Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
Boston in Lincolnshire
By Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham (1793–1870)I
Or for any treasures rare,
That I turn my steps and heart to you,
But for the name you bear.
Its farthest fame to know,
And to other soil transplanted be,
That its proudest branch might grow.
Looks proudly toward the deep,—
The loftiest tower of Britain’s isle
In valley or on steep,—
A simple chapel stands,
Which binds with an atoning power
Two great and kindred lands.
Of Cotton’s earnest tongue;
Now freshly is his memory found
His wonted haunts among.
Beyond the Western main;
Free-thoughted England owns his worth,
And bids him back again.
Proscribed and then forgot.
That tablet’s face more than repairs
The honors of the spot.
By our statesman-scholar sent,
Reading, “Lest longer such a name
Should stay in banishment.”
Is framed in Norman stone;
The characters from English land,
The writer from our own.
And the world’s brighter age!
Read on, long hence, thy filial line,
Thou quaintly graven page.
Need not in silence die;
Nor one true man, all conscience-fraught,
Must suffer or must fly.
Each on her ocean shore,
To keep Faith, Friendship, Freedom bright,
From this time evermore.
Seen in my thoughts so long!
They failed to span your broad domain,
And did your grandeur wrong.
How dear that parent name!
And no ill-favored brow I crown
With that auspicious claim.