Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79.
Ptolemais
By Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864)N
Hath been the witness of such valiant deeds
As thou hast, Ptolemais! and by whom
Were they achieved? by Britons, one and all.
The first our lion-hearted king may claim;
And who the second? he who drove across
The torrid desert the (till then uncheckt)
Invader, from those realms the Ptolemies
Ruled, and the Cæsars followed in their train,—
Sidney, the last of chivalry. One more
Rode o’er the sea to win the crown that hung
Inviting on thy walls: he also bore
A name illustrious even as Sidney’s own,—
Napier was he.
’T is something to have held
His hand in mine, ’t is somewhat to record
One of his actions in the crowded page.