{"id":1010,"date":"2026-09-28T19:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T18:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/?p=1010"},"modified":"2026-11-08T18:36:37","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T18:36:37","slug":"thoughts-of-a-briton","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/thoughts-of-a-briton\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts of a Briton on his Country\u2019s Subjugation to America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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Thoughts of a Briton on his Country\u2019s Subjugation to America1<\/a><\/sup><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
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Two voices were there; one was of the sea,<\/p>\n

One of the forest, each a braggart voice.<\/p>\n

In both, from time to time, thou didst rejoice;<\/p>\n

They were thy daily ration, Mister G.2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Listening to their opposed cacophony<\/p>\n

It seemed as though their noises cancelled out,<\/p>\n

And thou, by grateful silence girt about,<\/p>\n

Wert once again alone with Harmony.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

But now the jungle, mating with the deep<\/p>\n

Brings forth such monsters, that the flesh must creep,<\/p>\n

Thumbs prick,3<\/a><\/sup> hair rise, and tongues to dry throats cleave,<\/p>\n

Monsters that in their vile obstetric nest<\/p>\n

Brood upon some obscene, indecent jest,<\/p>\n

And mock the virtue which they can\u2019t conceive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

[Geoffrey Faber]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\nNotes<\/summary>\n
    \n
  1. 1.<\/a>\n

    See William Wordsworth, \u2018Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland\u2019 (1815):<\/p>\n

    Two Voices are there; one is of the sea,<\/p>

    One of the mountains; each a mighty Voice:<\/p>

    In both from age to age thou didst rejoice,<\/p>

    They were thy chosen music, Liberty!<\/p>

    There came a Tyrant, and with holy glee<\/p>

    Thou fought\u2019st against him; but hast vainly striven;<\/p>

    Thou from thy Alpine holds at length art driven,<\/p>

    Where not a torrent murmurs heard by thee.<\/p>

    Of one deep bliss thine ear hath been bereft:<\/p>

    Then cleave, O cleave to that which still is left;<\/p>

    For, high-souled Maid, what sorrow would it be<\/p>

    That Mountain floods should thunder as before,<\/p>

    And Ocean bellow from his rocky shore,<\/p>

    And neither awful Voice be heard by thee!<\/p><\/div>\n

    (See too the parody of Wordsworth \u2013 \u2018A Sonnet\u2019 by J. K. Stephen [1859\u201392] \u2013 which was later included in The Faber Book of Comic Verse<\/em>, ed. Michael Roberts [1942], 277.)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. 2.<\/a>\n

    JDH note: \u2018Geoffrey.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. 3.<\/a>\n

    Shakespeare, Macbeth<\/em>, IV. i, ll. 44\u20135:<\/p>\n

    By the pricking of my thumbs,<\/p>

    Something wicked this way comes.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/details>\n<\/section>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Thoughts of a Briton on his Country\u2019s Subjugation to America1 Two voices were there; one was of the sea, One of the forest, each a braggart voice. In both, from time to time, thou didst rejoice; They were thy daily ration, Mister G.2 Listening to their opposed cacophony It seemed as though their noises cancelled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1010","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1010"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1068,"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1010\/revisions\/1068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tseliot.com\/noctes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}