London: or, the progress of commerce. A poem. By Mr. Glover.

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The ARGUMENT.

The following poem represents Commerce as the child of Neptune, and born on the coast of Libya in an island, celebrated in fabulous antiquity for its fruitfulness and plenty during the first uncultivated ages, whence the new divinity is supposed to convey these blessings round the world. Her birth is attended by many of the Gods, who endow her with their several gifts: among the rest Apollo appoints her to be the inventress of letters; Sir Isaac Newton's opinion being here alluded to, that merchandize gave rise to this wonderful discovery. Commerce is then described as making her first appearance to the world among the Phoenicians, the earliest people, who exercis'd an extensive trade. From thence she proceeds to visit other parts of the globe, and endeavours to erect her principal empire at Carthage, situated in Libya, the country assign'd for her nativity. Upon the destruction of that city she again removes from place to place; but at length, allured by the vigour and singular resolution of the Dutch in throwing off the Spanish yoke, she takes up her residence with that indefatigable people. Lastly, by the good laws, which have been made from time to time for the encouragement of trade among us, especially by the act of navigation, which has transferred a great part of the Dutch traffick to ourselves, she is suppos'd on our invitation to choose England for her chief abode, more particularly London, our principal emporium, as well as capital city. And upon this occasion an enquiry is made, how it has come to pass, that, notwithstanding the great wealth and power attending Commerce, the course of trade should so often have shifted its seat; and the means, conceived most effectual to fix this wanderer here, are pointed out.

LONDON: OR, The Progress of Commerce.

YE northern blasts, and [1] Eurus, wont to sweep

With rudest pinions o'er the furrow'd waves,

Awhile suspend your violence, and waft

From sandy [2] Weser and the broad-mouth'd Elb

My freighted vessels to the destin'd shore,

Safe o'er th' unruffled main; let ev'ry thought,

Which may disquiet, and alarm my breast,

Be absent now; that, dispossess'd of care,

And free from every tumult of the mind,

With each disturbing passion hush'd to peace,

I may pour all my spirit on the theme,

Which opens now before me, and demands

The loftiest strain. The eagle, when he tow'rs

Beyond the clouds, the fleecy robes of heav'n,

Disdains all objects but the golden sun,

Full on th' effulgent orb directs his eye,

And sails exulting through the blaze of day;

So, while her wing attempts the boldest flight,

Rejecting each inferior theme of praise,

Thee, ornament of Europe, Albion's pride,

Fair seat of wealth and freedom, thee my Muse

Shall celebrate, O LONDON: thee she hails,

Thou lov'd abode of Commerce, last retreat,

Whence she contemplates with a tranquil mind

Her various wandrings from the fated hour,

That she abandon'd her maternal clime;

Neptunian Commerce, whom Phoenicé bore,

Illustrious nymph, that nam'd the fertile plains,

Along the sounding main extended far,

Which flow'ry Carmel with its sweets perfumes,

And with its cedars Libanus o'ershades:

Her from the bottom of the watry world,

As once she stood, in radiant beauties grac'd,

To mark the heaving tide, the piercing eye

Of Neptune view'd enamour'd: from the deep

The God ascending rushes to the beach,

And clasps th' affrighted virgin. From that day

Soon as the paly regent of the night

Nine times her monthly progress had renew'd

Through heav'n's illumin'd vault, Phoenicé, led

By shame, once more the sea-worn margin sought,

There pac'd with painful steps the barren sands,

A solitary mourner, and, the surge,

Which gently roll'd beside her, now no more

With placid eyes beholding, thus exclaim'd.

YE fragrant shrubs, and cedars' lofty shade,

Which crown my native hills, ye spreading palms,

That rise majestic on these fruitful meads,

With you, who gave the lost Phoenicé birth,

And you, who bear th' endearing name of friends,

Once faithful partners of my chaster hours,

Farewel! To thee, perfidious God, I come,

Bent down with pain and anguish on thy sands,

I come thy suppliant; death is all, I crave;

Bid thy devouring waves inwrap my head;

And to the bottom whelm my cares and shame!

