England

"Non Angli sed Angeli."

"And so Britain is now called England, taking the name of the victors."

"On the other side, the English troops, assembled from all parts of the neighbourhood, took post at a place which was anciently called Senlac, many of them personally devoted to the cause of Harold, and all to that of their country, which they were resolved to defend against the foreigners... The English, on their side, made a stout resistance, each man straining his powers to the utmost... At length the indomitable bravery of the English threw the Bretons...into confusion... Towards the evening, the English finding that their king and the chief nobles of the realm, with a great part of their army, had fallen...they had recourse to flight as expeditiously as they could... There the flower of the youth and nobility of England covered the ground far and near stained with blood."

"That fatal day for England, the sad destruction of our dear country [dulcis patrie]."

"Thy own red-cross, proud England, leads me on, To fields where glory, freedom, shall be won; Fit emblem ours to consecrate the fight... Land of my sires! thy blest deliverer be, And, Christ me aiding, give thee liberty, Or lifeless on thy blood-stained soil to lie, For thee to conquer, or for thee to die."

"This, the most celebrated of islands, formerly called Albion, later Britain, and now England."

"Dieu et mon droit."

"Our progenitors, the kings of England, have before these times been lords of the English sea on every side...and it would very much grieve us if in this kind of defence our royal honour should be lost."

"[T]he Gospels of Christ, written in English, to most learning of our nation."

"Of England the nation Is Englishman there in common. The speech that man with most may speed Most therewith to speak was need. Seldom was for any chance Praised English tongue in France."

"And specially from every shires ende Of Engelond to Caunterbury they wende"

"Ils s'amusaient tristement selon la coutume de leur pays."

"Anglica gens est optima flens et pessima ridens."

"The trewe processe of Englysh polycye Of utterwarde to kepe thys regne in rest Of oure England, that no man may denye Ner say of soth but it is one the best, Is thys, as who seith, south, north, est and west Cheryshe marchandyse, kepe thamyralte, That we bee maysteres of the narowe see."

"I have left there a true Englishman's hand."

"The English take their pleasures sadly after the fashion of their country."

"An Englishman hath three qualities, he can suffer no partner in his love, no stranger to be his friend, nor to be dared by any."

"Beef is a good meate for an Englysshe man... it doth make an Englysshe man stronge."

"To harpe no longer upon this string, & to speake a word of that just commendation which our nation doe indeed deserve: it can not be denied, but as in all former ages, they have bene men full of activity, stirrers abroad, and searchers of the remote parts of the world, so in this most famous and peerless government of her most excellent Majesty, her subjects through the speciall assistance, and blessing of God, in searching the most opposite corners and quarters of the world, and to speake plainly, in compassing the vaste globe of the earth more then once, have excelled all the nations and people of the earth."

"England our native countrey one of the most renowned monarchies in the world."

"I am already bound unto an husband, which is the kingdom of England... for every one of you, and as many as are English, are my children and kinsfolks."

"England hath been accounted hitherto the most renowned kingdom for valour and manhood in all Christendom; and shall we now lose our old reputation? If we should, it had been better for England we had never been born."

"The whole [English] nation, beyond all other mortal men is most given to banquetting and feasts."

"God is English."

"You are, and have beene feared over all, England's an Isle, of stoute and hardie men: Be stronge in faith, your foes downe right shall fall, For one of you, in armes shall vanquish ten."

"Sir, there was never, since England was England, such a stratagem and mask made to deceive England withal as this of the treaty of peace."

"[L]et those malignant spirites confesse the renowned value of our nation in the olde time, and grant...that we are the sonnes of those our Fathers, whose strength and courage in martiall acitivite neither Scots, French, nor Spanyards, were able to resist... [T]he olde English valiancy is not so extinguished in the English nation through long securitie, and corrupt idleness, but it is soone stirred up to a double force, when it hath acquainted it selfe with the exercise in the field."

"I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm."

"For even our enemies hold our nation resolute and valiant, which though they will not outwardly show, they invariably know."

"Our fathers have vanquished forreine Princes: and shall not wee fight for our owne Prince? Our fathers have conquered other Realmes: and shall not wee defend our owne Realme? Our fathers have been Lords of other Countries: and shall we be slaves in our owne Countrie? What an alteration (or rather degeneration) would this bee in us? how dishonourable to the English name and Nation? ... [L]et us link togither in one mind, in one faith, in one force, let us sticke togither, fight togither, die togither, like men, like Englishmen, like true-harted Englishmen. ... Wherein if we joyne all, our hartes, armes, and forces togither, like true and faithful subjects, I am fully perswaded our, forrein invadors, whensoever they come, shall find England the hotest country that ever they set foote in: We are likely inough to measure their Spanish Cassocks with our English bowes."

"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."

"O Noble England, fall down upon thy knee, And praise thy God with thankfull hart, which still maintaineth thee. The forraine forces, that seekes thy utter spoile: Shall then through his especiall grace be brought to shamefull foile. With mightie power they come unto our coast: To over runne our countrie quite, they make their brags and boast. In strength of men they set their onely stay, But we upon the Lord our God will put our trust alway."

"Where by divers sundry old authentic histories and chronicles, it is manifestly declared and expressed that this realm of England is an empire, and so hath been accepted in the world, governed by one supreme head and king having the dignity and royal estate of the imperial crown of the same, unto whom a body politic compact of all sorts and degrees of people divided in terms and by names of spirituality and temporalty, be bounden and owe to bear next to God a natural and humble obedience."

"This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands,— This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."

"O England! model to thy inward greatness, Like little body with a mighty heart, What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do, Were all thy children kind and natural! But see thy fault!"

"And in my mind I have comprised. Of the proud Scot, King Jemmy, To write some little tragedy, For no manner consideration Of any sorrowful lamentation, But for the special consolation Of all our royal English nation."

"Lord, open the eyes of the king of England."

"The most high and absolute power of the realme of Englande, consisteth in the Parliament... [There] is the force and power of Englande."

"[T]he prince is the life, the head, and the authoritie of all thinges that be downe in the realme of England."

"Saint George shalt called bee, Saint George of mery England, the sign of victoree."

"Ah! la perfide Angleterre!"

"[T]he English Cookes, in comparison with other Nations, are most commended for roasted meates."

