England's Antiphon

In the midst of wars and rumours of wars, the strife of king and barons, and persistentefforts to subdue neighbouring countries, the mere effervescence of the life of the nation, let us think for a moment of that to which the poems I am about to present bear goodwitness-the true life of the people, growing quietly, slowly, unperceived-the leaven hidin the meal. For what is the true life of a nation? That, I answer, in its modes of thought, itsmanners and habits, which favours the growth within the individual of that kingdom ofheaven for the sake only of which the kingdoms of earth exist. The true life of the people, asdistinguished from the nation, is simply the growth in its individuals of those eternalprinciples of truth, in proportion to whose power in them they take rank in the kingdom ofheaven, the only kingdom that can endure, all others being but as the mimicries of childrenplaying at governmen