With spiritless villainies round,

With counsels of cowardice fretted,

With trammels of treason enwound,

Is yet, though the season be other

Than wept and rejoiced over thee,

Thine England, thy lover, thy mother,

Sublime as the sea.

Hers wast thou: if her face be now less bright, or seem for an hour less brave,

Let but thine on her darkness shine, thy saviour spirit revive and save,

Time shall see, as the shadows flee, her shame entombed in a shameful grave.

If death and not life were the portal

That opens on life at the last,

If the spirit of Sidney were mortal

And the past of it utterly past,

[Pg 126]

Fear stronger than honour was ever,

Forgetfulness mightier than fame,

Faith knows not if England should never

Subside into shame.

Yea, but yet is thy sun not set, thy sunbright spirit of trust withdrawn:

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