"BE IT DECLARED and enacted by this present Parliament and by the Authoritie of the same: That the People of England and of all the Dominions and Territoryes thereunto England a Commonwealth. belonging are and shall be and are hereby constituted, made, established, and confirmed to be a Commonwealth and free State And shall from henceforth be Governed as a Commonwealth and Free State by the supreame Authoritie of this Nation, the Representatives of the People in Parliament and by such as they shall appoint and constitute as Officers and Ministers under them for the good of the People and that without any King or House of Lords."

"Where are the rough brave Britons to be found With Hearts of Oak, so much of old renowned?"

"England is a well goodland; in the stead best Set in the one end of the world, and reigneth west. The sea goeth him all about, he stint as an yle."

"The Parliament of England...is that whereupon the very essence of all Government within this Kingdom doth depend; it is even the body of the whole Realm; it consisteth of the King, and of all that within the Land are subject unto him."

"Be favourable and gracious O Lord to this thy English Sion... O Lord we thy Servants humbly beseeche thee, to bless and prosper not only our Sea causes, but also all our land service, her Majesty's most honourable General, Marshal, Captains, Officers, and English soldiers whatsoever, strengthen them with courage and manliness, that they may suppress the slights of Antichrist, with all the force and power of foreign enemies, and papistical practices, that dare pre­sume to attempt any harm or hurt to her royal Majesty, their honours, her English people, or to this noble Realm of England."

"Lords and Commons of England, consider what Nation it is whereof ye are, and whereof ye are the governors: a Nation not slow and dull, but of quick, ingenious, and piercing spirit, acute to invent, suttle and sinewy to discours, not beneath the reach of any point the highest that humane capacity can soar to."

"They are powerful in the field, successful against their enemies, impatient of anything like slavery; vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as the firing of cannon, drums, and the ringing of bells."

"England, which is like a huge Fortress or Garrisoned Town, fenced not only with strong Works, her Port-Towns, with a wide and deep Ditch the Sea, but guarded also with excellent Out-Works, the strongest and best-built Ships of War in the World; then so furnisht within with Men and Horse, with Victuals and Ammunition, with Clothes and Money, that if all the Potentates of Europe should conspire (which God forbid) they could hardly distress it."

"I know an Englishman. Being flattered, is a lamb; threatened, a lion."

"I hope to render the English name as great and formidable as ever the Roman was."

"Blessed mother, handmaiden of old To Arthur, Edward, Henry, by whose deeds Of valour could their strength of faith be told."

"An Englishman's home is his castle."

"England is a paradise for women, and hell for horses: Italy is a paradise for horses, hell for women."

"When poor England stood alone, and had not the access of another kingdom, and yet had more and as potent enemies as now it hath, and yet the King of England prevailed."

"England is a prison for men, a paradise for women, a purgatory for servants, a hell for horses."

"England is a nation of shopkeepers."

"With lantern jaws, and cooking guy, See how the half-starved Frenchmen strut, And call us English dogs! But soon we'll teach these bragging foes, That beef and beer give heavier blows, Than soup and roasted frogs."

"The courage of bull-dogs and game-cocks seems peculiar to England."

"Let Pitt then boast of his victory to his nation of shopkeepers—(Nation Boutiquiere)."

"I have studied History and seen most of the Republics of Europe, and I do not hesitate to affirm that there is, or has been, no Government upon Earth where the property, and especially the person, of the Subject, is by far so secure as it is [in England]."

"Non seulement l'Angleterre, mais chaque Anglais est une ile."

"Freedom has been haunted round the globe. Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England has given her warning to depart."

"Hearts of oak are our ships, Jolly tars are our men, We always are ready, steady, boys, steady, We'll fight and will conquer again and again."

"The enemies of the people of England who would have them considered in the worst light represent them as selfish, beef-eaters, and cruel. In this view I resolved today to be a true-born Old Englishman. I went into the City to Dolly's Steak-house in Paternoster Row and swallowed my dinner by myself to fulfill the charge of selfishness; I had a large fat beef-steak to fulfil the charge of beef-eating; and I went at five o'clock to the Royal Cockpit in St. James's Park and saw cock-fighting for about five hours to fulfill the charge of cruelty."

"[I]n France the people sing to amuse themselves, and here they pass their time in boxing."

"The men of England—the men, I mean of light and leading in England."

"I return you many thanks for the honour you have done me; but Europe is not to be saved by any single man. England has saved herself by her exertions, and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example."

"No man had once a greater veneration for Englishmen than I entertained. They were dear to me as branches of the same parental trunk, and partakers of the same religion and laws."

"The Englishmen understand almost better than any other people the art of properly roasting a joint... which also is not to be wondered at; because the art of cooking as practised by most Englishmen does not extend much beyond roast beef and plum pudding."

"The habeas corpus is the single advantage which our government has over that of other countries."

"English superiority and American obedience."

"God and nature have joined England and Ireland together. It is impossible to separate them."

"All that I can boast of in my birth, is, that I was born in Old England."

"Being sheltered, as it were, within a Citadel, she there reigns over a Nation which is the better entitled to her favours as it endeavours to extend her Empire, and carries with it, to every part of its dominions, the blessings of industry and equality. Fenced in on every side, to use the expressions of Chamberlayne, with a wide and deep ditch, the sea, guarded with strong outworks, its ships of war, and defended by the courage of her Seamen, she preserves that important secret, that sacred fire, so difficult to be kindled, and which, if it were once extinguished, would perhaps never be lighted again. When the World shall have again been laid waste by Conquerors, she will still continue to shew Mankind, not only the principle that ought to unite them, but what is of no less importance, the form under which they ought to be united. And the Philosopher, when he considers the constant fate of civil Societies amongst Men, and observes the numerous and powerful causes which seem as it were unavoidably to conduct them all to a state of incurable political Slavery, takes comfort in seeing that Liberty has at length disclosed her secret to Mankind, and secured an Asylum to herself."

"When mighty Roast Beef was the Englishman's food, It ennobled our veins and enriched our blood. Our soldiers were brave and our courtiers were good Oh! the Roast Beef of old England, And old English Roast Beef!"

"I shall begin with a very earnest and serious Exhortation to all my well disposed Readers, that they would return to the Food of their Forefathers, and reconcile themselves to Beef and Mutton. This was the Diet which bred that hearty Race of Mortals who won the Fields of Cressy and Agincourt."

"The government of England is a government of law. We betray ourselves, we contradict the spirit of our laws, and we shake the whole system of English jurisprudence, whenever we entrust a discretionary power over the life, liberty, or fortune of the subject to any man, or set of men, whatsoever, upon a presumption that it will not be abused."

"The liberty of the press is the palladium of all the civil, political, and religious rights of an Englishman."

