If what is rightly reverenced may last. 1835.
III
"THEY CALLED THEE MERRY ENGLAND, IN OLD TIME"
They called Thee Merry England, in old time;
A happy people won for thee that name
With envy heard in many a distant clime;
And, spite of change, for me thou keep'st the same
Endearing title, a responsive chime 5
To the heart's fond belief; though some there are
Whose sterner judgments deem that world a snare
For inattentive Fancy, like the lime
Which foolish birds are caught with. Can, I ask,
This face of rural beauty be a mask 10
For discontent, and poverty, and crime;
These spreading towns a cloak for lawless will?
Forbid it, Heaven!-and[796] Merry England still
Shall[797] be thy rightful name, in prose and rhyme!
FOOTNOTES:
[796] 1837.
... that ... 1835.
[797] 1837.
May.... 1835.