SHE ceas'd, when sudden from th' unclosing deep

A crystal car emerg'd, with glitt'ring shells,

Call'd from their oozy beds by Tethys' train,

And blushing coral deck'd, whose ruddy glow

Mix'd with the watry lustre of the pearl.

A smiling band of sea-born nymphs attend,

Who from the shore with gentle hands convey

The fear-subdu'd Phoenicé, and along

The lucid chariot place. As there with dread

All mute, and struggling with her painful throes

She lay, the winds by Neptune's high command

Were silent round her; not a Zephyr dar'd

To wanton o'er the cedar's branching top,

Nor on the plain the stately palm was seen

To wave its graceful verdure; o'er the main

No undulation broke the smooth expanse,

But all was hush'd and motionless around,

All but the lightly-sliding car, impell'd

Along the level azure by the strength

Of active Tritons, rivalling in speed

The rapid meteor, whose sulphureous train

Glides o'er the brow of darkness, and appears

The livid ruins of a falling star.

BENEATH the Lybian skies a blissful isle,

By [3] Triton's floods encircled, Nysa lay.

Here youthful Nature wanton'd in delights,

And here the guardians of the bounteous horn,

While it was now the infancy of time,

Nor yet th' uncultivated globe had learn'd

To smile, [4] Eucarpé, [5] Dapsiléa dwelt,

With all the nymphs, whose secret care had nurs'd

The eldest Bacchus. From the flow'ry shore

A turf-clad valley opens, and along

Its verdure mild the willing feet allures;

While on its sloping sides ascends the pride

Of hoary groves, high-arching o'er the vale

With day-rejecting gloom. The solemn shade

Half round a spacious lawn at length expands,

[6]Clos'd by a tow'ring cliff, whose forehead glows

With azure, purple, and ten thousand dyes,

From its resplendent fragments beaming round;

Nor less irradiate colours from beneath

On ev'ry side an ample grot reflects,

As down the perforated rock the sun

Pours his meridian blaze; rever'd abode

Of Nysa's nymphs, with ev'ry plant attir'd,

That wears undying green, refresh'd with rills

From ever-living fountains, and enrich'd

With all Pomona's bloom: unfading flow'rs

Glow on the mead, and spicy shrubs perfume

With inexhausted sweets the cooling gale,

Which breathes incessant there; while ev'ry bird

Of tuneful note his gay or plaintive song

Blends with the warble of meandring streams,

Which o'er their pebbled channels murm'ring lave

The fruit-invested hills, that rise around.

The gentle Nereids to this calm recess

Phoenicé bear; nor Dapsiléa bland,

Nor good Eucarpé, studious to obey

Great Neptune's will, their hospitable care

Refuse; nor long Lucina is invok'd.

Soon as the wondrous infant sprung to day,

Earth rock'd around; with all their nodding woods,

And streams reverting to their troubled source,

The mountains shook; while Lybia's neighb'ring God,

Mysterious Ammon from his hollow cell

With deep-resounding accent thus to heav'n,

To earth, and sea the mighty birth proclaim'd.

A NEW-BORN pow'r behold! whom fate hath call'd

The Gods' imperfect labour to complete,

This wide creation. She in lonely sands

Shall bid the tow'r-encircled city rise,

The barren sea shall people, and the wilds

Of dreary nature shall with plenty cloath;

She shall enlighten man's unletter'd race,

And with endearing intercourse unite

Remotest nations, scorch'd by sultry suns,

Or freezing near the snow-encrusted pole:

Where'er the joyous vine disdains to grow,

The fruitful olive, or the golden ear;

Her hand divine with interposing aid

To ev'ry climate shall the gifts supply

Of Ceres, Bacchus, and [7] th'Athenian maid:

The graces, joys, emoluments of life

From her exhaustless bounty all shall flow.

THE heav'nly prophet ceas'd. Olympus heard.

Streight from their star-bespangled thrones descend

On blooming Nysa a celestial band

The ocean's lord to honour in his child;

When o'er his offspring smiling thus began

The trident-ruler. Commerce be thy name:

To thee I give the empire of the main.

