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��WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

540 (;)

["T is not to be thought of that the flood

Of British freedom, which, to the open sea

Of the world's praise, from dark antiquity Hath flow'd, 'with pomp of waters, unwithstood,' Roused though it be full often to a mood

Which spurns the check of salutary bands,

That this most famous stream in bogs and sands Should perish; and to evil and to good Be lost for ever. In our Jialls is hung

Armoury of the invincible Knights of old: We must be free or die, who speak the tongue

That Shakespeare spake; the faith and morals hold Which Milton held. In everything we are sprung

Of Earth's first blood, have titles manifold.

��WHEN I have borne in memory what has tamed Great Nations, how ennobling thoughts depart

When men change swords for ledgers, and desert The student's bower for gold, some fears unnamed

Now, when I think of thec, and what thou art,

Verily, in the bottom of my heart, Of those unfilial fears I am ashamed. For dearly must we prize thee; we who find

In thee a bulwark for the cause of men;

And I by my affection was beguiled.

What wonder if a Poet now and then, Among the many movements of his mind,

Felt for thee as a lover or a child!

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