Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1832/The Carclaze Tin Mine, Cornwall
57
CARCLAZE TIN MINE, NEAR ST. AUSTLE.
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THE CARCLAZE TIN-MINE, CORNWALL.
Those stately galleys cut the seas,
Their wings the mighty oars;
And the sun set o'er their purple sails,
When touched those ships our shores.
They are from far Phœnicia,
Whose princely merchants sweep,
Like conquerors of the winds and waves,
Over the subject deep.
They have been east and west to seek
The wealth of the wide world;
Mid Indian isles of gems and spice,
Those sails have been unfurled.
In Africa for ivory,
For the red gold in Spain;
Ours is a wild and barren isle,
Why do they cross the main?
They come to find the precious ores,
That British mountains yield;
To point to British enterprise,
Its future glorious field.
A savage race, yet from their trade
Rose England's commerce—now,
What land but knows her red-cross flag?
What sea but knows her prow?
Riches, and intellect, and peace,
Have marked the favoured strand:
God keep thee in prosperity,
My own sea-girdled land!
The produce of the Tin and Copper Mines early attracted the Phœnicians to our coast. Tin was then one of the precious metals, and used for personal adornment; and the barter must have been as profitable, as civilized people always made their dealings with savages. Knowledge usually turns ignorance to profit. The Carclaze Mine is reported to have been worked above four hundred years.