From where the morning breathes its eastern gale,

To th' undiscover'd limits of the west,

From chilling Boreas to extremest South

Thy sire's obsequious billows shall extend

Thy universal reign. Minerva next

With wisdom bless'd her, Mercury with art,

[8]The Lemnian God with industry, and last

Majestic Phoebus, o'er the infant long

In contemplation pausing, thus declar'd

From his enraptur'd lip his matchless boon.

THEE with divine invention I endow,

That secret wonder, goddess, to disclose,

By which the wise, the virtuous, and the brave,

The heav'n-taught poet, and exploring sage

Shall pass recorded to the verge of time.

HER years of childhood now were number'd o'er,

When to her mother's natal soil repair'd

The new divinity, whose parting step

Her sacred nurses follow'd, ever now

To her alone inseparably join'd;

Then first deserting their Nyseïan Shore

To spread their hoarded blessings round the world;

Who with them bore the inexhausted horn

Of ever-smiling plenty. Thus adorn'd,

Attended thus, great Goddess, thou beganst

Thy all-enlivening progress o'er the globe

Then rude and joyless, destin'd to repair

The various ills, which earliest ages ru'd

From one, like thee, distinguish'd by the gifts

Of heav'n, Pandora, whose pernicious hand

From the dire vase releas'd th' imprison'd woes.

THOU, gracious Commerce, from his cheerless caves

In horrid rocks, and solitary woods,

The helpless wand'rer man forlorn and wild

Didst charm to sweet society; didst cast

The deep foundations, where the future pride

Of mightiest cities rose; and o'er the main

Before the wond'ring Nereids didst present

The surge-dividing keel, and stately mast,

Whose canvass wings, distending with the gale,

The bold Phoenician through Alcides' straits

To northern Albion's tin-embowel'd fields,

And oft beneath the sea-obscuring brow

Of cloud-envelop'd Teneriff convey'd.

Next in sagacious thought th' ethereal plains

Thou trodst, exploring each propitious star

The danger-braving mariner to guide;

Then all the latent and mysterious pow'rs

Of number didst unravel; last to crown

Thy bounties, Goddess, thy unrival'd toils

For man, still urging thy inventive mind,

Thou gav'st him [9] letters; there imparting all,

Which lifts th' ennobled spirit near to heav'n,

Laws, learning, wisdom, nature's works reveal'd

By godlike sages, all Minerva's arts,

Apollo's music, and th' eternal voice

Of Virtue, sounding from th' historic roll,

The philosophic page, and poet's song.

NOW solitude and silence from the shores

Retreat on pathless mountains to reside,

Barbarity is polish'd, infant arts

Bloom in the desart, and benignant peace

With hospitality begin to sooth

Unsocial rapine, and the thirst of blood;

As, from his tumid urn when Nilus spreads

His genial tides abroad, the favour'd soil,

That joins his fruitful border, first imbibes

The kindly stream; anon the bounteous God

His waves extends, embracing Aegypt round,

Dwells on the teeming champain, and endows

The sleeping grain with vigour to attire

In one bright harvest all the Pharian plains:

Thus, when Pygmalion from Phoenician Tyre

Had banish'd freedom, with disdainful steps

Indignant Commerce, turning from the walls,

Herself had rais'd, her welcome sway enlarg'd

Among the nations, spreading round the globe

The fruits of all its climes; [10] Cecropian oil,

The Thracian vintage, and Panchaian gums,

Arabia's spices, and the golden grain,

Which old Osiris to his Aegypt gave,

And Ceres to [11] Sicania. Thou didst raise

Th' Ionian name, O Commerce, thou the domes

Of sumptuous Corinth, and the ample round

Of Syracuse didst people.—All the wealth

Now thou assemblest from Iberia's mines,

And golden-channel'd Tagus, all the spoils

From fair [12] Trinacria wasted, all the pow'rs

Of conquer'd Afric's tributary realms

To six thy empire on the Lybian verge,

Thy native tract; the nymphs of Nysa hail

Thy glad return, and echoing joy resounds

O'er Triton's sacred waters, but in vain:

The irreversible decrees of heav'n

To far more northern regions had ordain'd

Thy lasting seat; in vain th' imperial port

Receives the gather'd riches of the world;

In vain whole climates bow beneath its rule;

Behold the toil of centuries to Rome

Its glories yields, and mould'ring leaves no trace

Of its deep-rooted greatness: thou with tears

From thy extinguish'd Carthage didst retire,

And these thy perish'd honours long deplore.

