 From this dire period shall thy glories fade,
313 Thy slaughter'd youth shall fatten Belgium's sands,
314 And Victory against her Albion's cliffs
315 Shall see the blood-empurpled ocean dash
316 Thy weltering hosts, and stain the chalky shore:
317 Ev'n those, whom now thy impious pride would bind
318 In servile chains, hereafter shall support
319 Thy weaken'd throne; when heaven's afflicting hand
320 Of all thy power despoils thee, when alone
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321 Of all, which e'er hath signaliz'd thy name,
322 Thy insolence and cruelty remain.
323 Thus with her clouded visage, wrapt in frowns,
324 The Goddess threaten'd, and the daring train
325 Of her untam'd militia, torn with wounds,
326 Despising fortune, from repeated foils
327 More fierce, and braving Famine's keenest rage,
328 At length through deluges of blood she led
329 To envied greatness; ev'n while clamorous Mars
330 With loudest clangor bade his trumpet shake
331 The Belgian champain, she their standard rear'd
332 On tributary Java, and the shores
333 Of huge Borneo; thou; Sumatra, heard'st
334 Her naval thunder, Ceylon's trembling sons
335 Their fragrant stores of cinnamon resign'd,
336 And odour-breathing Ternate and Tidore
337 Their spicy groves. And O whatever coast
338 The Belgians trace, where'er their power is spread,
339 To hoary Zembla, or to Indian suns,
340 Still thither be extended thy renown,
341 O William, pride of Orange, and ador'd
342 Thy virtues, which disdaining life, or wealth,
343 Or empire, whether in thy dawn of youth,
344 Thy glorious noon of manhood, or the night,
345
x He was assassinated at Delf. His dying words were, Lord have mercy upon this people. See Grot. de Bell. Belg.
The fatal night of death, no other care
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346 Besides the public own'd. And dear to fame
347 Be thou, harmonious
y Janus Douza, a famous poet, and the most learned man of his time. He commanded in Leyden when it was so obstinately besieged by the Spaniards in 1570. See Meursii Athen. Bat.
Douza; every Muse,
348 Your laurel strow around this hero's urn,
349 Whom fond Minerva grac'd with all her arts,
350 Alike in letters and in arms to shine,
351 A dauntless warrior, and a learned bard.
352 Him Spain's surrounding host for slaughter mark'd,
353 With massacre yet reeking from the streets
354 Of blood-stain'd Harlem: he on Leyden's to w'rs,
355 With Famine his companion, wan, subdu'd
356 In outward form, with patient virtue stood
357 Superior to despair; the heavenly Nine
358 His suffering soul with great examples cheer'd
359 Of memorable bards, by Mars adorn'd
360 With wreaths of fame;
z Orpheus, one of the Argonauts, who set sail from Iölcos, a town in Thessalia.
Oeagrus tuneful son,
361 Who with melodious praise to noblest deeds
362 Charm'd the Iölchian heroes, and himself
363 Their danger shar'd;
a When the Spartans were greatly distressed in the Messen an war, they applied to the Athenians for a general, who sent them the poet Tyrtaeua.
Tyrtaeus, who reviv'd
364 With animating verse the Spartan hopes;
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365 Brave
b Aeschylus, one of the most ancient tragic poets, who signalized himself in the battles of Marathon and Salamis.
Aeschylus and
c Sophocles commanded his countrymen the Athenians, in several expeditions.
