Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/78

When other regions were the swain's delight,
And shepherdless Britannia's rushy vales,
Inglorious, neither trade nor labour knew,
But of rude baskets, homely rustic gear, 195
Woven of the flexile willow ; till at length,
The plains of Sarum open'd to the hand
Of patient Culture, and o'er sinking woods
High Cotswold show'd her summits. Urchinfield,
And Lemster's crofts, beneath the pheasant's brake 200
Long lay unnoted. Toil new pasture gives,
And in the regions oft of active Gaul
O'er less'ning vineyards spreads the growing turf.
In eldest times, when kings and hardy chiefs
In bleating sheepfolds met, for purest wool 205
Phoenicia's hilly tracks were most renown'd,
And fertile Syria's and Judea's land,
Hermon and Seir, and Hebron's brooky sides.
Twice with these murex, crimson hue, they ting'd
The shining Fleeces; hence their gorgeous wealth; 210
And hence arose the walls of ancient Tyre.
Next busy Colchis, bless'd with frequent rains
And lively verdure (who the lucid stream
Of Phasis boasted, and a portly race
Of fair inhabitants), improv'd the Fleece, 215
When, o'er the deep by flying Phryxus brought,
The fam'd Thessalian ram enrich'd her plains.
This rising Greece with indignation view'd,
And youthful Jason an attempt conceiv'd
Lofty and bold : along Peneus' banks, 220
Around Olympus' brows, the Muses' haunts,
He rouz'd the brave to re-demand the Fleece.
Attend, ye British Swains ! the ancient song.
From ev'ry region of Ægea's shore
The brave assembled ; those illustrious twins, 225
Castor and Pollux ; Orpheus, tuneful bard ;