THE MERCHANT. I glow, I burn! the numbers pure, High-flavour'd, delicate, mature, Spontaneous stream from my unlabour'd breast, ON THE BRITISH TRADE AND NAVIGATION. As, when full ripen'd teems the vine, The generous busts of willing wine Distil nectareous from the grape unprest. STRAIN THE FIRST. THE ARGUMENT. THE PRELUDE. The proposition. An address to the vessel that brought over the king. Who should sing on this occasion. A Pindaric boast. How the king attended. A prospect of happiness. Industry. A surprising instance of it in old Rome. The mischief of sloth. What happiness is. Sloth its greatest enemy. Trade natural to Britain. Trade invoked. Described. What the greatest human excellence. The praise of wealth. Its use, abuse, end. The variety of Nature. The final mo. ral cause of it. The benefit of man's necessities. Britain's naval stores. She makes ail Nature serviceable to her ends. Of reason. Its ercellence. How we should form our estimate of things. Rea. son's difficult task. Why the first glory hers. Her effects in old Britain. Fast by the surge my limbs are spread, The naval oak nods o'er my head; The winds are loud; the waves tumultuous roll; Ye winds ! indulge your rage no more ; Ye sounding billows ! cease to roar; The god descends; and transports warm my soul. The waves are hush'd; the winds are spent ! This kingdom, from the kingdoms rent, I celebrate in song-Fam'd Isle ! no less, By Nature's favour, from mankind, Than by the foaming sea, disjoin'd; Alone in bliss ! an isle, in happiness ! Thongh fate and time have damp'd my strains, Though youth no longer fires my veins, Though slow their streams in this cold climate run; The royal eye dispels my cares, Recals the warmth of blooming years, Returning George supplies the distant Sun. Away, my soul ! salute the Pine!, That glads the heart of Caroline, Its grand deposit faithful to restore ; Salute the bark that ne'er shall hold So rich a freight in gems or gold, My soul ! to thee, she spreads her sails; Their bosoms fill with sacred gales; With inspiration from the godhead warm; Now bound for an eternal clime O send her down the tide of time, Snatch'd from oblivion, and secure from storm. Or teach this flag, like that to soar, Which gods of old and heroes bore; Bid her a British constellation rise The sea she scorns; and, now, shall bound On lofty billows of sweet sound, Dare you to sing, ye tinkling train ? Silence, ye wretched ! ye profane ! Who murder thought, and numbers maim, 'Who write Pindarics cold and lame, And labour stiff Anacreontic Odes. Ye lawful sons of genius, rise! Of genuine title to the skies; You, who file off the mortal part Of glowing thought, with Attic art, And drink pure song from Cam's or Isis' stream. “Our monarch comes! nor comes alone !" What shining forms surround his throne, O Sun! as planets thee! To my loud strain See Peace, by Wisdom led, advance; The Grace, the Muse, the Season, Dance; And Plenty spreads behind her flowing train ! " Vur monarch comes ! nor comes alone:” New glories kindle round his throne, The visions rise! I triumph as I gaze: By Pindar led, I turn'd of late The volume dark, the folds of Fate; And, now, am present to the future blaze, By George and Jove it is decreed, The mighty Months in pomp proceed, Fair daughters of the Sun !-O thou, dirine, Blest Industry! a smiling Earth From thee alone derives its birth : From thee, mast, cable, anchor, oar, From thee the cannon and his roar; On oaks nurst, rear'd by thee, wealth, empire grow; O golden fruit ! oak well might prove The sacred tree, the tree of Jove; All Jove can give, the naval oak bestows. What cannot industry complete? When Punic war first flam'd, the great, Bold, active, ardent, Roinan fathers meet: “Fell all your groves," a Flamen cries; As soon they fall; as soon they rise ; One moon, a forest, and the next, a fleet. Is sloth indulgence ? 