Written in Edinburgh by Arthur Henry Hallam. Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. 1895. A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895

Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Written in Edinburgh

Arthur Henry Hallam (1811–33)


EVEN thus, methinks, a city rear’d should be,
Yea, an imperial city, that might hold
Five times an hundred noble towns in fee,
And either with their might of Babel old,
Or the rich Roman pomp of empery	5
Might stand compare, highest in arts enroll’d,
Highest in arms; brave tenement for the free,
Who never crouch to thrones, or sin for gold.
Thus should her towers be rais’d—with vicinage
Of clear bold hills, that curve her very streets,	10
As if to vindicate, ’mid choicest seats
Of art, abiding Nature’s majesty;
And the broad sea beyond, in calm or rage
Chainless alike, and teaching Liberty.