What though rich [13] Gades, what though polish'd Rhodes,

With Alexandria, Aegypt's splendid mart,

The learn'd [14] Massylians, and [15] Ligurian tow'rs,

What though the potent Hanseatic league,

And Venice, mistress of the Grecian isles,

With all th' Aegean floods, awhile might sooth

The sad remembrance; what though, led through climes

And seas unknown, with thee th' advent'rous sons

Of [16] Tagus pass'd the stormy cape, which braves

The huge Atlantic; what though Antwerp grew

Beneath thy smiles, and thou propitious there

Didst show'r thy blessings with unsparing hands:

Still on thy grief-indented heart impress'd

The great Amilcar's valour, still the deeds

Of Asdrubal and Mago, still the loss

Of thy unequal'd Annibal remain'd:

Till from the sandy mouths of echoing Rhine,

And sounding margin of the Scheld and Maese,

With sudden roar the angry voice of war

Alarm'd thy languor; wonder turn'd thy eye,

Lo! in bright arms a bold militia stood,

Arrang'd for battle: from afar thou saw'st

The snowy ridge of Apennine, the fields

Of wide Calabria, and Pyrene's hills,

The Guadiana, and the Duro's banks,

And rapid Ebro gath'ring all their pow'rs

To crush this daring populace. The pride

Of fiercest kings with more inflam'd revenge

Ne'er menac'd freedom; nor since dauntless Greece,

And Rome's stern offspring none hath e'er surpass'd

The bold [17] Batavian in his glorious toil

For liberty, or death. At once the thought

Of long-lamented Carthage flies thy breast,

And ardent, Goddess, thou dost speed to save

The gen'rous people. Not the vernal show'rs,

Distilling copious from the morning clouds,

Descend more kindly on the tender flow'r,

New-born and op'ning on the lap of spring,

Than on this rising state thy cheering smile,

And animating presence; while on Spain,

Prophetic thus, thy indignation broke.

INSATIATE race! the shame of polish'd lands!

Disgrace of Europe! for inhuman deeds

And insolence renown'd! what demon led

Thee first to plough the undiscover'd surge,

Which lav'd an hidden world? whose malice taught

Thee first to taint with rapine, and with rage,

With more than savage thirst of blood the arts,

By me for gentlest intercourse ordain'd,

For mutual aids, and hospitable ties

From shore to shore? Or, that pernicious hour,

Was Heav'n disgusted with its wondrous works,

That to thy fell exterminating hand

Th' immense Peruvian empire it resign'd,

And all, which lordly [18] Montezeuma sway'd?

And com'st thou, strengthen'd with the shining stores

Of that gold-teeming hemisphere, to waste

The smiling fields of Europe, and extend

Thy bloody shackles o'er these happy seats

Of liberty? Presumptuous nation, learn,

From this dire period shall thy glories fade,

Thy slaughter'd youth shall fatten Belgium's sands,

And Victory against her Albion's cliffs

Shall see the blood-empurpled ocean dash

Thy weltring hosts, and stain the chalky shore:

Ev'n those, whom now thy impious pride would bind

In servile chains, hereafter shall support

Thy weaken'd throne; when Heav'n's afflicting hand

Of all thy pow'r despoils thee, when alone

Of all, which e'er hath signaliz'd thy name,

Thy insolence and cruelty remain.