"England is the only country in Europe that can boast of having improved its agriculture and the cultivation of its soil beyond that of any other European nation. The condition of English agriculture, compared with that of our own, is like light contrasted with shade."

"England, with all thy faults, I love thee still— My Country! and, while yet a nook is left Where English minds and manners may be found, Shall be constrained to love thee."

"Without one friend, above all foes, Britannia gives the world repose."

"Men of England! who inherit Rights that cost your sires their blood."

"The land of scholars, and the nurse of arms."

"Roused by the lash of his own stubborn tail, Our lion now will foreign foes assail."

"I look upon it as a peculiar blessing that I was born an Englishman."

"We I hope shall be left free to avail ourselves of the advantages of neutrality: and yet much I fear the English, or rather their stupid king, will force us out of it. (...) Common sense dictates therefore that they should let us remain neuter: ergo they will not let us remain neuter. I never yet found any other general rule for foretelling what they will do, but that of examining what they ought not to do."

"I hope for nothing in this world so ardently as once again to see that paradise called England. I long to embrace again all my old friends there."

"The Scot, Pict, Britain, Roman, Dane, submit, And with the English-Saxon all Unite: And these the mixture have so close pursu'd, The very Name and Memory's subdu'd: No Roman now, no Britain does remain; Wales strove to separate, but strove in Vain: The silent Nations undistinguish'd fall, And Englishman’s the common Name for all. Fate jumbled them together, God knows how; What e'er they were they're True-Born English now... A True-Born Englishman’s a Contradiction, In Speech an Irony, in Fact a Fiction."

"Be England what she will, With all her faults, she is my country still."

"I have the principles of an Englishman, and I utter them without apprehension or reserve...this is not the language of faction; let it be tried by that criterion, by which alone we can distinguish what is factious, from what is not—by the principles of the English constitution. I have been bred up in these principles, and I know that when the liberty of the subject is invaded, and all redress denied him, resistance is justifiable... The constitution has its political Bible, by which if it be fairly consulted, every political question may, and ought to be determined. Magna Charta, the Petition of Rights and the Bill of Rights, form that code which I call the Bible of the English constitution. Had some of His Majesty's unhappy predecessors trusted less to the commentary of their Ministers, and been better read in the text itself, the Glorious Revolution might have remained only possible in theory, and their fate would not now have stood upon record, a formidable example to all their successors."

"An Englishman is the unfittest person on Earth to argue another Englishman into slavery."

"The Pleasures of the Table in this happy Nation, may be put in the same Rank with the ordinary, every one is accustom'd to good eating. It consist chiefly in a variety of Puddings, Golden-Pippins, which is an excellent kind of Apples, delicious green Oysters, and Roast-Beef, which is the favourite Dish as well at the King's Table as at a Tradesman's; 'tis common to see one of these Pieces weigh from twenty to thirty Pound, and from thirty to forty: And this may be said to be (as it were) the Emblem of the Prosperity and Plenty of the English."

"Their Dogs are, I believe, the boldest in the World... They neither bark nor bite; they fight to Death without any Noise. One may see some of these Creatures dragging along a broken Leg, and returning to the Charge. I am assur'd that one of them, in King Charles II's time, kill'd a Lion, and that it has been proved by Experience, that such as are of a true breed will suffer their Legs to be cut off, one after another, without letting go their hold. If I durst, I would readily say, that there's a strong Resemblance in many things between the English and their Dogs. Both are silent, head-strong, lazy, unfit for Fatigue, no way quarrelsome, intrepid, eager in fight, insensible of blows, and incapable of parting."

"Froth at the top, dregs at bottom, but the middle excellent."

"Well of all dogs it stands confess'd, Your English bull dogs are the best"

"To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a nation of customers may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers. It is, however, a project altogether unfit for a nation of shopkeepers, but extremely fit for a nation whose government is influenced by shopkeepers."

"When Britain first at Heaven's command, Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter of the land, And guardian angels sung this strain; "Rule Britannia! rule the waves; Britons never will be slaves.""

"A shopkeeper will never get the more custom by beating his customers, and what is true of a shopkeeper is true of a shopkeeping nation."

"The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra."

"Oh, when shall Britain, conscious of her claim, Stand emulous of Greek and Roman fame? In living medals see her wars enroll'd, And vanquished realms supply recording gold?"

"I will not cease from mental fight, not shall my sword sleep in my hand. Till we have built Jerusalem, in England's green and pleasant land."

"England expects every man to do his duty."

"Never was isle so little, never was sea so lone, But over the scud and the palm-trees an English flag was flown."

"Winds of the World give answer! They are whimpering to and fro— And what should they know of England who only England know?—"

"English people ... never speak, excepting in cases of fire or murder, unless they are introduced."

"The characteristic danger of great nations, like the Romans or the English which have a long history of continuous creation, is that they may at last fail from not comprehending the great institutions which they have created..."

"England! my country, great and free! Heart of the world, I leap to thee!"

"Such night in England ne'er had been, nor ne'er again shall be."

"Old England is our home and Englishmen are we, Our tongue is known in every clime, our flag on every sea."

"The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us experience for the attack of Halifax the next, and the final expulsion of England from the American continent."

"There is now scarcely any outlet for energy in this country except business. The energy expended in that may still be regarded as considerable. What little is left from that employment, is expended on some hobby; which may be a useful, even a philanthropic hobby, but is … generally a thing of small dimensions. The greatness of England is now all collective: individually small, we only appear capable of anything great by our habit of combining; and with this our moral and religious philanthropists are perfectly contented. But it was men of another stamp than this that made England what it has been; and men of another stamp will be needed to prevent its decline."

"His home!—the Western giant smiles, And turns the spotty globe to find it;— This little speck the British Isles? 'Tis but a freckle,—never mind it."

"I hold that the real policy of England—apart from questions which involve her own particular interests—is to be the champion of justice and right; pursuing that course with moderation and prudence, not becoming the Quixote of the world, but giving the weight of her moral sanction and support wherever she thinks that justice is, and wherever she thinks that wrong has been done."

"The common law of England is the common law of Ireland, where the latter is not altered by statute."

"Hail England, dear England, true Queen of the West. With thy fair swelling bosom and ever-green vest. How nobly thou sittst in thine own steady light, on the left of thee Freedom, and Truth on the right. While the clouds at thy smile, break apart and turn bright! The Muses, full voiced, half encircle the seat, and Ocean comes kissing thy princely white feet. All hail! All hail! All hail to the beauty immortal and free. The only true goddess that rose from the sea."

