 | Lyra Pastoralis |  |
Cambridge Days
The precious years we spent at Catharine Hall,How dear their distant memory!—when the dew
Of youth was on us, and the unclouded blue
Above us, and Hope waved her wings o'er all.
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Of Chapel-bell; gowns flitting o'er the view
To Hall or Lecture, even the dingy hue
Of College-front—how fondly we recall.
Our strolls in gardens or by winding river,
The famous men we heard, the books we read,
The dreams we dreamt—will make us one for ever;
Nor time nor place nor circumstance can render
Our hearts indifferent to those years long fled,
With their rich store of recollections tender.
Addressed to my friend, the Rev. Henry Sandwith, M.A.
While Shirley (a friend of Laud) was at Catharine Hall, Cambridge, he formed a close attachment with Bancroft, the Epigrammatist, who has recorded their friendship in the following lines (A.D. 1635):—
“James! thou and I did spend some precious yearesAt Katherine Hall, since when we sometimes feele
In our poetick braines (as plaine appeares)
A whirling tricke, there caught from Katherine's wheele”
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