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 canvas 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 powers
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 letters; there imparting all,
Which lifts th' ennobled spirit near to heaven,
Laws, learning, wisdom, nature's works reveal'd
By god-like Sages, all Minerva's arts,
Apollo's music, and th' eternal voice
Of Virtue sounding from the historic roll,
The philosophic page, and poet's song.