Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/89

Of sulphur kind to white and azure hues,
Pernicious else ? why no materials yield
Singly their colours, those except that shine
With topaz, sapphire, and cornelian rays : 580
And why, tho' Nature's face is cloath'd in green,
No green is found to beautify the Fleece
But what repeated toil by mixture gives.
To find effects while causes lie conceal'd
Reason uncertain tries : howe'er, kind Chance 585
Oft, with equivalent discovery, pays
Its wandering efforts. Thus the German sage,
Diligent Drebet, o'er alchymic fire
Seeking the secret source of gold, receiv'd
Of alter'd cochineal the crimson store. 590
Tyrian Melcartus thus (the first who brought
Tin's useful ore from Albion's distant isle,
And for unwearied toils and arts the name
Of Hercules acquir'd), when o'er the mouth
Of his attendant sheep-dog he beheld 595
The wounded murex strike a purple stain,
The purple stain on Fleecy woofs he spread,
Which lur'd the eye, adorning many a nymph,
And drew the pomp of trade to rising Tyre.
Our vallies yield not, or but sparing yield, 600
The dyer's gay materials. Only weld,
Or root of madder, here, or purple woad,
By which our naked ancestors obscur'd
Their hardy limbs, inwrought with mystic forms,
Like Egypt's obelisks. The powerful sun 605
Hot India's zone with gaudy pencil paints,
And drops delicious tints o'er hill and dale,
Which trade to us conveys. Not tints alone ;
Trade to the good physician gives his balms ;
Gives cheering cordials to th' afflicted heart ; 610
Gives to the wealthy delicacies high ;