‘Twixt Lincolnshire and Yorkshire rolls
A river in its bed,
Which in the German Ocean falls,
‘Twixt Saltfleet and Spurnhead.
A stream of note in Russia too,
Meanders wild and free;
And wat’ring Uralsk near Gurief,
Enters the Caspian sea.
From the department of C?te d’Or,
A flood is known to pass,
By Paris Nogent, Troyes and Bar,
Rouen, and Havre-de-Grace.
Till at the latter port ’tis lost–
The channel which divides
The Gallic from the English coast,
Swell’d by its current glides.
In North America is found
A lake of wondrous size,
(‘Tis fifteen hundred miles all round !)
Where often storms arise.
Upwards of thirty rivers vast
Into its bosom flow;
Till its tumultuous waves, at last,
To join lake Huron go.
Now names to these four streams assign,
And then connect the same;
And instant on the page will shine
A holy martyr’s name;
Who, summon’d by the church of Rome
To justify his creed,
For Constance left his native home,
Encourag’d to proceed,
By virtue of the royal word
Of the presiding prince,
That none their hatred at that time
Should harmfully evince.
“Safely shall you depart from hence,
Obedient if you come:
We will but hear your just defence.
Then send you, honoured, home.”
Thus spake the Pow’r: the holy man,
Himself devoid of guile,
No longer dreads the papal ban,
Nor fears the insidious wile.
But, shame to popish cruelty,
And popish want of faith !
This victim to fierce bigotry
Here met a painful death !
O’er him his bloody foes exult,
While at the stake he dies:
It only proves (oh, blest result !)
His passage to the skies.
(Elizabeth Hitchener)
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Based on Topics: Man Poems, Christianity Poems, Name Poems, Home Poems, Belief & Faith Poems, English Poems, America PoemsBased on Keywords: evince, connect, presiding, meanders, bigotry, papal, popish, gallic, constance, caspian, huron