ENGLAND.
Reading edition
Peace, Freedom, Happiness, have loved to wait On the fair islands, fenced by circling seas, And ever of such favoured spots as these Have the wise dreamers dreamed, that would create That perfect model of a happy state, Which the world never saw. Oceana, Utopia such, and Plato’s isle that lay Westward of Gades and the Great Sea’s gate. Dreams are they all, which yet have helped to make That underneath fair polities we dwell, Though marred in part by envy, faction, hate— Dreams which are dear, dear England, for thy sake, Who art indeed that sea-girt citadel, And nearest image of that perfect state.