Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/183

 158 BIRMINGHAM AND SHEFFIELD.

And countless are the forms their force creates ; From the dire weapon sworn to deeds of blood, That sweeps, with sharp report, man s life away, To the slight box from whence the spinster takes Her creature-comfort, or the slighter orb Of treble-gilt, which the pleased school-boy finds On his new suit, counting the shining rows With latent vanity.

Well pleased, I marked This strange creativeness, because I knew That Birmingham had stretched an iron hand Across the Atlantic wave, and grappled close My country in that league of amity Which commerce loves. And whatsoe er shall bind Those lands in unity, is dear to me, Whether the links be metal, or the threads Of silky filament by genius thrown From clime to clime, or those which science knits In firmer mesh, as erst the sorceress wove The strong man s locks.

Here, too, were fabrics rich That taste might covet, cabinet and screen, Table and tray, with pearly shell inlaid, And bright with tints of landscape or of flower. Here glass in crystal elegance essayed To emulate the diamond, and we saw The flaming fount from whence its glories came, And how the glowing cylinder expands Into those broad and polished plates, that deck The abodes of princes.

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