Since cradled in rushes thy infancy lay!
In thy rude huts of timber the proud wings lay furl'd
Of a spirit whose power now o'ershadows the world,
And the brave chiefs who built and defended those towers,
Were the sires of this glorious old city of ours.
For London! for London! the home of the free,
There's no city on earth, royal London, like thee!
"The Roman, the Saxon, the Norman, the Dane,
Have in turn sway'd thy sceptre, thou queen of the main!
Their spirits though diverse, uniting made one,