The dramatic works of Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd Eleventh edition; To which are added, a few sonnets and verses |
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| IV. | IV. VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF READING. |
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 | The dramatic works of Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd |  |
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IV. VIEW OF THE VALLEY OF READING.
FROM TILEHURST, AT THE CLOSE OF THE SAME ELECTION.
Too long have I regarded thee, fair vale,But as a scene of struggle which denies
All pensive joy; and now with childhood's eyes
In old tranquillity, I bid thee hail;
And welcome to my soul thy own sweet gale,
Which wakes from loveliest woods the melodies
Of long-lost fancy—Never may there fail
Within thy circlet, spirits born to rise
In honour—whether won by freedom rude
In her old Spartan majesty, or wrought
With partial, yet no base regard, to brood
O'er usages by time with sweetness fraught;
Be thou their glory-tinted solitude,
The cradle and the home of generous thought!
| The dramatic works of Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd | |