Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/83

While in the clouds his hoary shoulders bend.
Next proud Iberia glories in the growth
Of high Castile, and mild Segovian glades.
And beauteous Albion, since great Edgar chas'd 37 0
The prowling wolf, with many a lock appears
Of silky lustre ; chief, Silurian, thine ;
Thine, Vaga, favour'd stream ; from sheep minute
On Cambria bred : a pound o'erweighs a Fleece :
Gay Epsom's too, and Banstead's, and what gleams 375
On Vecta's isle, that shelters Albion's fleet,
With all its thunders ; or Salopian stores,
Those which are gather'd in the fields of Clun :
High Cotswold also 'mong the shepherd swains
Is oft remember'd, tho' the greedy plough 380
Preys on its carpet. He whose rustic Muse
O'er heath and craggy holt her wing display'd,
And sung the bosky bourns of Alfred's shires,
Has favour'd Cotswold with luxuriant praise.
Need we the levels green of Lincoln note, 385
Or rich Leicestria's marly plains, for length
Of whitest locks and magnitude of Fleece
Peculiar? envy of the neighbouring realms !
But why recount our grassy lawns alone,
While ev'n the tillage of our cultur'd plains, 390
With bossy turnip and luxuriant cole,
Learns thro' the circling year their flocks to feed ?
Ingenious Trade, to clothe the naked world
Her soft materials not from sheep alone,
From various animals, reeds, trees, and stones, 395
Collects sagacious. In Euboa's isle
A wondrous rock is found, of which are woven
Vests incombustible ; Batavia flax ;
Siam's warm marish yields the fissile cane ;
Soft Persia's silk ; Balasor's shady hills 400
Tough bark of trees ; Peruvian Pito grass ;