Page:The Poems of John Dyer (1903).djvu/90

Gives to the curious works of Nature rare ;
And when the priest displays, in just discourse,
Him, the all-wise Creator, and declares
His presence, pow'r, and goodness, unconfin'd, 615
'Tis Trade, attentive voyager, who fills
His lips with argument. To censure Trade,
Or hold her busy people in contempt,
Let none presume. The dignity, and grace,
And weal, of human life, their fountains owe 620
To seeming imperfections, to vain wants
Or real exigencies ; passions swift
Forerunning reason ; strong contrarious bents,
The steps of men dispersing wide abroad
O'er realms and seas. There, in the solemn scene, 625
Infinite wonders glare before their eyes,
Humiliating the mind enlarg'd ; for they
The clearest sense of Deity receive
Who view the widest prospect of his works,
Ranging the globe with trade thro' various climes; 630
Who see the signatures of boundless love,
Nor less the judgments of Almighty Pow'r,
That warn the wicked, and the wretch who 'scapes
From human justice ; who, astonish'd, view
Etna's loud thunders and tempestuous fires ; 635
The dust of Carthage ; desert shores of Nile ;
Or Tyre's abandon'd summit, crown'd of old
With stately towers ; whose merchants, from their isles
And radiant thrones, assembled in her marts ;
Whither Arabia, whither Kedar, brought 640
Their shaggy goats, their flocks, and bleating lambs ;
Where rich Damascus pil'd his Fleeces white,
Prepar'd, and thirsty for the double tint
And flow'ring shuttle. While th' admiring world
Crowded her streets, ah ! then the hand of Pride 645
Sow'd imperceptible his pois'nous weed,