For Christian service and true chivalry—
As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry
Of the world’s ransom, blessèd Mary’s Son;
This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world,
* * * * *
England, bound in with the triumphant sea,
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune!”
I wish that every word of this magnificent outburst of noble patriotism were learned by every boy in Britain, and imprinted on his memory, as ineffaceably as his daily prayer. It is the heart’s utterance of the greatest poet and truest lover of his country England has ever produced, and inspires the soul with the same emotion as that expressed by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, of Shakespeare’s time and spirit:—