An age and half an age again,

She rose on Runnymede.

III

Out of the shadow, starlike still,

She rose up radiant in her right,

And spake, and put to fear and flight

The lawless rule of awless will

That pleads no right save might.

[Pg 175]

IV

Nor since hath England ever borne

The burden laid on subject lands,

The rule that curbs and binds all hands

Save one, and marks for servile scorn

The heads it bows and brands.

V

A commonweal arrayed and crowned

With gold and purple, girt with steel

At need, that foes must fear or feel,

We find her, as our fathers found,

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