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, 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: 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 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, 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, 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 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 The pomp, with tuneful sounds and order just,