THUS with her clouded visage, wrapt in frowns,

The Goddess threaten'd, and the daring train

Of her untam'd militia, torn with wounds,

Despising fortune, from repeated foils

More fierce, and braving famine's keenest rage,

At length through deluges of blood she led

To envied greatness; ev'n while clam'rous Mars

With loudest clangor bade his trumpet shake

The Belgian champain, she their standard rear'd

On tributary Java, and the shores

Of huge Borneo; thou, Sumatra, heard'st

Her naval thunder, Ceylon's trembling sons

Their fragrant stores of cinnamon resign'd,

And odour-breathing Ternate and Tidore

Their spicy groves: and O whatever coast

The Belgians trace, where'er their pow'r is spread,

To hoary Zembla, or to Indian suns,

Still thither be extended thy renown,

O WILLIAM, pride of Orange, and ador'd

Thy virtues, which disdaining life, or wealth,

Or empire, whether in thy dawn of youth,

Thy glorious noon of manhood, or the night,

[19]The fatal night of death, no other care

Besides the public own'd: and dear to fame

Be thou, harmonious [20] Douza; ev'ry muse

Your laurel strow around this hero's urn,

Whom fond Minerva grac'd with all her arts,

Alike in letters and in arms to shine,

A dauntless warriour, and a learned bard.

Him Spain's surrounding host for slaughter mark'd,

With massacre yet reeking from the streets

Of blood-stain'd Harlem; he on Leyden's tow'rs

With famine his companion, wan, subdu'd

In outward form, with patient virtue stood

Superior to despair; the heav'nly Nine

His suff'ring soul with great examples cheer'd

Of memorable bards, by Mars adorn'd

With wreaths of fame, [21] Oeagrus' tuneful son,

Who with melodious praise to noblest deeds

Charm'd the Iölchian heroes, and himself

Their danger shar'd, [22] Tyrtaeus, who reviv'd

With animating verse the Spartan hopes,

Brave [23] Aeschylus and [24] Sophocles, around

Whose sacred brows the tragic ivy twin'd,

Mix'd with the warrior's laurel; all surpass'd

By Douza's valour: and the gen'rous toil,

His and his country's labours soon receiv'd

Their high reward, when fav'ring Commerce rais'd

Th' invincible Batavians, till, rever'd

Among the mightiest, on the brightest roll

Of Fame they shone, by splendid wealth and pow'r

Grac'd and supported; thus a genial soil

Diffusing vigour through the infant oak,

Affords it strength to flourish, till at last

Its lofty head, in verdant honours clad,

It rears amidst the proudest of the grove.

YET here th' eternal Fates thy last retreat

Deny, a mightier nation they prepare

For thy reception, sufferers alike

By th' unremitted insolence of pow'r

From reign to reign, nor less than Belgium known

For bold contention oft on crimson fields,

In free-tongu'd senates oft with nervous laws

To circumscribe, or conqu'ring to depose

Their sceptred tyrants: Albion sea-embrac'd,

The joy of Freedom, dread of treach'rous kings,

The destin'd mistress of the subject main,

And arbitress of Europe, now demands

Thy presence, Goddess. It was now the time,

Ere yet perfidious Cromwel dar'd profane

The sacred senate, and with impious feet

Tread on the pow'rs of magistrates and laws,

While ev'ry arm was chill'd with cold amaze,

Nor one in all that dauntless train was found

To pierce the ruffian's heart; and now thy name

Was heard in thunder through th' affrighted shores

Of pale Iberia, of submissive Gaul,

And Tagus, trembling to his utmost source,

O ever faithful, vigilant, and brave,

Thou bold asserter of Britannia's fame,

Unconquerable BLAKE: propitious heav'n

At this great aera, and [25] the sage decree

Of Albion's senate, perfecting at once,

What by [26] Eliza was so well begun,

So deeply founded, to this favour'd shore

The Goddess drew, where grateful she bestow'd

Th' unbounded empire of her father's floods,

And chose thee, London, for her chief abode,

Pleas'd with the silver Thames, its gentle stream,

And smiling banks, its joy-diffusing hills,

Which, clad with splendour, and with beauty grac'd,

O'erlook his lucid bosom; pleas'd with thee,

Thou nurse of arts, and thy industrious race;

Pleas'd with their candid manners, with their free

Sagacious converse, to enquiry led,

And zeal for knowledge; hence the opening mind

Resigns its errours, and unseals the eye

Of blind opinion; merit hence is heard

Amidst its blushes, dawning arts arise,

The gloomy clouds, which ignorance or fear

Spread o'er the paths of virtue, are dispell'd,

Servility retires, and ev'ry heart

With public cares is warm'd; thy merchants hence,

Illustrious city, thou dost raise to fame:

How many names of glory may'st thou trace

From earliest annals down to BARNARD's times!