Sophocles, around
366 Whose sacred brows the tragic ivy twin'd,
367 Mix'd with the warrior's laurel; all surpass'd
368 By Douza's valour: and the generous toil,
369 His and his country's labours soon receiv'd
370 Their high reward, when favouring Commerce rais'd
371 Th' invincible Batavians, till, rever'd
372 Among the mightiest on the brightest roll
373 Of fame they shone, by splendid wealth and power
374 Grac'd and supported; thus a genial soil
375 Diffusing vigour though the infant oak,
376 Affords it strength to flourish, till at last
377 Its lofty head, in verdant honours clad,
378 It rears amidst the proudest of the grove.
379 Yet here th' eternal sates thy last retreat
380 Deny, a mightier nation they prepare
381 For thy reception, sufferers alike
382 By th' unremitted insolence of power
383 From reign to reign, nor less than Belgium known
384 For bold contention oft on crimson fields,
385 In free tongu'd senates oft with nervous laws
386 To circumscribe, or conquering to depose
387 Their sceptred tyrants: Albion sea-embrac'd,
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388 The joy of freedom, dread of treacherous kings,
389 The destin'd mistress of the subject main,
390 And arbitress of Europe, now demands
391 Thy presence, Goddess. It was now the time,
392 Ere yet perfidious Cromwel dar'd profane
393 The sacred senate, and with impious feet
394 Tread on the powers of magistrates and laws,
395 While every arm was chill'd with cold amaze,
396 Nor one in all that dauntless train was found
397 To pierce the ruffian's heart; and now thy name
398 Was heard in thunder through th' affrighted shores
399 Of pale Iberia, of submissive Gaul,
400 And Tagus, trembling to his utmost source.
401 O ever faithful, vigilant, and brave,
402 Thou bold assertor of Britannia's fame,
403 Unconquerable Blake: propitious heaven
404 At this great aera, and
d The act of navigation.
the sage decree
405 Of Albion's senate, perfecting at once,
406 What by
e Queen Elizabeth was the first of our princes, who gave any considerable encouragement to trade.
Eliza was so well begun,
407 So deeply founded, to this favour'd shore
408 The Goddess drew, where grateful she bestow'd
409 Th' unbounded empire of her father's floods,
410 And chose thee, London, for her chief abode,
411 Pleas'd with the silver Thames, its gentle stream,
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412 And smiling banks, its joy-diffusing hills,
413 Which clad with splendour, and with beauty grac'd,
414 O'erlook his lucid bosom; pleas'd with thee,
415 Thou nurse of arts, and thy industrious race;
416 Pleas'd with their candid manners, with their free
417 Sagacious converse, to enquiry led,
418 And zeal for knowledge; hence the opening mind
419 Resigns its errors, and unseals the eye
420 Of blind Opinion; Merit hence is heard
421 Amidst its blushes, dawning arts arise,
422 The gloomy clouds, which ignorance or fear
423 Spread o'er the paths of Virtue, are dispell'd,
424 Servility retires, and every heart
425 With public cares is warm'd; thy merchants hence,
426 Illustrious city, thou dost raise to fame:
427 How many names of glory may'st thou trace
428 From earliest annals down to
e Sir John Barnard.
Barnard's times!
429 And, O! if like that eloquence divine,
430 Which forth for Commerce, for Britannia's rights,
431 And her insulted majesty he pour'd,
432 These humble measures flow'd, then too thy walls
433 Might undisgrac'd resound thy poet's name,
434 Who now all-fearful to thy praise attunes
435 His lyre, and pays his grateful song to thee,
436 Thy votary, O Commerce! Gracious Power,
437 Continue still to hear my vows, and bless
438 My honourable industry, which courts
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439 No other smile but thine; for thou alone
440 Can'st wealth bestow with independance crown'd:
441 Nor yet exclude contemplative repose,
442 But to my dwelling grant the solemn calm
443 Of learned leisure, never to reject
444 The visitation of the tuneful Maids,
445 Who seldom deign to leave their sacred haunts,
446 And grace a mortal mansion; thou divide
447 With them my labours; pleasure I resign,
448 And, all devoted to my midnight lamp,
449 Ev'n now, when Albion o'er the foaming breast
450 Of groaning Tethys spreads its threat'ning fleets,
451 I grasp the sounding shell, prepar'd to sing
452 That hero's valour, who shall best confound
453 His injur'd country's foes: ev'n now I feel
454 Celestial fires descending on my breast,
455 Which prompt thy daring suppliant to explore,
456 Why, though deriv'd from Neptune, though rever'd
457 Among the nations, by the Gods endow'd,
458 Thou never yet from eldest times hast found
459 One permanent abode; why oft expell'd
460 Thy favour'd seats, from clime to clime hast borne
461 Thy wandering steps; why London late hath seen
462 (Thy lov'd, thy last retreat) desponding Care
463 O'ercloud thy brow: O listen, while the Muse,
464 Th' immortal progeny of Jove, unfolds
465 The fatal cause. What time in Nysa's cave
466 Th' Ethereal Train, in honour to thy sire,
467 Shower'd on thy birth their blended gifts, the Power
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468 Of War was absent; hence, unbless'd by Mars,
469 Thy sons relinquish'd arms, on other arts
470 Intent, and still to mercenary hands
471 The sword entrusting, vainly deem'd, that wealth
472 Could purchase lasting safety, and protect
473 Unwarlike Freedom; hence the Alps in vain
474 Were pass'd, their long impenetrable snows
475 And dreary torrents; swoln with Roman dead,
476 Astonish'd
f Trebia, Trasimenus lacus, and Cannae, famous for the victories gained by Annibal over the Romans.