"Quoique leurs chapeaux sont bien laids, Goddam! j'aime les anglais."

"Good ale, the true and proper drink of Englishmen. He is not deserving of the name of Englishman who speaketh against ale, that is good ale."

"The New World's sons from England's breast we drew Such milk as bids remember whence we came, Proud of her past wherefrom our future grew, This window we inscribe with Raleigh's fame."

"What, for instance, induced me, when so far distant from my country, voluntarily to devote myself to her cause? Her commerce? I neither knew nor cared any thing about it. Her funds? I was so happy as hardly to understand the meaning of the word. Her lands? I could, alas! lay claim to nothing but the graves of my parents.—What, then, was the stimulus? What was I proud of? It was the name and fame of England. Her laws, her liberties, her justice, her might; all the qualities and circumstances that had given her renown in the world, but above all her deeds in arms, her military glory."

"We have stood alone in that which is called isolation—our splendid isolation, as one of our Colonial friends was good enough to call it."

"Wool and flesh are the primitive foundations of England and the English race; ere becoming the world's manufactory of hardware and tissues, England was a victualling-shop; before they became a commercial, they were a breeding and a pastoral people,—a race fatted on beef and mutton; hence their freshness of tint, their beauty and strength: their greatest man, Shakspeare, was originally a butcher."

"In these troublesome days when the great Mother Empire stands splendidly isolated in Europe."

"Whether splendidly isolated or dangerously isolated, I will not now debate; but for my part, I think splendidly isolated, because this isolation of England comes from her superiority."

"Charge of inferiority is an old dodge. It has been made available for oppression on many occasions...When England wants to set the heel of her power more firmly in the quivering heart of old Ireland, the Celts are an “inferior race.”"

"The pleasantness of the English... comes in great measure from the fact of their each having been dipped into the crucible, which gives them a sort of coating of comely varnish and colour. They have been smoothed and polished by mutual social attrition. You see Englishmen here in Italy to particularly good advantage. In the midst of these false and beautiful Italians they glow with the light of the great fact, that after all they love a bathtub and hate a lie."

"Britannia needs no bulwarks No towers along the steep; Her march is o'er the mountain wave, Her home is on the deep."

"The meteor flag of England Shall yet terrific burn, Till danger's troubled night depart, And the star of peace return."

"Il y a en Angleterre soizante sectes religieuses différentes, et une seule sauce."

"Our laws, language, religion, politics, & manners are so deeply laid in English foundations, that we shall never cease to consider their history as a part of ours, and to study ours in that as it’s origin."

"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."

"ENGLAND is my country: I must share in all her glory and in all her disgrace; and when it is a question of her honour and well-being, I must cast aside all private recollections and feelings. ... I always said...I never would rest until I saw the Americans acknowledge, explicitly our right to dominion on the seas. I wish them all the happiness that men can enjoy in this world; but a nation may be very happy without being permitted to swagger about and be saucy to England."

"I am neither Whig nor Tory. My politics are described by one word, and that word is ENGLAND."

"Go into the length and breadth of the world, ransack the literature of all countries, find, if you can, a single voice, a single book—find, I would almost say, as much as a single newspaper article, unless the product of the day, in which the conduct of England towards Ireland is anywhere treated except with profound and bitter condemnation."

"What have I done for you, England, my England? What is there I would not do, England, my own?"

"Look at England, whose mighty power is now felt, and for centuries has been felt, all around the world. It is worthy of special remark, that precisely those parts of that proud island which have received the largest and most diversified populations, are to day the parts most distinguished for industry, enterprise, invention and general enlightenment. In Wales, and in the Highlands of Scotland the boast is made of their pure blood, and that they were never conquered, but no man can contemplate them without wishing they had been conquered. They are far in the rear of every other part of the English realm in all the comforts and conveniences of life, as well as in mental and physical development. Neither law nor learning descends to us from the mountains of Wales or from the Highlands of Scotland. The ancient Briton, whom Julius Caesar would not have as a slave, is not to be compared with the round, burly, amplitudinous Englishman in many of his qualities of desirable manhood."

"A certain man has called us, "of all peoples the wisest in action," but he added, "the stupidest in speech.""

"I travelled among unknown men, in lands beyond the sea; nor, England! did I know till then, what love I bore to thee."

"'Tis a glorious charter, deny it who can, That's breathed in the words, "I'm an Englishman.""

"Those proud Islanders whom many unduly honour, know no watchword but gain and enjoyment. Their zeal for knowledge is only a sham fight, their worldly wisdom a false jewel, skilfully and deceptively composed, and their sacred freedom itself too often and too easily serves self-interest. They are never in earnest with anything that goes beyond palpable utility. All knowledge they have robbed of life and use only as dead wood to make masts and helms for their life's voyage in pursuit of gain."

"A Frenchman is self-assured because he regards himself personally, both in mind and body, as irresistibly attractive to men and women. An Englishman is self-assured, as being a citizen of the best-organized state in the world, and therefore as an Englishman always knows what he should do and knows that all he does as an Englishman is undoubtedly correct. An Italian is self-assured because he is excitable and easily forgets himself and other people. A Russian is self-assured just because he knows nothing and does not want to know anything, since he does not believe that anything can be known. The German's self-assurance is worst of all, stronger and more repulsive than any other, because he imagines that he knows the truth--science--which he himself has invented but which is for him the absolute truth."

"We are indeed a nation of shopkeepers."

"First drink a health, this solemn night, A health to England, every guest; That man's the best cosmopolite, Who loves his native country best. May Freedom's oak forever live With stronger life from day to day; That man's the true Conservative Who lops the moulder'd branch away. Hands all round! God the tyrant's hope confound! To this great cause of Freedom drink, my friends, And the great name of England round and round."

"There is no land like England, Where'er the light of day be; There are no hearts like English hearts, Such hearts of oak as they be; There is no land like England, Where'er the light of day be: There are no men like Englishmen, So tall and bold as they be! And these will strike for England, And man and maid be free To foil and spoil the tyrant Beneath the greenwood tree."

"The moment the very name of Ireland is mentioned, the English seem to bid adieu to common feeling, common prudence, and to common sense, and to act with the barbarity of tyrants, and the fatuity of idiots."

"Oh, Britannia the pride of the ocean The home of the brave and the free, The shrine of the sailor's devotion, No land can compare unto thee."