And, O! if like that eloquence divine,

Which forth for Commerce, for Britannia's rights,

And her insulted majesty he pour'd,

These humble measures flow'd, then too thy walls

Might undisgrac'd resound thy poet's name,

Who now all fearful to thy praise attunes

His lyre, and pays his grateful Song to thee,

Thy votary, O Commerce! Gracious pow'r!

Continue still to hear my vows, and bless

My honourable industry, which courts

No other smile but thine; for thou alone

Can'st wealth bestow with independence crown'd:

Nor yet exclude contemplative repose,

But to my dwelling grant the solemn calm

Of learned leisure, never to reject

The visitation of the tuneful maids,

Who seldom deign to leave their sacred haunts,

And grace a mortal mansion; thou divide

With them my labours; pleasure I resign,

And, all devoted to my midnight lamp,

Ev'n now, when Albion o'er the foamy breast

Of groaning Tethys spreads its threat'ning fleets,

I grasp the sounding shell, prepar'd to sing

That hero's valour, who shall best confound

His injur'd country's foes: ev'n now I feel

Celestial fires descending on my breast,

Which prompt thy daring suppliant to explore,

Why, though deriv'd from Neptune, though rever'd

Among the nations, by the Gods endow'd,

Thou never yet from eldest times hast found

One permanent abode, why, oft expell'd

Thy favour'd seats, from clime to clime hast borne

Thy wand'ring steps, why LONDON late hath seen

(Thy lov'd, thy last retreat) desponding care

O'ercloud thy brow: O listen, while the Muse,

Th' immortal progeny of Jove, unfolds

The fatal cause. What Time in Nysa's cave

Th' ethereal train in honour to thy sire

Show'r'd on thy birth their blended gifts, the pow'r

Of war was absent; hence, unbless'd by Mars,

Thy sons relinquish'd arms, on other arts

Intent, and still to mercenary hands

The sword entrusting, vainly deem'd, that wealth

Could purchase lasting safety, and protect

Unwarlike freedom; hence the Alps in vain

Were pass'd, their long-impenetrable snows

And dreary torrents; swoln with Roman dead,

Astonish'd [27] Trebia overflow'd its banks

In vain, and deep-dy'd Trasimenus roll'd

Its crimson waters; Cannae's signal day

The fame alone of great Amilcar's son

Enlarg'd, while still undisciplin'd, dismay'd,

Her head commercial Carthage bow'd at last

To military Rome: th' unalter'd will

Of heav'n in ev'ry climate hath ordain'd,

And ev'ry age, that empire shall attend

The sword, and steel shall ever conquer gold.

Then from thy suff'rings learn; th' auspicious hour

Now smiles; our wary magistrates have arm'd

Our hands; thou, Goddess, animate our breasts

To cast inglorious indolence aside,

That once again, in bright battalions rang'd,

Our thousands and ten thousands may be seen

Their country's only rampart, and the dread

Of wild ambition. Mark the Swedish hind;

He, on his native soil should danger lour,

Soon from the entrails of the dusky mine

Would rise to arms; and other fields and chiefs

With [28] Helsingburg and Steinboch soon would share

The admiration of the northern world:

Helvetia's hills behold, th' aërial seat

Of long-supported Liberty, who thence,

Securely resting on her faithful shield,

The warrior's corselet flaming on her breast,

Looks down with scorn on spacious realms, which groan

In servitude around her, and, her sword

With dauntless skill high-brandishing, defies

The Austrian eagle, and imperious Gaul:

And O could those ill-fated shades arise,

Whose valiant ranks along th' ensanguin'd dust

Of [29] Newbury lay crouded, they could tell,

How their long-matchless cavalry, so oft

O'er hills of slain by ardent RUPERT led,

Whose dreaded standard victory had wav'd,

Till then triumphant, there with noblest blood

From their gor'd squadrons dy'd the restive spear

Of London's firm militia, and resign'd

The well-disputed field: then, Goddess, say,

Shall we be now more timid, when behold,

The blackning storm now gathers round our heads,

And England's angry genius sounds to arms?