Trebia overflow'd its banks
477 In vain, and deep-dy'd Trasimenus roll'd
478 Its crimson waters; Cannae's signal day
479 The rame alone of great Amilcar's son
480 Enlarg'd, while still undisciplin'd, dismay'd,
481 Her head commercial Carthage bow'd at last
482 To military Rome: th' unalter'd will
483 Of heaven in every climate hath ordain'd,
484 And every age, that empire shall attend
485 The sword, and steel shall ever conquer gold.
486 Then from thy sufferings learn; th' auspicious hour
487 Now smiles; our wary magistrates have arm'd
488 Our hands; thou, Goddess, animate our breasts
489 To cast inglorious indolence aside,
490 That once again, in bright battalions rang'd,
491 Our thousands and ten thousands may be seen
492 Their country's only rampart, and the dread
493 Of wild Ambition. Mark the Swedish hind;
494 He, on his native soil should danger lour,
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495 Soon from the entrails of the dusky mine
496 Would rise to arms; and other fields and chiefs
497 With Helsingburg
g Helsingburg, a small town in Schonen, celebrated for the victory, which Count Steinboch gain'd over the Danes with an army, for the most part composed of Swedish peasants, who had never seen an enemy before: it is remarkable, that the deseated troops were as compleat a body of regular forces as any in all Europe.
and Steinboch soon would share
498 The admiration of the northern world:
499 Helvetia's hills behold, th' aërial seat
500 Of long-supported Liberty, who thence,
501 Securely resting on her faithful shield,
502 The warrior's corselet flaming on her breast,
503 Looks down with scorn on spacious realms, which groan
504 In servitude around her, and, her sword
505 With dauntless skill high brandishing, defies
506 The Austrian eagle, and imperious Gaul:
507 And O could those ill-fated shades arise
508 Whose valiant ranks along th' ensanguin'd dust
509 Of
h The London train'd-bands, and auxiliary regiments. (of whose inexperience of danger. or any kind of service, beyond the easy practice of their postures in the Artillery-Ground, had till then too cheap an estimation) behaved themselves to wonder; and were, in truth, the preservation of that army that day. For they stood as a bulwark and rampire to defend the rest; and when their wings of horse were scattered and dispersed, kept their ground so steadily, that though Prince Rupert himself led up the choice horse to charge them, and endured the storm of small-shot, he could make no impression on their stand of pikes; but was forced to wheel about. Clarend. book 7. pag. 347.
