Country Town, The: A Reverie - Part 5
26
But lo! his front the CASTLE proudly rears,
And with unguarded rampire seems to frown,
As, o'er the gulf of twice three hundred years,
He watched the battle rolling from the down.
See, see the breathless, trembling, gazing town!
There, with his white-crossed warriors' fierce array,
De Montfort! here, the might of Henry's Crown!
They close, they perish! these for sceptred Sway,
For chartered Freedom those; and doubtful hangs the day.
27
'Tis past, 'tis gone! the sounds of conflict end:
And in the level sunlight, calm and sweet,
The grey romantic bulwarks gently blend
With the red roofs that nestle at their feet.
Faint sounds the murmuring commerce of the street;
Along the vale the train's far echoes roll,
Lingering; and sometimes, at the Lover's Sea,
Low laughter rises from the ash-crowned knoll;
And in the evening silence clicks the peaceful bowl.
28
Fair looks the Ruin in his calm decline;
But what red annals line his hoary stone,
Whose very moss breathes heriot and fine,
The liege's tallage and the vassal's moan!
On such a rugged soil was Freedom sown!
From civil conflict sprung the Realm's accord;
The armed Manor checked the lawless Throne:
Home truth spoke once yon Castle's haughty lord
" If titles rust in peace, the rust is on a sword!"
29
Stout-hearted chief of England's warlike peers,
Be every noble's accent clear as thine!
Breathe thou thy spirit from the far-off years
To where unbroken runs thy lordly line!
Still in thy keep Fitzalan's heirs combine
Their banners old; still on their jewelled shields
Familiar crest, ancestral motto shine;
And quartered Cheque, on or and azure fields,
Claims for Earl Warren's race the tribute Fealty yields!
30
" Ne vile velis!" " Look thou upward still!"
" Invicta virtus!" " Manly then remain!"
" Jour de ma vie!" " Thy day's high task fulfil!"
With words like these can England's Noblesse wane?
O you, the scions of each vigorous strain,
Whose sires on sea and shore have fought and bled,
Or for their country toiled with statesman's brain,
Still lead the sons of those your fathers led,
Who hear in yours the footsteps of the famous dead!
31
Should blood like yours degenerate, better far
To blot the memory of each manful deed!
How vain the lustre of a Cross or Star
On bosoms bursting with a placeman's greed!
See now, how Lies, Dishonour, Treason, speed!
Yet nerveless drifts the ermined demagogue,
Heading the maddened crowd he dares not laed;
And leaves the Throne to sink, a foundering log,
Where Faction spreads around her vast unfathomed bog!
32
By Gold and Envy thrust from Britain's shore,
Sad Chivalry, with slow departing flight,
Claims a last refuge where she rose of yore,
And finds on German ground one patriot Knight.
O! for a voice like his with manly might,
And truth, too long to England's councils strange,
To plead, a later Pitt, our Sovereign's right,
Our Country's cause! — Vain Fancy, check thy range,
And paint in homelier haunts the broadening stream of change!
But lo! his front the CASTLE proudly rears,
And with unguarded rampire seems to frown,
As, o'er the gulf of twice three hundred years,
He watched the battle rolling from the down.
See, see the breathless, trembling, gazing town!
There, with his white-crossed warriors' fierce array,
De Montfort! here, the might of Henry's Crown!
They close, they perish! these for sceptred Sway,
For chartered Freedom those; and doubtful hangs the day.
27
'Tis past, 'tis gone! the sounds of conflict end:
And in the level sunlight, calm and sweet,
The grey romantic bulwarks gently blend
With the red roofs that nestle at their feet.
Faint sounds the murmuring commerce of the street;
Along the vale the train's far echoes roll,
Lingering; and sometimes, at the Lover's Sea,
Low laughter rises from the ash-crowned knoll;
And in the evening silence clicks the peaceful bowl.
28
Fair looks the Ruin in his calm decline;
But what red annals line his hoary stone,
Whose very moss breathes heriot and fine,
The liege's tallage and the vassal's moan!
On such a rugged soil was Freedom sown!
From civil conflict sprung the Realm's accord;
The armed Manor checked the lawless Throne:
Home truth spoke once yon Castle's haughty lord
" If titles rust in peace, the rust is on a sword!"
29
Stout-hearted chief of England's warlike peers,
Be every noble's accent clear as thine!
Breathe thou thy spirit from the far-off years
To where unbroken runs thy lordly line!
Still in thy keep Fitzalan's heirs combine
Their banners old; still on their jewelled shields
Familiar crest, ancestral motto shine;
And quartered Cheque, on or and azure fields,
Claims for Earl Warren's race the tribute Fealty yields!
30
" Ne vile velis!" " Look thou upward still!"
" Invicta virtus!" " Manly then remain!"
" Jour de ma vie!" " Thy day's high task fulfil!"
With words like these can England's Noblesse wane?
O you, the scions of each vigorous strain,
Whose sires on sea and shore have fought and bled,
Or for their country toiled with statesman's brain,
Still lead the sons of those your fathers led,
Who hear in yours the footsteps of the famous dead!
31
Should blood like yours degenerate, better far
To blot the memory of each manful deed!
How vain the lustre of a Cross or Star
On bosoms bursting with a placeman's greed!
See now, how Lies, Dishonour, Treason, speed!
Yet nerveless drifts the ermined demagogue,
Heading the maddened crowd he dares not laed;
And leaves the Throne to sink, a foundering log,
Where Faction spreads around her vast unfathomed bog!
32
By Gold and Envy thrust from Britain's shore,
Sad Chivalry, with slow departing flight,
Claims a last refuge where she rose of yore,
And finds on German ground one patriot Knight.
O! for a voice like his with manly might,
And truth, too long to England's councils strange,
To plead, a later Pitt, our Sovereign's right,
Our Country's cause! — Vain Fancy, check thy range,
And paint in homelier haunts the broadening stream of change!
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