Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/111

In boundless magnitude, around them swells, 30
O'er whose imaginary brim nor towns,
Nor woods, nor mountain-tops, nor aught appears,
But Phœbus' orb, refulgent lamp of light,
Millions of leagues aloft : heav'n's azure vault
Bends overhead, majestic, to its base, 35
Uninterrupted clear circumference ;
Till, rising o'er the flickering waves, the Cape
Of Finisterre, a cloudy spot, appears.
Again, and oft, the advent'rous sails disperse :
These to Iberia, others to the coast 40
Of Lusitania, th' ancient Tarshish deem'd
Of Solomon ; fair regions ! with the webs
Of Norwich pleas'd, or those of Manchester ;
Light airy clothing for their vacant swains
And visionary monks. We, in return, 45
Receive Cantabrian steel, and Fleeces soft,
Segovian or Castilian, far renowned ;
And gold's attractive metal, pledge of wealth,
Spur of activity, to good or ill
Pow'rful incentive ; or Hesperian fruits, 50
Fruits of spontaneous growth, the citron bright,
The fig, and orange, and heart-cheering wine.
Those ships, from ocean broad, which voyage thro'
The gates of Hercules, find many seas,
And bays unnumber'd, opening to their keels ; 55
But shores inhospitable oft to fraud
And rapine turn'd or dreary tracks become
Of desolation. The proud Roman coasts,
Fall'n, like the Punic, to the dashing waves
Resign their ruins. Tiber's boasted flood, 60
Whose pompous moles o'erlook'd the subject deep,
Now creeps along thro' brakes and yellow dust,
While Neptune scarce perceives its murm'ring rill.
Such are th' effects when virtue slacks her hand ;