Newbury lay crouded, they could tell,
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510 How their long-matchless cavalry, so oft
511 O'er hills of slain by ardent Rupert led,
512 Whose dreaded standard Victory had wav'd,
513 Till then triumphant, there with noblest blood
514 From their gor'd squadrons dy'd the restive spear
515 Of London's firm militia, and resign'd
516 The well-disputed field; then, Goddess, say,
517 Shall we be now more timid, when behold,
518 The blackning storm now gathers round our heads,
519 And England's angry Genius sounds to arms?
520 For thee, remember, is the banner spread;
521 The naval tower to vindicate thy rights
522 Will sweep the curling foam; the thundring bomb
523 Will roar, and startle in the deepest grots
524 Old Nereus' daughters; with combustion stor'd
525 For thee our dire volcano's of the main,
526 Impregnated with horror, soon will pour
527 Their flaming ruin round each hostile fleet:
528 Thou then, great Goddess, summon all thy powers,
529 Arm all thy sons, thy vassals, every heart
530 Inflame: and you, ye fear-disclaiming race,
531 Ye mariners of Britain, chosen train
532 Of Liberty and Commerce, now no more
533 Secrete your generous valour; hear the call
534 Of injur'd Albion; to her foes present
535 Those daring bosoms, which alike disdain
536 The death-disploding cannon, and the rage
537 Of warring tempests, mingling in their strife
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538 The seas and clouds: though long in silence hush'd
539 Hath slept the British thunder; though the pride
540 Of weak Iberia hath forgot the roar;
541 Soon shall her ancient terrors be recall'd,
542 When your victorious shouts affright her shores:
543 None now ignobly will your warmth restrain,
544 Nor hazard more indignant Valour's curse,
545 Their country's wrath, and Time's eternal scorn;
546 Then bid the Furies of Bellona wake,
547 And silver-mantled Peace with welcome steps
548 Anon shall visit your triumphant isle.
549 And that perpetual safety may possess
550 Our joyous fields, thou, Genius, who presid'st
551 O'er this illustrious city, teach her sons
552 To wield the noble instruments of war;
553 And let the great example soon extend
554 Through every province, till Britannia sees
555 Her docile millions fill the martial plain.
556 Then, whatsoe'er our terrors now suggest
557 Of desolation and th' invading sword;
558 Though with his massy trident Neptune heav'd
559 A new-born isthmus from the British deep,
560 And to its parent continent rejoin'd
561 Our chalky shore; though Mahomet could league
562 His powerful crescent with the hostile Gaul,
563 And that new Cyrus of the conquer'd East,
564 Who now in trembling vassalage unites
565 The Ganges and Euphrates, could advance
566 With his auxiliar host; our warlike youth
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567 With
i If the computation, which allots near two millions of fighting men to this kingdom may be relied on; it is not easy to conceive, how the united force of the whole world could assemble together, and subsist in an enemy's country greater numbers, than they would find opposed to them here.
equal numbers, and with keener zeal
568 For children, parents, friends, for England fir'd,
569 Her fertile glebe, her wealthy towns, her laws,
570 Her liberty, her honour, should sustain
571 The dreadful onset, and resistless break
572 Th' immense array; thus ev'n the lightest thought
573 E'er to invade Britannia's calm repose
574 Must die the moment, that auspicious Mars
575 Her sons shall bless with discipline and arms;
576 That exil'd race, in superstition nurs'd,
577 The servile pupils of tyrannic Rome,
578 With distant gaze despairing shall behold
579 The guarded splendors of Britannia's crown;
580 Still from their abdicated sway estrang'd,
581 With all th' attendance on despotic thrones,
582 Priests, ignorance, and bonds; with watchful step
583 Gigantic Terror, striding round our coast,
584 Shall shake his gorgon aegis, and the hearts
585 Of proudest kings appal; to other shores
586 Our angry fleets, when insolence and wrongs
587 To arms awaken our vindictive power,
588 Shall bear the hideous waste of ruthless war;
589 But liberty, security, and fame
590 Shall dwell for ever on our chosen plains.

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Title (in Source Edition): LONDON: OR, THE PROGRESS OF COMMERCE.
Themes: city; trades; labour; commerce
Genres: blank verse; georgic
References: DMI 32499

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Source edition

Pearch, G. A collection of poems in four volumes. By several hands. Vol. II. [The second edition]. London: printed for G. Pearch, 1770, pp. 48-71. 4v. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T116245; DMI 1135; OTA K093079.002) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [(OC) 280 o.789].)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Richard Glover