246 PO"E118 OJ' FRBEDOlf AND PJ.TJUuTI8JI.
Or u a mo~t defpn.qive to a house,.
.Against the envy of lesa happier lands;.
This blessed plot, thia earth. this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear'd by their breed, and famoua by theil' birtn,
BenownM for their deeds as far from home
(For Christian service, and t rue chivalry)
Aa ia tbe sepulchre in atubborn Jewry,
Of the world'al'&.llaom, bleaeed .Mary'a eon:
This land of eueb dear aouls, this dear, dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the wodd.
SB..\USPEAR&.5num.
You ask me why, though ill at eue,
Within th.is region I subsist,
Whose spirtta fail within the Jn)st,
And languiSh for the purple seas 7
It is the land that freemen ti.H,
That sober-suited Freedom eb.oee ;
The land where, girt with f.rien~ or foes,
A Jnan may speak the th'ing he wilt ;
A lAnd of settled government,.
A land of just and old renown,..
Where Fnedom broadens slowly dow~
From preeedeDt to preee.lent ;
Where faction seldom gather& flead,
But by degrees to fulnesa wrought;
The strength of some diffusive thought
Hath time and space to work and spread.
Should banded unions persecute
Opinio~ and induce a time
Where single thought is civil criine,
.ADd individual freedom mute;
Though Power ahould make from land to land
The nl\Dl.e of Britain t.rebly great-
Though every channel of the state
Should almost choke with golden aMJd ;
Yet wnft me f~m the harbour-mouth,
Wild wind I I seek a warmer s\y 1
ADd I will see before I die
The palma llolld temples of the South. TPli'TI!ON,