 | Voices from the Lakes, and Other Poems |  |
297
SONNET. PHILIPPA.
Conversions were the fashion of the day—All ranks, from highest even unto least,
Great ladies from the court, and meanest priest,
Contended for the sheep that went astray,
And sought to place them 'neath the Popedom's sway;
Casaubon's daughter they strove hard to bring
Under the shelter of the Church's wing,
For here they said the road to heaven lay.
Her father, fearing, tried her trust in God,
Told her that “he was penniless and poor,
Her only hope a marriage to secure,
Was the king's favour; that his grace to gain,
She must abjure her faith, and wear Rome's chain;”
And, while he spake, Philippa's eyes o'erflowed.
| Voices from the Lakes, and Other Poems | |