Thoughts of England
DENNING, Tom, Lord (1899 – 1989)
British judge. The Observer, `Sayings of the Week’, 4 Aug 1968
There are many things in life more worthwhile than money. One is to be brought up in this our England which is still the envy of less happy lands.
PARKER, Clarke Ross (1914 – 1974)
British songwriter. There’ll Always Be an England
There’ll always be an England
While there’s a country lane,
Wherever there’s a cottage small
Beside a field of grain.
RHODES, Cecil (1853 – 1902)
South African statesman. Dear Me (Peter Ustinov), Ch. 4
Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life.
BROWNING, Robert ‘Home Thoughts, from Abroad’ (1845).
Oh, to be in England
Now that April’s there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughs and the
brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard
bough
In England – now!
DICKENS, Charles Our Mutual Friend (1865).
This Island was Blest, Sir, to the Direct Exclusion of such Other Countries as – as there may happen to be. And if we were all Englishmen present, I would say,’ added Mr Podsnap … ‘that there is in the Englishman a combination of qualities, a modesty, an independence, a responsibility, a repose, combined with an absence of everything calculated to call a blush into the cheek of a young person, which one would seek in vain among the Nations of the Earth.’
WORDSWORTH, William ‘I travelled among unknown men’ (1807).
I travelled among unknown men
In lands beyond the sea;
Nor, England! did I know till then
What love I bore to thee.
7 Jerusalem
Words by William Blake, music by Sir Hubert Parry
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And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England’s mountains green?
And was the Holy Lamb of God
On England’s pleasant pastures seen?
And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark satanic mills?
Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England’s green and pleasant land.
(HENRY V – Henry urges his men into the attack at the Siege of Harfleur)
And you, good yeomen,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here the mettle of your pasture.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot:
Follow your spirit; and upon this charge
Cry “God for Harry! England and Saint George”.
Dickens, Charles:
Our Mutual Friend
“There is in the Englishman a combination of qualities, a modesty, an independence, a responsibility, a repose, combined with an absence of anything calculated to call a blush into the cheek of a young person, which one would seek in vain among the Nations of the Earth.”
KIPLING, Rodyard
“And still when Mob or Monarch lays
Too rude a hand on English ways,
The whisper wakes, the shudder plays,
Across the reeds at Runnymede.
And Thames, that knows the moods of kings,
And crowds and priests and suchlike things,
Rolls deep and dreadful as he brings
Their warning down from Runnymede!”
SHAKESPEARE, William
This England never did, nor never shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror,
But when it first did help to wound itself.
Now these her princes are come home again,
Come the three corners of the world in arms,
And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue,
If England to itself do rest but true.