Xiii

England is England’s history, that great dome Which ever us and our immortal dead Draws shadow, while men’s common lives are led, Strange thought! in that superb half-light, half-gloam. And all who dwell in England, all who roam The seas on great emprise inherited, Gazing into that fulness overhead, Behold a sanctuary and a home. England’s a spirit that doth interfuse Whate’er is of her, every form wherein Herself she reincarnates, all that strews Her bosom and her years, and works within, And spreads, and wells, and sinks, and overflows; And how to know her only Spirit knows.

HESEPE, 12th July