Page:Scotish Descriptive Poems - Leyden (1803).djvu/59

The royal race in purple robes are seen;
In bright brocades the fair attend their queen;
And martial chiefs, who burn the foe to face,
In scarlet stand erect with martial grace.
Here flames the gold, and there the silver shines,
And all the gems that blaze from Indian mines;
Blest as a god, the monarch moves along,
And scatters joy profusely through the throng:
So rolls majestic Clyde his silver way,
While subject-streams confess his sovereign sway. 240
 The labouring steeds, and steers, and sturdy swains,
Imprint the long deep furrows on the plains;
A stately maiden on her graceful head,
By taper neck supported, hears the seed;
Which wide the sower strews with lavish hand;
While the harsh harrow following smooths the land.
What support nature craves, their labour yields,
And kings and queens are nourished by the fields.
 The tender seed what various dangers threat!
Chilled by the cold, or sweltered by the heat; 250
By floods o'erwhelmed, by torrents swept away;
The tempest's sport, or crawling reptile's prey.
Dire caterpillars, with voracious haste,
Devour the verdure, and lay summer waste;