Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/112

Wild Nature back returns. Along these shores 65
Neglected Trade with difficulty toils,
Collecting slender stores, the sun-dry'd grape,
Or capers from the rock, that prompt the taste
Of Luxury. Ev'n Egypt's fertile strand,
Bereft of human discipline has lost 70
Its ancient lustre : Alexandria's port,
Once the metropolis of trade, as Tyre
And elder Sidon, as the Attic town,
Beautiful Athens, as rich Corinth, Rhodes,
Unhonour'd droops. Of all the num'rous marts 75
That in those glitt'ring seas with splendour rose,
Only Byzantium, of peculiar site,
Remains in prosperous state, and Tripolis,
And Smyrna, sacred ever to the Muse.
To these resort the delegates of Trade, 80
Social in life, a virtuous brotherhood,
And bales of softest wool from Bradford looms,
Or Stroud, dispense ; yet see with vain regret
Their stores, once highly priz'd, no longer now
Or sought, or valued : copious webs arrive, 85
Smooth wov'n, of other than Britannia's Fleece.
On the throng'd strand alluring: the great skill
Of Gaul, and greater industry, prevails,
That proud imperious foe. Yet, ah it is not
Wrong not the Gaul ; it is the foe within 90
Impairs our ancient marts, it is the bribe ;
'Tis he who pours into the shops of trade
That impious poison : it is he who gains
The sacred seat of parliament by means
That vitiate and emasculate the mind ; 95
By sloth, by lewd intemperance, and a scene
Of riot worse than that which ruin'd Rome.
This, this the Tartar and remote Chinese,
And all the brotherhood of life, bewail.