The hard’st to be control’d, impatientest of wrong;
Who, when the Norman first with pride and horror swayed,
Threw’st off the servile yoke upon the English laid;
And with a high resolve, most bravely didst restore
That liberty so long enjoyed by thee before,
Not suffering foreign laws shall thy free customs bind.
Then only showd’st thyself of th’ ancient Saxon kind.
Of all the English Shires be thou surnam’d the Free,
And foremost ever placed, when they shall reckoned be.”
(Drayton’s “Poly-Olbion.” Ed. 1738, Song 18th, p. 33.)