'T is a toil; Enervates man, and damns the soil; Defeats creation, plunges in distress, Cankers our being, all derours; A full exertion of our powers ! The stream may stagnate, yet be clear, The Sun suspend his swift career, Yet healthy Nature feel her wonted force; Ere man, his active springs resign'd, Can rust in body and in mind, Yet taste of bliss, of which he chokes the source а 1 The vessel that brought over the king. Where, Industry! thy daughter fair? Happy the man who, large of heart, Recal her to her native air ; Has learnt the rare, illustrious art Here, was Trade born, here bred, here flourish'd long; of being rich: stores starve us, or they cloyi And ever shall she tlourish here : From gold, if more than chemic skill, Wake, sting her up. Trade! lean no more Plenty 's a means, and joy her end : Eralted mind: their joys extend : And, see, she's rous'd, absolv'd from fears, As lofly turrets, by their height, When humbler scenes resign their light, Spreads all her sail, and opens every port. Retain the rays of the declining Sun. See, cherish'd by her sister, Peace, Pregnant with blessings, Britain! swear She levjes gain on every place, No sordid son of thine shall dare Religion, habit, custom, tongue, and name ; Offend the donor of thy wealth and peace; Again, she travels with the Sun, Who now his whole creation drains Again, she draws a golden zone [fame! To pour into thy tumid veins Round Earth and main; bright zone of wealth and That blood of nations! commerce and increase. Ten thousand active hands, that hung How various Nature ! turgid grain In shameful sloth with nerves unstrung, Here nodding floats the golden plain; The nation's languid load, defy the storms, There, worms weave silken webs; here, glowing vines The sheets unfurl, and anchors weigh, Lay forth their purple to the Sun, The long-moor'd vessel wing to sea, Beneath the soil, there harvests run, Worlds, worlds salute, and peopled Ocean swarms. And kings' revenues ripen in the mines. His sons, Po, Ganges, Danube, Nile, What's various Nature? Art divine Their seusy foreheads lift, and smile; Man's soul to soften and refine; Their urns inverted prodigally pour Heaven different growths to different lands imparts, Streams, charg'd with wealth, and vow to buy That all may stand in need of all, Britannia for their great ally, And interest draw around the ball, With climes paid down; what can the gods do more? A net to catch and join all human hearts. Cold Russia costly furs from far, Thus has the great Creator's pen Hot China sends her painted jar, His law supreme, to mortal men, France generous wines to crown it, Arab sweet In their necessities distinctly writ: With gales of incense swells our sails, E'en appetite supplies the place Nor distant Ind our merchant fails, Of absent virtue, absent grace, Her richest ore the ballast of our fleet. And human want performs for human wit. Luxuriant isle! What tide that flows, Vast paral ensigns strow'd around, Or stream that glides, or wind that blows, 'The wond'ring foreigner confound ! Or genial Sun that shines, or shower that pours, How stands the deep-aw'd continent aghast, But flows, glides, breathes, shines, pours for As her proud sceptred sons survey, How every heart dilates to see [thee? At every port, on every quay, Each land's each season blending on thy shores ! Huge mountains rise, of cable, anchor, mast! All these one British harvest make ! The unwieldy tun! the ponderous bale ! The servant Ocean for thy sake Each prince his own clime set to sale Both sinks and swells: his arins thy bosom wrap, Secs here, by subjects of a British king : How Earth 's abridg'd! all nations range And fondly give, in boundless dower, To mighty George's growing power, A narrow spot; our throng'd Exchange! The wafted world into thy loaded lap. And send the streams of plenty from their spring. Commerce brings riches, riches crown Nor Earth alone, all Nature bends Fair Virtue with the first renown: In aid to Britain's glorious ends: A large revenue, and a large expense, Toils she in trade or bleeds in honest wars ? When hearts for others' welfare glow, Her keel each yielding sea enthrals, And spend as free as gods bestow, Each willing wind her canvass calls, Gives the full bloom to mortal excellence. Her pilot into service lists the stars. Glow then, my breast ! alound, my store ! In size confin'd, and humbly made, This, and this boldly I implore, What though we creep beneath the shade, Their want and apathy let Stoics boast : And seem as emmets on this point, the ball ? Passions and riches, good or ill, Heaven lighted-up the human soul, As us'd by man, deinand our skill; Heaven bid its rays transpierce the whole, Al blessings wound us, when discretion 's lost. And, giving godlike reason, gave us all. Wealth, in the virtuous and the wise, Thou golden chain 'twixt God and men, 'Tis vice and folly to despise : Blest Reason! guide my life and pen, Let those in praise of poverty refine, All ills, like ghosts, fly trembling at thy light: Whose heads or hearts pervert its use, Who thee obeys, reigns over all; The narrow-soul'd, or the