"There is nothing so bad or so good that you will not find an Englishman doing it; but you will never find an Englishman in the wrong. He does everything on principle. He fights you on patriotic principles; he robs you on business principles; he enslaves you on imperial principles."

"The martial airs of England Encircle still the earth."

"He is an Englishman! For he himself has said it, And it's greatly to his credit, That he's an Englishman!"

"For he might have been a Rooshian A French or Turk or Proosian, Or perhaps Itali-an. But in spite of all temptations To belong to other nations, He remains an Englishman."

"Shall our people, our nation, bear You to go hence with our gold? You that have come so far Unfought with, into our country, carrying war! Think you to get tribute softly and fair?"

"The south-west wind roaring in from the Atlantic.... is, I think the presiding genius of England."

"England is an amazing and paradoxical country; there are, in spite of the great emphasis upon "democracy," all indications of the existence of an aristocratic and oligarchic rule, yet this generally recognized fact caused little if any human resentment among the lower classes. There are actually a few dissatisfied, ambitious people among the middle classes who have a personal grudge against the old school tie and the reverses in the present war have made their protests appear louder than they are. It may be argued that these sentiments expressed are rather antiplutocratic than antiaristocratic. Yet the tacit and genuine, human acceptance of aristocratic or at least upper class leadership gives Britain the right to call itself a "democracy" without being one in reality. Hierarchic feelings always were very strong in England, but the extreme elasticity of the class system has always mitigated the apprehensions if aroused. Nowhere are classes more receptive to new elements, nowhere is it easier to rise socially, yet nowhere are the differences between the classes so marked as in England (with the exception of India and certain sections of the United States). Prewar Alpine Austria or Germany, Spain or even Poland were socially more democratic. Neither has any country in the world an Upper House made up solely of the lords and the bishops of the state Church. The Upper House of Hungary, a country notoriously "reactionary," has a large nonaristocratic majority and representatives of the Jewish faith (not to mention the Lutherans and Calvinists)."

"The search for wisdom in precedent flourished as if naturally among a people whom foreign observers at a later date have praised especially for its reliance upon tradition rather than upon those wide general theories which claim universal validity."

"I am American bred; I have seen much to hate here - much to forgive. But in a world where England is finished and dead, I do not wish to live."

"If I should die, think only this of me: That there's some corner of a foreign field That is forever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed; A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam, A body of England's, breathing English air, Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home."

"We do not intend to part from the Americans and we do not intend to be satellites. I am sure they do not want us to be so. The stronger we are, the better partners we shall be; and I feel certain that as the months pass we shall draw continually closer together with mutual confidence and respect."

"[Britons] would rather take the risk of civilizing communism than being kicked around by the unlettered pot-bellied money magnates of the United States."

"Living in England, provincial England, must be like being married to a stupid, but exquisitely beautiful wife."

"Scientific progress over the past years has been amazing. Man through his scientific genius has been able to dwarf distance and place time in chains, so that today it's possible to eat breakfast in New York City and supper in London, England."

"England in effect is insular, she is maritime, she is linked through her exchanges, her markets, her supply lines to the most diverse and often the most distant countries; she pursues essentially industrial and commercial activities, and only slight agricultural ones. She has in all her doings very marked and very original habits and traditions. In short, the nature, the structure, the very situation that are England's differ profoundly from those of the continentals."

"He spoke of the English, a noble race, rulers of the waves, who sit on thrones of alabaster, silent as deathless gods."

"The real tragedy of England as I see it, is the tragedy of ugliness. The country is so lovely: the man-made England is so vile."

"Whenever I think of Hell I cannot visualise it as a place of eternal fire, but as one of your English industrial towns on a day when the rain is pattering on the slate roofs and the wind is moaning up the street; a place where the horizon is bounded by dark factory chimneys, with crowds of women muffled up in waterproofs slipping in the puddles in their galoshes, with red noses peering out of heavy mufflers."

"We shall treat England like a beautiful flower, but we shan't water the pot."

"To me, England is the country, and the country is England. And when I ask myself what I mean by England, when I think of England when I am abroad, England comes to me through my various senses... The sounds of England, the tinkle of the hammer on the anvil in the country smithy, the corncrake on a dewy morning, the sound of the scythe against the whetstone, and the sight of a plough team coming over the brow of a hill, the sight that has been in England since England was a land, and may be seen in England long after the Empire has perished and every works in England has ceased to function, for centuries the one eternal sight of England."

"England's innermost truth and at the same time her most valuable contribution to the assets of the human family is the "gentleman", rescued from the dusty chivalry of the early Middle Ages and now penetrating into the remotest corner of modern English life. It is an ultimate principle hat never fails to carry conviction, the shining armour of the perfect knight in soul and body, and the miserable coffin of poor natural feelings."

"O England, little mother, by the sleepless Northern tide, Having bred so many nations to devotion, trust, and pride, Very tenderly we turn With welling hearts that yearn Still to love you and defend you, - let the sons of men discern Wherein your right and title, might and majesty, reside."

"One of the paradoxes of history has been the way in which the name of England has come to be so closely associated with liberty on the one hand and tradition on the other hand."

"The historical development of England is based upon the fact that her frontiers against Europe are drawn by Nature, and cannot be the subject of dispute; that she is a unit sufficiently small for coherent government to have been established and maintained even under very primitive conditions; that since 1066 she has never suffered serious invasion; that no big modern armies have succeeded her feudal levies; and that her senior service is the navy, with which foreign trade is closely connected. In short, a great deal of what is peculiar in English history is due to the obvious fact that Great Britain is an island."

"England is not the jewelled isle of Shakespeare’s much-quoted message, nor is it the inferno depicted by Dr Goebbels. More than either it resembles a family, a rather stuffy Victorian family, with not many black sheep in it but with all its cupboards bursting with skeletons. It has rich relations who have to be kow-towed to and poor relations who are horribly sat upon, and there is a deep conspiracy of silence about the source of the family income. It is a family in which the young are generally thwarted and most of the power is in the hands of irresponsible uncles and bedridden aunts. Still, it is a family. It has its private language and its common memories, and at the approach of an enemy it closes its ranks. A family with the wrong members in control - that, perhaps, is as near as one can come to describing England in a phrase."

