 | A book of Bristol sonnets |  |
1
A DREAM OF ANCIENT BRISTOL.
Along the high-housed Bristow Bridge has pastCannynge, his stern-cut features filled with care!
God! how he smiles!—the breathless courier
Proclaims his cog, “The Catherine,” home at last!
Let cannons shout, let flags be all out cast,
With new found land Sebastian is here!
The Brandon hermit pauses in his prayer,
To bless Saint Matthew, and “The Matthew's” mast.
Great ladies, down the river gardens, talk
Of fresh-come Flanders wool
Edward III., in 1354, finding the wool staple had been carried to Flanders, re-established the trade here in Bristol, with all its rights and liberties. Edward Blanket, representative of the city in 1362; and his relatives, Edmund and Thomas, distinguished themselves as manufacturers of the article that still bears their name.
Cowled monks in yonder sloping orchards walk,
Or shred the blossoms for their rosaries;
While Botoner,
The topographer, Botoner, better known as William of Worcester, was born on Saint James' Back, 1415, died 1484. He was author of “The Itineraries,” a survey of Bristol, full of the most accurate measurements. His Memoranda were discovered in the Library of Benet's College, Cambridge, and deciphered by Nasmith in 1778.
Measures the street, steps out the Priories.
| A book of Bristol sonnets | |