profuse, Smiles, though the stars around him fall; The truly-great find morals in the mine; A God is bought but reason infinite. The man of reason is a god She sate an empress ! aw'd the flood ! Who scorns to stoop to fortune's nod; Her stable column Ocean trod; Sole agent he beneath the shining sphere, She call'd the nations, and she call'd the seas, Others are passive, are impellid, By both obey'd : the Syrian sings ; Are frighten'd, flatter'd, sunk, or swellid, 'The Cyprian's art her viol strings; As accident is pleas'd to domineer. Togarmagh's steed along her valley neighs. Our hopes and fears are much to blame; The fir of Senir makes her floor, Shall monarchs awe? or crowns inflame? And Bashan's oak, transforın'd, her oar; From gross mistake our idle tumult springs; High Lebanon her mast ; far Dedan warms Those men the silly world disarm, Her mantled host; Arabia feeds; Elude the dart, dissolve the charm, Her sail of purple Egypt spreads ; Who know the slender worth of men and things. Arvad sends mariners; the Persian, arms. The present object, present day, The world's last limit bouinds her fame; Are idle phantoms, and away; The golden city was her name ! What 's lasting only does erist. Know this, Those stars on Earth, the topaz, onyr, blaze Beneath her foot: extent of coast, And rich as Nile's, let others boast; Hers the far nobler harvest of the seas. To lanch us on the flood of endless bliss. O merchant land ! as Eden fair! How foreign these, though most in view! Antient of empires! Nature's care ! Go, look your whole existence through ; The strength of Ocean! head of plenty's springs! Thence, form your rule; thence fix your estimate, The pride of isles! In wars rever'd! For sv the gods : but as the gains, Mother of crafts ! lov'd! courted ! fear'd I How great the toil ! 'Twill cost more pains, Pilot of kingdoms! and support of kings! To vanquish folly, than reduce a stale. Great mart of nations !-- But she fell : Hence, Reason! the first palm is thine, Her pamper'd sons revolt! rebel! Old Britain learnt from thee to shine. (smile, Against his favourite isle loud roars the main ! By thee, trade's swarming throng, gay freedom's The tempest howls! her sculptur'd dome Armies, in war of fatal frown, Soon, the wolf's refuge ; dragon's home! Of peace the pride, arts flowing down, The land, one allar ! a whole people, slain ! Enrich, exalt, defend, instruct our isle, The destin'd day puts on her frown; The sable hour is coming down: The sword and storm are in her hand; Sue trumpets shrill her dread command : For, oh! ber sins as red as blood, Arts from commerce. Why Britons should pursue As crimson deep, outcry the flood ; it. What wealth includes. An historical digres- The queen of trade is boughi ! once wise and just, sion which kind is most frequent in Pindar. The Now, venal is her council's tongue : wealth and wonderful glory of Tyre, The ap How riot, violence, and wrong, proach of her ruin. The cause of it. Her criines Turn gold to dross, her blossom into dust! through all ranks and orders. Her miserable To things inglorious, far beneath fall. The neighbouring kings' just reflection on Those high-born souls they proudly breathe, it. An awful image of the divine power and Her sordid noble sinks! ber mighty, bow ! vengeance. From what Tyre fell, and how deep Is it for this, the groves around her calamity. Return the tabret's sprightly sound ? Is it for this, her great-ones toss the brow? COMMERCE gives arts, as well as gain; What burning feuds 'twixt brothers reign! By commerce wafted o'er the main, To nuptials cold, huw glows the rein, They barbarous climes enlighten as they run; Confounding kivdred, and misleading right? Arts, the rich traffic of the soul ! The spurious lord it o'er the land ! May travel, thus, from pole to pole, Bold blasphemy dares make a stand, And gild the world with learning's brighter sun. Assault the sky, and brandish all her inight: Commerce gives learning, virtue, gold ! Tyre's artisan, sweet orator, Ply commerce, then, ye Britons bold, Her merchant sage, big man of war, Inur'd to winds and seas ! lest gods repent : Her judge, her prophet, nay her hoary heads, . The gods that thron'd you in the wave, Whose brow with wisdom should be crown'd, And, as the trident's emblem, gave Her very priests in guilt abound : A triple realm, that awes the continent : Hence, the world's cedar all her honours sheds. And awes with wealth; for wealth is power: What death of truth! what thirst of gold ! When Jove descends a golden shower, Chiefs warm in peace, in battle cold ! 