"In intention, at any rate, the English intelligentsia are Europeanized. They take their cookery from Paris and their opinions from Moscow. In the general patriotism of the country they form a sort of island of dissident thought. England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings. It is a strange fact, but it is unquestionably true that almost any English intellectual would feel more ashamed of standing to attention during ‘God save the King’ than of stealing from a poor box. All through the critical years many left-wingers were chipping away at English morale, trying to spread an outlook that was sometimes squashily pacifist, sometimes violently pro-Russian, but always anti-British. It is questionable how much effect this had, but it certainly had some. If the English people suffered for several years a real weakening of morale, so that the Fascist nations judged that they were ‘decadent’ and that it was safe to plunge into war, the intellectual sabotage from the Left was partly responsible. Both the New Statesman and the News Chronicle cried out against the Munich settlement, but even they had done something to make it possible. Ten years of systematic Blimp-baiting affected even the Blimps themselves and made it harder than it had been before to get intelligent young men to enter the armed forces. Given the stagnation of the Empire, the military middle class must have decayed in any case, but the spread of a shallow Leftism hastened the process."

"To be an Englishman is to belong to the most exclusive club there is."

"Englishmen are patriots with their whole body. Not only in their heart, their stomach also seems here to feel for the native land. And I have often seen Englishmen round their dinner-table, busy with their roast beef in as quiet and proud a felicity as if they felt the whole worth of their favoured island on their tongues."

"Set in this stormy Northern sea, Queen of these restless fields of tide, England! what shall men say of thee, Before whose feet the worlds divide?"

"Wake up England."

"The strangest country I ever visited was England; but I visited it at a very early age, and so became a little queer myself. England is extremely subtle; and about the best of it there is something almost secretive; it is an amateur even more than aristocratic in tradition; it is never official."

"King Edward] was careful not to tear England violently from the splendid isolation in which she had wrapped herself."

"I am a great admirer of the Scots. I am quite friendly with the Welsh. I must confess to some sentiment about Old Ireland. But there is a forgotten, nay, almost a forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is 'England'."

"She discovered the seasons. No other country has such seasons or complexions in a year. And every place is beautiful in its way, from Cornwall to Cumberland. The people are as peculiar as the place, not the Normans, but the silent, staring English. Slaves in their own country. What do they make of it? Perhaps, I'm cooler than the others. There was no heat at my conception. But I love this cool, green country. So old, so deceptively deep."

"You often hear that the English climate has had a profound effect upon the English temperament. I don't believe it. I believe they were always like that."

"When I warned them that Britain would fight on alone whatever they did, their generals told their Prime Minister and his divided Cabinet, 'In three weeks England will have her neck wrung like a chicken'. Some chicken! Some neck!"

"I have not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire."

"Bind her, grind her, burn her with fire, Cast her ashes into the sea,— She shall escape, she shall aspire, She shall arise to make men free; She shall arise in a sacred scorn, Lighting the lives that are yet unborn, Spirit supernal, splendour eternal, England!"

"The late M. Venizelos observed that in all her wars England—he should have said Britain, of course—always wins one battle—the last."

"There'll always be an England, while there's a country lane. Wherever there's a cottage small, beside a field of grain... There'll always be an England... England shall be free if England means as much to you as England means to me."

"I think England is the very place for a fluent and fiery writer. The highest hymns of the sun are written in the dark. I like the grey country. A bucket of Greek sun would drown in one colour the crowds of colour I like trying to mix for myself out of grey flat insular mud."

"Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way."

"Politics in this country seem to interest everyone. I suppose this taste is cultivated by the liberty which the government affords, and in which Englishmen take great pride, for they value this gift more than all the joys of life, and would sacrifice everything to retain it. Even the populace will make proof of this, and will give you to understand that there is no country in the world where such perfect freedom may be enjoyed as in England."

"It may be said with entire justice that Englishmen are very brave; they give a convincing proof of this in seeming to fear neither death nor danger. Their soldiers fight with the greatest valour."

"England undoubtedly is, in my opinion, the most happily governed country in the world."

"England, a country where people cry in their hearts and not with their eyes"

"To me England means great courage, great standards and great wit. I could move to England in a second."

"People in Scotland don't enjoy having decisions made for them in England any more than the English like having decisions made for them in Belgium. Nationalism in Britain cut both ways."

"There is no Easter Bunny, there is no Tooth Fairy and there is no Queen of England."

"England has not had the time, nor made the effort, to develop an inclusive, civic, progressive nationalism. It is left with a nationalism that is scarcely articulated in positive terms at all and that thus plugs into the darker energies of resentment and xenophobia."

"The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture, and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings."

"God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them."

"Q. What is the chief end of man? A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever."

"Q. What is God? A. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth."

"Q. What is sin? A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God."

"Poitiers and Cressy tell, When most their pride did swell, Under our swords they fell: No less our skill is Than when our grandsire great, Claiming the regal seat, By many a warlike feat Lopp’d the French lilies.’"

"Agincourt, Agincourt, know ye not Agincourt?"

"This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall, Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands, This blessèd plot, this earth, this realm, this England, ..."

"I know I have the body but of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; ..."

"You brave heroic minds Worthy your country’s name, That honour still pursue; Go and subdue! Whilst loitering hinds Lurk here at home with shame."

"The true Lover of his country is ready to communicate his fears and to sound the alarm, whenever he perceives the approach of mischief. But he sounds no alarm, when there is no enemy: he never terrifies his countrymen till he is terrified himself. The patriotism therefore may be justly doubted of him, who professes to be disturbed by incredibilities; ..."

"... In our halls is hung Armoury of the invincible Knights of old: We must be free or die, who speak the tongue That Shakespeare spake; the faith and morals hold Which Milton held.—In every thing we are sprung Of Earth’s first blood, have titles manifold."

"The knights are dust, And their good swords are rust;— Their souls are with the saints, we trust."

"God of our fathers, known of old— Lord of our far-flung battle-line— Beneath whose awful Hand we hold Dominion over palm and pine— Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forget, lest we forget!"

"The real motive force of neo-Toryism, giving it its nationalistic character and differentiating it from ordinary Conservatism, is the desire not to recognize that British power and influence have declined. Even those who are realistic enough to see that Britain’s military position is not what it was, tend to claim that ‘English ideas’ (usually left undefined) must dominate the world. All neo-Tories are anti-Russian, but sometimes the main emphasis is anti-American. The significant thing is that this school of thought seems to be gaining ground among youngish intellectual, sometimes ex-Communists, who have passed through the usual process of disillusionment and become disillusioned with that. The anglophobe who suddenly becomes violently pro-British is a fairly common figure. Writers who illustrate this tendency are F. A. Voigt, Malcolm Muggeridge, Evelyn Waugh, Hugh Kingsmill, and a psychologically similar development can be observed in T. S. Eliot, Wyndham Lewis, and various of their followers."