For thee, remember, is the banner spread,

The naval tow'r to vindicate thy rights

Will sweep the curling foam, the thund'ring bomb

Will roar, and startle in their deepest grots

Old Nereus' daughters, with combustion stor'd

For thee our dire volcano's of the main,

Impregnated with horrour, soon will pour

Their flaming ruin round each hostile fleet;

Thou then, great Goddess, summon all thy pow'rs,

Arm all thy sons, thy vassals, ev'ry heart

Inflame: and you, ye fear-disclaiming race,

Ye mariners of Britain, chosen train

Of Liberty and Commerce, now no more

Secrete your gen'rous valour; hear the call

Of injur'd Albion; to her foes present

Those daring bosoms, which alike disdain

The death-disploding cannon, and the rage

Of warring tempests, mingling in their strife

The seas and clouds: though long, in silence hush'd,

Hath slept the British thunder; though the pride

Of weak Iberia hath forgot the roar;

Soon shall her ancient terrours be recall'd,

When your victorious shouts affright her shores:

None now ignobly will your warmth restrain,

Nor hazard more indignant valour's curse,

Their country's wrath, and Time's eternal scorn;

Then bid the furies of Bellona wake,

And silver-mantled Peace with welcome steps

Anon shall visit your triumphant isle.

And that perpetual safety may possess

Our joyous fields, thou, genius, who presid'st

O'er this illustrious city, teach her sons

To wield the noble instruments of war;

And let the great example soon extend

Through ev'ry province, till Britannia sees

Her docile millions fill the martial plain.

Then, whatsoe'er our terrours now suggest

Of desolation and th' invading sword,

Though with his massy trident Neptune heav'd

A new-born isthmus from the British deep,

And to its parent continent rejoin'd

Our chalky shore; though Mahomet could league

His pow'rful crescent with the hostile Gaul,

And that new Cyrus of the conquer'd east,

Who now in trembling vassalage unites

The Ganges and Euphrates, could advance

With his auxiliar host; our warlike youth▪

With [30] equal numbers, and with keener zeal

For children, parents, friends, for England fir'd,

Her fertile glebe, her wealthy towns, her laws,

Her liberty, her honour, should sustain

The dreadful onset, and resistless break

Th' immense array: thus ev'n the lightest thought

E'er to invade Britannia's calm repose

Must die the moment, that auspicious Mars

Her sons shall bless with discipline and arms;

That exil'd race, in superstition nurs'd,

The servile pupils of tyrannic Rome,

With distant gaze despairing shall behold

The guarded splendors of Britannia's crown;

Still from their abdicated sway estrang'd,

With all th' attendance on despotic thrones,

Priests, ignorance, and bonds; with watchful step

Gigantic Terrour, striding round our coast,

Shall shake his gorgon aegis, and the hearts

Of proudest kings appal; to other shores

Our angry fleets, when insolence and wrongs

To arms awaken our vindictive pow'r,

Shall bear the hideous waste of ruthless war;

But liberty, security, and fame

Shall dwell for ever on our chosen plains.

