Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
England: Vols. I–IV. 1876–79.
Written at an Inn at Henley
By William Shenstone (17141763)T
From flattery, cards and dice, and din;
Nor art thou found in mansions higher
Than the low cot or humble Inn.
And every health which I begin
Converts dull port to bright champagne;
Such freedom crowns it, at an Inn.
I fly from Falsehood’s specious grin!
Freedom I love, and form I hate,
And choose my lodgings at an Inn.
Which lackeys else might hope to win;
It buys what courts have not in store,
It buys me freedom at an Inn.
Where’er his stages may have been,
May sigh to think he still has found
The warmest welcome at an Inn.