THE ENGLISHMAN'S HOME.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 560, 14 December 1850, Page 2

THE ENGLISHMAN'S HOME.

[From the John Bull."}

They say, that if in foreign lands to travel you're inclin'd. You ihould not leave your passport, but your prejudice behind; That if you'd "do ai Romani do," whenever you're at Rome, , There. nothing half so easy as to find yourself "at home." Now, in my time, the Continent I've fairly rambled through Have had my fill of pleasure, & have gain'd some wrinkles too^. , But monstrous or incredible, as it may seem to some, Except in dear Old England, I could never feel " at home." However bright might be the sky, however fair the shore, I could not miss my mother tongue, and not miss something Por beauty and for bravery, for freedom an d for worth, [more p Still England bore the bell from all the nations of the earth. Your Frenchman was too frivolous, your German was too grave. [s'mve. Your Fleming too phlegmatic, and your Greek too great a We Islanders, no doubt, have much to learn and much to see ; But, a home upon the Continent! Oh! that couldneverbe. There's something in our Island soil, there's something in Aye, in our very atmosphere, fit only for the free ! [our sea. In arts, in arms, in enterprise, in commerce, and in sway, Alone we stand, while wider realms fear, envj, and obey. A speck upon the waters, a spot upon the chart, And yet, of all the world beside, the mistress and the mart;. Oh! can it be a wonder that, however we may roam, It's only on our native soil we English feel «*at home."