A book of Bristol sonnets | ||
19
“TEMPORA MUTANTUR.” JEFFERIES' BOOK-SHOP.
Where once with solemn phrase the royal guestLooked on the ships, and re-arranged the tolls,
The cylinder with slide and swing unrolls
Ten thousand mandates, while the printers jest!
And where grey Cannynge, Bristol's merchant priest,
Prayed in his chapel for his children's souls,
Some mortal author, lo, the sage extols!
The cheap book-bargain, not his God, is blessed!
But under Heaven we change as in a dream!
Glad in his hall would Cannynge entertain
The swift tongued counsellors, whose breath is steam,
Who send their thoughts to post o'er land and main;
And, though the book-shelf hides, the calf-skin binds,
Would welcome at his prayers such sympathetic minds.
A book of Bristol sonnets | ||