Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/87

Attentive, pleas'd with pure simplicity,
And rules divulg'd beneficent to sheep :
Or turn the compass o'er the painted chart,
To mark the ways of traffic ; Volga's stream, 510
Cold Hudson's cloudy streights, warm Afric's cape,
Latium's firm roads, the Ptolemean fosse,
And China's long canals : those noble works,
Those high effects of civilizing trade,
Employ me, sedulous of public weal: 515
Yet not unmindful of my sacred charge ;
Thus also mindful, thus devising good
At vacant seasons oft, when ev'ning mild
Purples the vallies, and the shepherd counts
His flock, returning to the quiet fold 520
With dumb complacence ; for religion this,
To give our every comfort to distress,
And follow virtue with an humble mind ;
This pure religion. Thus, in elder time,
The reverend Blasius wore his leisure hours, 525
And slumbers broken oft ; till, fill'd at length
With inspiration, after various thought,
And trials manifold, his well-known voice
Gather'd the poor, and o'er Vulcanian stoves,
With tepid lees of oil, and spiky comb, 530
Shew'd how the Fleece might stretch to greater length,
And cast a glossier whiteness. Wheels went round ;
Matrons and maids with songs reliev'd their toils,
And every loom receiv'd the softer yarn.
What poor, what widow, Blasius ! did not bless 535
Thy teaching hand? thy bosom, like the morn,
Op'ning its wealth, what nation did not seek
Of thy new-modell'd wool the curious webs ?
Hence the glad cities of the loom his name
Honour with yearly festals: thro' their streets 540
The pomp, with tuneful sounds and order just,