Page:Pleasant Memories.pdf/355

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RUNNIMEDE.


So, where within my garden-plat
    I sow the choicest seed,
Amid my favorite shrubs I placed
    The plant of Runnimede,
And know not why it may not draw
    Sweet nutriment, the same
As when within that noble clime
    From whence our fathers came.

Here's liberty enough for all,
    If they but use it well,
And Magna Charta's spirit lives
    In even the lowliest cell;
And the simplest daisy may unfold,
    From scorn and danger freed;
So make yourself at home, my friend,
    My flower from Runnimede.

Thursday, April 1, 1841.


A gentleman of the name of Harcourt, the proprietor of Runnimede, has erected there a graceful cottage, one of whose rooms is garnished with relics of the olden time, and bears upon its walls the coats of arms of all the barons who awed King John at Runnimede, and extorted the charter of English liberty.

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