'Tis navies, armies, empire, all, in one. What youth unletter'd! base ones lifted high! View, emulate, outshine old Tyre; What public boasts! what private views ! In scarlet rob'd, with gems on fire, What desert temples! crowded stews! Her merchants, princes! every deck, a thrane ! What women !--practis'd but to roll an eye! : THE ARGUMENT. O! foul of heart, ber fairest dames “ Ah ! wretched isle, once call'd the great / Decline the Sun's intruding beams, Ab! wretched isle, and wise too late! To mad the midnight in their gloomy haunts: The vengeance of Jehovah is gone out: Alas! there is, who sees them there; Thy luxury, corruption, pride, There is, who flatters not the fair, And freedom lost, the realms deride, When cymbals tinkle, and the virgin chants. Ador'd thee standing, o'er thy ruins shout: He sees, and thunders !--Now, in vain! “ To scourge with war, or peace bestow, The courser paws, and foams the rein ; Was thine, O fallen ! fallen low! And chariots stream along the printed soil : 'T was thine, of jarring thrones to still debates : In vain! Her high, presumptuous air · How art thou fallen, down, down, down! In gorgeous vestments rich and rare, Wide waste, and night, and horrour frown, O'er her proud shoulder throws the poor man's toil. Where empire flam'd in gold, and balanc'd states In robes or gems, her costly stain, Green, scarlet, azure, shine, in vain! STRAIN THE THIRD. THE ARGUMENT. An inference from this history. Advice to Britain. More proper to her than other nations. How far The golden wedge from Ophir's coasts, the stroke of tyranny reaches. What supports our endeavours. The unconsider'd benefits of From Arab incense vain, she boasts, Vain are her gods, and rainly men adore. lilerty. Britain's obligation to pursue trade. Why above half the globe is sea. Britain's Bel falls ! the mighty Nebo bends ! grandeur from her situation. The urinds, the The nations biss! her glory ends! seas, the constellations, described. Sir Isaac To ships, her confidence! she flies from foes; Newton's praise. Britain compared with other Foes meet her there : the wind, the wave, states. The leviathan described. Britain's site, That once aid, strength, and grandeur gave, and antient title to the seas. W ho rivals her. Plunge her in seas, from which her glory rose. Of Venice, Holland. Some spise trade as Her ivory deck, embroider'd sail, mean. Censured for it. Trude's glory. The late And mast of cedar naught avail, Czar. Solomon. A surprising instance of magOr pilot learn'd! She siuks, nor sinks alone, nificence. The merchant's dignity. Compared Her gods sink with her! to the sky, with men of letters. Which never more shall meet her eye, She sends her soul out in one dreadful groan. Hence learn, as hearts are foul or pure, What though so vast her naral might, Our fortunes wither or endure : In her first dawn'd the British right! Nations may thrive, or perish by the wave. All flags abas'd her sea-dominion greet : What storms from Jove's unwilling frown, What though she longe: warrd than Troy? A people's crimes solicit down ! At length her foes that isle destroy Ocean's the womb of riches, and the grave. Whose conquest sail'd, as far as sail'd her fleet. This truth, O Britain ! ponder well; The kings she cloth'd in purple shake Virtues should rise, as fortunes swell: Their aweful brows : “ foul mistake! What is large property ? --The sign of good, O fatal pride '" they cry, “this, this is she, Of worth superior : if 't is less, Who said — With my own art and arm, Another's treasure we possess, In the world's wealth I wrap me warın' And charge the gods with favours misbestow'd. And swell’d at heart, vain empress of the sea ! “ This, this is she, who meanly soard : This council suits Britannia's isle, Alas.! how low, to be ador'd, High-flush'd with wealth, and freedom's smile: And style herself a God !