Page:Carroll - Notes by an Oxford Chiel.djvu/76

26 These round thy walks their cheerful influence shed; These were thy charms—but all these charms are fled.
 * Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen,

And rude pavilions sadden all thy green; One selfish pastime grasps the whole domain, And half a faction swallows up the plain; Adown thy glades, all sacrificed to cricket, The hollow-sounding bat now guards the wicket; Sunk are thy mounds in shapeless level all, Lest aught impede the swiftly rolling ball; And trembling, shrinking from the fatal blow, Far, far away thy hapless children go.
 * Ill fares the place, to luxury a prey,

Where wealth accumulates, and minds decay; Athletic sports may flourish or may fade, Fashion may make them, even as it has made; But the broad Parks, the city's joy and pride, When once destroyed can never be supplied!
 * Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen, who survey

The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay, 'Tis yours to judge, how wide the limits stand Between a splendid and a happy land. Proud swells go by with laugh of hollow joy, And shouting Folly hails them with 'Ahoy!'