"I should have hated the Roman Empire in its day (as I do), and remained a patriotic Roman citizen, while preferring a free Gaul and seeing good in Carthaginians. '. We hear rather a lot of that nowadays."

"A new scent troubles the air—to you, friendly perhaps— But we with animal wisdom have understood that smell. To all our kind its message is Guns, Ferrets, and Traps, And a Ministry gassing the little holes in which we dwell."

"Fair Kent, ... What countrie hath this isle that may compare with thee?"

"Ye scenes, my melancholy soul that fill! Where Nature’s voice no crowds tumultuous drown, And but through brakes of trees, the lawns that crown, The paths of men are seen; and farther still, Scarce peeps the city-spire o’er many a hill; Your green retreats, lone walks, and shadows brown, While sheep feed round beneath the branches’ frown, Shall calm my mind and holy thoughts instil.— What though with passion oft my trembling frame Each real and each fancied wrong inflame, Wandering alone I here my thoughts reclaim: Resentment sinks, Disgust within me dies; And Charity and meek Forgiveness rise, And melt my soul, and overflow my eyes."

"Vanguard of Liberty, ye Men of Kent, Ye Children of a Soil that doth advance Her haughty brow against the coast of France, Now is the time to prove your hardiment! To France be words of invitation sent! They from their Fields can see the countenance Of your fierce war, may ken the glittering lance And hear you shouting forth your brave intent. Left single, in bold parley, Ye, of yore, Did from the Norman win a gallant wreath; Confirmed the charters that were yours before;— No parleying now! In Britain is one breath; We all are with you now from Shore to Shore:— Ye Men of Kent, 'tis Victory or Death!"

"The silver Thames takes some part of this county in its journey to Oxford."

"I have seen the Mississippi. That is muddy water. I have seen the St Lawrence. That is crystal water. But the Thames is liquid history."

"Because of the Thames I have always loved inland waterways—water in general, water sounds—there's music in water. Brooks babbling, fountains splashing. Weirs, waterfalls; tumbling, gushing. Whenever I think of my birthplace, Walton-on-Thames, my reference first and foremost is the river. I love the smell of the river; love its history, its gentleness. I was aware of its presence from my earliest years. Its majesty centered me, calmed me, was a solace to a certain extent."

"As I have seene when on the breast of Thames A heavenly beauty of sweet English Dames, In some calme Ev’ning of delightfull May, With Musick give a farewell to the day, Or as they would (with an admired tone) Greet Nights ascension to her Eben Throne, Rapt with their melodie, a thousand more Run to be wafted from the bounding shore."

"Say, Father Thames, for thou hast seen Full many a sprightly race Disporting on thy margin green The paths of pleasure trace; Who foremost now delight to cleave With pliant arm thy glassy wave?"

"An omnibus across the bridge Crawls like a yellow butterfly, And, here and there, a passer-by Shows like a little restless midge.Big barges full of yellow hay Are moored against the shadowy wharf, And, like a yellow silken scarf, The thick fog hangs along the quay.The yellow leaves begin to fade And flutter from the Temple elms, And at my feet the pale green Thames Lies like a rod of rippled jade."

"Twenty bridges from Tower to Kew— (Twenty Bridges or twenty-two)— Wanted to know what the River knew, For they were young, and the Thames was old And this is the tale that the River told..."

"But now this mighty flood, upon his voyage prest (That found how with his strength his beauties still increased, From where brave Windsor stood on tiptoe to behold The fair and goodly Thames, so far as ere he could, With kingly houses crowned, of more than earthly pride, Upon his either banks, as he along doth glide) With wonderful delight doth his long course pursue, Where Oatlands, Hampton Court, and Richmond he doth view, Then Westminster the next great Thames doth entertain; That vaunts her palace large, and her most sumptuous fane: The land’s tribunal seat that challengeth for hers, The crowning of our kings, their famous sepulchres. Then goes he on along by that more beauteous strand, Expressing both the wealth and bravery of the land. (So many sumptuous bowers within so little space The all-beholding sun scarce sees in all his race.) And on by London leads, which like a crescent lies, Whose windows seem to mock the star-befreckled skies; Besides her rising spires, so thick themselves that show, As do the bristling reeds within his banks that grow. There sees his crowded wharfs, and people-pestered shores, His bosom overspread with shoals of labouring oars: With that most costly bridge that doth him most renown, By which he clearly puts all other rivers down."

"Sweet Themmes! runne softly, till I end my song."

"O roving Muse! recall that wondrous year When winter reigned in bleak Britannia’s air; When hoary Thames, with frosted osiers crowned, Was three long moons in icy fetters bound. The waterman, forlorn, along the shore, Pensive reclines upon his useless oar: See harnessed steeds desert the stony town, And wander roads unstable not their own; Wheels o’er the hardened water smoothly glide, And raze with whitened tracks the slippery tide; Here the fat cook piles high the blazing fire, And scarce the spit can turn the steer entire; Booths sudden hide the Thames, long streets appear, And numerous games proclaim the crowded fair. So, when the general bids the martial train Spread their encampment o’er the spacious plain, Thick-rising tents a canvas city build, And the loud dice resound through all the field."

"May all clean nimphs and curious water dames With swan-like state flote up and down thy streams: No drought upon thy wanton waters fall To make them leane, and languishing at all: No ruffling winds come hither to discease Thy pure and silver-wristed Naides. Keep up your state, ye streams; and as ye spring, Never make sick your banks by surfeiting. Grow young with tydes, and though I see ye never, Receive this vow, so fare ye well for ever."

"Then commerce brought into the public walk The busy merchant; the big warehouse built; Raised the strong crane; choked up the loaded street With foreign plenty; and thy stream, O Thames, Large, gentle, deep, majestic, king of floods! Chose for his grand resort. On either hand, Like a long wintry forest, groves of masts Shot up their spires; the bellying sheet between Possessed the breezy void; the sooty hulk Steered sluggish on; the splendid barge along Rowed, regular, to harmony; around, The boat, light skimming, stretched its oary wings; While deep the various voice of fervent toil From bank to bank increased."

"Thou too, great father of the British floods! With joyful pride survey’st our lofty woods; Where towering oaks their growing honors rear, And future navies on thy shores appear. Not Neptune’s self from all her streams receives A wealthier tribute than to thine he gives. No seas so rich, so gay no banks appear, No lake so gentle, and no spring so clear. Nor Po so swells the fabling poet’s lays, While led along the skies his current strays, As thine, which visits Windsor’s famed abodes, To grace the mansion of our earthly gods: Nor all his stars above a lustre show, Like the bright beauties on thy banks below; Where Jove, subdued by mortal passion still, Might change Olympus for a nobler hill."

