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A book of Bristol sonnets

By H. D. Rawnsley

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BRISTOL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


10

BRISTOL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.

Green Brandon Hill, thy hermit passed away,
He left the harmlessness that loved his cell;
In the gun's mouth the sparrow leaves her shell,
And boy-canaries

“Boy-canaries.” Effect produced by the boys of the Elizabeth School, playing in their yellow hose and canary coloured coat linings.

round the battery play!

But if thy cannon flash not for the fray,
And pikemen

“Pikemen.” On Monday, July 25, 1643, at the siege of Bristol, Colonel Wentworth sent Thelwall, with two hundred pikemen, to lodge himself at the bottom of Brandon Hill, where he was well sheltered by ferns and bushes.—Cf. Taylor on Bristol.

hide not in thy ferny dell,

Embattled

An allusion to the embattled parapets of the Queen Elizabeth's School, on the slope of Brandon Hill.

on thy side doth Learning dwell,

And “Oxford”

On Tuesday, July 26, 1643, it was determined, in council of war, that Prince Rupert should storm the city on all sides, the following day, the signal-cry to be “Oxford!”

is the signal-cry to-day;

For Wisdom's hermitage

“Wisdom's hermitage on Isis' shore.” Balliol and New College, Oxford, have promised to give a large sum for five years to further the aims of the Bristol University College.

on Isis' shore

Has reached a hand of quiet to the town;
The men that bear the hod may wear the gown,
And science learned may ease the load they bore,
While safe behind such fortress they will frown
Death to brute force, in silence, as of yore.