Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
Lines on the Camp Hill, near Hastings
By Thomas Campbell (17771844)I
Ere the twinkling of stars had begun,
Or the lark took his leave
Of the skies and the sweet setting sun,
Where the Norman encamped him of old,
With his bowmen and knights,
And his banner all burnished with gold.
There his minstrelsy sat harp in hand,
In pavilion wide;
And they chanted the deeds of Roland.
With a vision my fancy inspires,
And I hear the trump sound,
As it marshalled our chivalry’s sires.
Stood the captors of England’s domains,
That ennobled her breed
And high-mettled the blood of her veins.
As the sun’s setting splendor was thrown,
Thence they looked o’er a realm,—
And to-morrow beheld it their own.