England V

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 I had, my Country!--am I to be blamed?    Now, when I think of thee, 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!