FINIS

Notes

1.
The east wind.
↵

2.
Bremen is situated on the Weser, and Hamburgh on the Elb.
↵

3.
Triton, a river and lake of ancient Lybia.
↵

4.
Fruitfulness.
↵

5.
Plenty.
↵

6.
This whole description of the rock and grotto is taken from Diod. Siculus, lib. 3. pag. 202.
↵

7.
Minerva, the tutelary Goddess of the Athenians, to whom she gave the olive.
↵

8.
Vulcan, the tutelary deity of Lemnos.
↵

9.
Here the opinion of Sir Isaac Newton is follow'd, that letters were first invented amongst the trading parts of the world.
↵

10.
Athenian. Athens was call'd Cecropia from Cecrops its first king.
↵

11.
Sicily.
↵

12.
Another name of Sicily, which was frequently ravag'd by the Carthaginians.
↵

13.
Cadiz.
↵

14.
Marseilles, a Grecian colony, the most civiliz'd, as well as the greatest trading city of ancient Gaul.
↵

15.
Genoua.
↵

16.
The Portuguese discover'd the cape of Good Hope in 1487.
↵

17.
The Dutch.
↵

18.
Montezeuma emperor of Mexico.
↵

19.
He was assassinated at Delf. His dying words were, Lord have mercy upon this people. See Grot. de Bell. Belg.
↵

20.
Janus Douza, a famous poet, and the most learned man of his time. He commanded in Leyden, when it was so obstinately besieg'd by the Spaniards in 1570. See Meursii Athen. Bat.
↵

21.
Orpheus, one of the Argonauts, who set sail from Iölcos, a town in Thessalia.
↵

22.
When the Spartans were greatly distress'd in the Messenian war, they applied to the Athenians for a general, who sent them the poet Tyrtaeus.
↵

23.
Aeschylus, one of the most ancient tragic poets, who signaliz'd himself in the battles of Marathon and Salamis.
↵

24.
Sophocles commanded his countrymen the Athenians in several expeditions.
↵

25.
The act of navigation.
↵

26.
Queen Elizabeth was the first of our princes, who gave any considerable encouragement to trade.
↵

27.
Trebia, Trasimenus lacus, and Cannae, famous for the victories gain'd by Annibal over the Romans.
↵

28.
Helsingburg, a small town in Schonen, celebrated for the victory, which Count Steinboch gain'd over the Danes with an army, for the most part composed of Swedish peasants, who had never seen an enemy before; it is remarkable, that the defeated troops were as complete a body of regular forces, as any in all Europe.
↵

29.
The London train'd bands, and auxiliary regiments (of whose inexperience of danger, or any kind of service, beyond the easy practice of their postures in the artillery garden, men had till then too cheap an estimation) behav'd themselves to wonder; and were, in truth, the preservation of that army that day. For they stood as a bulwark and rampire to defend the rest; and when their wings of horse were scatter'd and dispers'd, kept their ground so steadily, that though prince Rupert himself led up the choice horse to charge them, and endur'd their storm of small shot, he could make no impression on their stand of pikes; but was forc'd to wheel about. Clarend.
•
ook 7. pag. 347.

↵

30.
If the computation, which allots near two millions of fighting men to this kingdom, may be relied on; it is not easy to conceive, how the united force of the whole world could assemble together, and subsist in an enemy's country greater numbers, than they would find opposed to them here.
↵

LONDON: OR, THE PROGRESS OF COMMERCE. A POEM. By Mr. GLOVER. THE SECOND EDITION.

LONDON; Printed for T. COOPER, at the Globe, in Paternoster-Row. MDCCXXXIX. (Price One Shilling.)

Erratum. Line 59. r. cull'd.

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London: or, the progress of commerce. A poem. By Mr. Glover.

Glover, Richard, 1712-1785.

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http://ota.ox.ac.uk/id/4065

ID [isbn10]

1106010647

ID [isbn13]

9781106010643

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K040720.000

ID [BIBNO]

CW3309522779

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0081901300

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— London: or, the progress of commerce. A poem. By Mr. Glover., Glover, Richard, 1712-1785.. The second edition.. [2],30p. ; 4⁰. London :: printed for T. Cooper,. 1739.. [Reproduction of original from the British Library.] [Foxon, G198] [English Short Title Catalog, ESTCT41172.] [Electronic data. Farmington Hills, Mich. : Thomson Gale, 2003. Page image (PNG). Digitized image of the microfilm version produced in Woodbridge, CT by Research Publications, 1982-2002 (later known as Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group).]

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