--Through stormy wars To vassals prison'd in the continent, Who starve, at home, on meagre toil, And suck to death their mother soil, 'T were useless caution, and a truth mis-spent. “ But ah, frail man! how impotent Fell tyrants strike beyond the bone, To stand Heaven's vengeance, or prevent! and wound the soul; bow genius down, To turn aside the great Creator's aim ! Lay virtue waste! for worth or arts, who strain, Shall island-kings with him contend, To throw them at a monster's foot? Who makes the poles beneath him bend ? "I is property supports pursuit : And shall drink up the sea herself with flame? Freedom gives eloquence; and freedom, gain. “ Earth, Ether, Empyreum bow, She pours the thought, and forms the style, When from the brazen mountain's brow She makes the blood and spirits boil ; The God of Battles takes his mighty bow : I feel her now! and rouse, and rise, and rave Of wrath prepares to pour the tood, In Theban song: O Muse! not thine, Verse is gay freedom's gift divine : : Others may traffic if they please ; Proud Venice sits amid the wares; Britain, fair daughter of the seas, ller foot ambitious ocean laves : Is born for trade; to plough her field, the wave: Art's noblest boast! but ( what wondrous odds And reap the growth of every coast : "Twixt Venice and Britannia's isle ! A speck of land ! but let her boast, 'T wixt mortal and immortal toil ! Gods gave the world, when they the waters gave. Britannia is a Venice built by gods. Britain! behold the world's wide face; Let Holland triumph o'er her foes, Nor cover'd half with solid space, But not o'er friends by whom she rose; Three parts are fluid; empire of the sea ! The child of Britain ! and shall she contend And why? for commerce. Ocean streams It were no less than parricide :For that, through all his various 7?ames : What wonders rise from out the tide! And, if for commerce, ocean flows for thee. Her high and mighly to the rudder bend. Britain, like some great potentate And are there, then, of lofty brow, Of eastern clime, retires in state, Who think trade mean, and scorn to bow Shuts out the nations! would a prince draw nigh? So far beneath the state of noble birth? He passes her strong guards, the waves, Alas! these chiefs but little know Of servant winds admission craves, Commerce how high, themselves how low; The sons of nolles are the sons Earth. And what hare Earth's mean song to do, But reap her fruits, and warm pursue And urge for her, their various toil; The world's chief good, not glut on others' toil ? The Caspian, the broad Baltic boil, High commerce from the gods came down, And into life the dead Pacific scourge. With compass, chart, and starty (Town, Thcir delegate, to make the nations smile. Blush, and behold the Russian bow, From forty crowns, his mighty broue They may retreat, but not from her; To trade.-To tvil he turns his glorious hand : The star that quits this hemisphere That arm, which swept the bloody field, Must quit the skies, to want a British fiect. See! the huge are, or hammer, wield; Hyad, for her, leans o'er her urn; While scepties wait, and thrones impatient stand. For ber, Orion's glories burn, O shame to subjects ! first renown, The Pleiads gleam. For Britons set and rise Matchless example to the crown ! The fair-fac'd sons of Mazaroth, Old Time is poor: what age boasts such a sight? Near the deep chambers of the South, Ye drones! adore the man divine- No; virtue still as mean decline, He too of Judah, great, as wise, With Hiram stru e in mercbandise: Monarchs with monarchs struggle for an out! Decypher'd every character: That merchant? sinking to bis grave, His reason pour'd new light upon the Sun. A food of treasure swells the care; The king left much, the merchant lury'd more. Is merchant an inglorious name? No; tit for Pindar such a theme, The camel low, small elephant Too great for me; I pant beneath the weight! O Britain ! the leviathan is thine. If loud as Ocean's were my voice, If words and thoughts to court my choice Out-number'd sands, I could not reach its height. Merchants s'er proudest heroes reign; Those trade in blessing, these in pain, Invades the skies; the stars are out: At slaughter swell, and shout, while nations groan: He drinks a river, and ejects a storm. With purple monarchs, merchants vie ; Th’ Atlantic surge around our shore If gr at to spend, what, to supply ? German and Caledonian roar; Priests pray for blessings; merchants pour them Their mighty Genii hold us in their lap. down. Hear Egbert, Edgar, Ethelred ; Kings, merchants are in league and love; “ The seas are ours,' _The monarch said Earth's odours pay soft airs above, The floods their hands, their hands the nations, clap That o'er the teeming field prolific range ; Whence is a rival, then, to rise ? Planets are merchants; take, return, Can he be found beneath the skies? Lustre and heat; by traffic burn; The whole creation is one vast Exchange. The powers of Earth, by rival aim ? Vast treasure taken from Solomon's tomb 1500 And prove their distance most, as they draw near. years after his death.--Young, |