"Thames! the most loved of all the Ocean’s sons, By his old sire, to his embraces runs, Hasting to pay his tribute to the sea, Like mortal life to meet eternity."

"Where Thames along the daisied meads His wave in lucid mazes leads, Silent, slow, serenely flowing, Wealth on either side bestowing, There in a safe though small retreat, Content and Love have fixed their seat,— Love, that counts his duty pleasure; Content, that knows and hugs his treasure.From art, from jealousy secure, As faith unblamed, as friendship pure, Vain opinion nobly scorning, Virtue aiding, life adorning, Fair Thames along thy flowery side, May thou whom truth and reason guide All their tender hours improving, Live like us, beloved and loving."

"I dearly love this London, this royal northern London, And am up in all its history, to Brutus and to Lud; But I wish that certain Puritan simplicities were undone, That the houses had more gable-ends, and the river less of mud. * * * * * But our river still is beautiful, rejoicing in the quaintest Old corners for a painter (till the new quays are begun). See there the line of distant hills, and where the blue is faintest, The brown sails of the barges lie slanting in the sun."

"Thou who shalt stop where Thames’ translucent wave Shines a broad mirror through the shadowy cave, Where lingering drops from mineral roofs distil, And pointed crystals break the sparkling rill, Unpolished gems no ray on pride bestow, And latent metals innocently glow: Approach. Great nature studiously behold! And eye the mine without a wish for gold. Approach: but aweful! Lo the Egerian grott, Where, nobly-pensive, St. John sate and thought; Where British sighs from dying Wyndham stole, And the bright flame was shot through Marchmont’s soul. Let such, such only, tread the sacred floor, Who dare to love their country, and be poor."

"Say, Father Thames, whose gentle pace Gives leave to view what beauties grace Your flowery banks, if you have seen The much-sung Grotto of the queen."

"Thames, infant Thames, Rippling, flowing Water-white, Where the bright Young wilding gems Are blowing; Babbling ever in unrest, While as o’er her darling’s pillow Bends the mother, so the willow O’er thy breast.Thames, maiden Thames, Glancing, shining Silver-blue; While for you The lilied stems Are pining. Ah! thou lovest best to play Slily with the wanton swallow, While he whispers thee to follow Him away.Thames, matron Thames, That ebbest back From the sea; Oh! in thee There are emblems Of life’s track: We, too, would, like thee, regain, If we might, our greener hours; We, too, mourn our vanished flowers, But in vain."

"O, clear are England’s waters all, her rivers, streams, and rills, Flowing stilly through her valleys lone and winding by her hills; But river, stream, or rivulet through all her breadth who names For beauty and for pleasantness with our own pleasant Thames."

"The Thames! the mighty Thames! They say the mountain child Oft loves its torrent wild So well, that should he part He breaks his pining heart; He grieves with smothered sighs Till his wearying spirit dies; And so I yearn to thee, Thou river of the free, My own, my native Thames!"

"Old Thames! thy merry waters run Gloomily now, without star or sun! The wind blows o’er thee, wild and loud, And heaven is in its death-black shroud; And the rain comes down with all its might, Darkening the face of the sullen Night."

"Revolted Mortimer! He never did fall off, my sovereign liege, But by the chance of war; to prove that true Needs no more but one tongue for all those wounds, Those mouthed wounds, which valiantly he took When on the gentle Severn's sedgy bank, In single opposition, hand to hand, He did confound the best part of an hour In changing hardiment with great Glendower: Three times they breathed and three times did they drink, Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood; Who then, affrighted with their bloody looks, Ran fearfully among the trembling reeds, And hid his crisp head in the hollow bank, Bloodstained with these valiant combatants. Never did base and rotten policy Colour her working with such deadly wounds; Nor could the noble Mortimer Receive so many, and all willingly: Then let not him be slander'd with revolt."

"There is a gentle nymph not far from hence, That with moist curb sways the smooth Severn stream. Sabrina is her name, a virgin pure; Whilom she was the daughter of Locrine, That had the sceptre from his father Brute. She, guiltless damsel, flying the mad pursuit Of her enragèd step-dame Guendolen, Commended her fair innocence to the flood, That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course. The water-nymphs, that in the bottom played, Held up their pearlèd wrists and took her in, Bearing her straight to aged Nereus’ hall; Who, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head, And gave her to his daughters to imbathe In nectared lavers, strewed with asphodel: And through the porch and inlet of each sense Dropped in ambrosial oils, till she revived, And underwent a quick immortal change, Made goddess of the river."

"The Danube to the Severn gave The darken’d heart that beat no more; They laid him by the pleasant shore, And in the hearing of the wave.There twice a day the Severn fills; The salt sea-water passes by, And hushes half the babbling Wye, And makes a silence in the hills.The Wye is hush’d nor moved along, And hush’d my deepest grief of all, When fill’d with tears that cannot fall, I brim with sorrow drowning song.The tide flows down, the wave again Is vocal in its wooded walls; My deeper anguish also falls, And I can speak a little then."

"From Clee to heaven the beacon burns, The shires have seen it plain, From north and south the sign returns And beacons burn again. * * * * * It dawns in Asia, tombstones show And Shropshire names are read; And the Nile spills his overflow Beside the Severn's dead."

"High the vanes of Shrewsbury gleam Islanded in Severn stream; The bridges from the steepled crest Cross the water east and west."

"The men that live in West England They see the Severn strong, A-rolling on rough water brown Light aspen leaves along. They have the secret of the Rocks, And the oldest kind of song."

"Editorial work came easily to me, but it was always a means to an end – it consumed me, it interested me, but I still found it creatively restrictive,"

"Much of my work is about love," she says. "I know that sounds naive, but it is about my relationship with people and their ability to trust me. I don't feel like I am manipulating people."

"The common link was that they all felt unloved as kids. I actually felt the whole thing wasn't that psychologically interesting. That's how it resonated with me. That's how they chose to rationalise it. I am a voyeur; at the same time I am willing to get stuck in too."

"I think that anyone who is working creatively is a bit like litmus paper," she concludes. "I soak up a lot of stuff. I am hyper-sensitive and along the way I lead quite a conventional life. Maybe I am not acting out that stuff because it's in my work. It comes from existential angst. I think life's difficult."