Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/124

At equal spaces, and in prospect round
Cities and plains, and kingdoms overlook.
At length the gloomy passage they attain
Of its deep-vaulted gates, whose opening folds 485
Conduct at length to Pekin's glittering spires,
The destin'd mart, where joyous they arrive.
Thus are the textures of the Fleece convey'd
To China's distant realm, the utmost bound
Of the flat floor of steadfast earth ; for so 490
Fabled Antiquity, ere peaceful Trade
Inform'd the opening mind of curious man.
Now to the other hemisphere, my Muse !
A new world found, extend thy daring wing.
Be thou the first of the harmonious Nine, 495
From high Parnassus, the unweary'd toils
Of industry and valour, in that world
Triumphant, to reward with tuneful song.
Happy the voyage o'er th' Atlantic brine
By active Raleigh made, and great the joy 500
When he discern'd, above the foamy surge,
A rising coast, for future colonies
Opening her bays, and figuring her capes,
Ev'n from the northern tropic to the pole.
No land gives more employment to the loom, 505
Or kindlier feeds the indigent ; no land
With more variety of wealth rewards
The hand of Labour : thither from the wrongs
Of lawless rule the free-born spirit flies ;
Thither Affliction, thither Poverty, 510
And Arts and Sciences : thrice happy clime,
Which Britain makes th' asylum of mankind !
But joy superior far his bosom warms
Who views those shores in ev'ry culture dress'd ;
With habitations gay, and numerous towns, 515
On hill and valley, and his countrymen