| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| For the Picture, “The Last of England” |
| | | Ford Madox Brown (1821–93) |
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| “THE LAST of England! O’er the sea, my dear, | |
| Our homes to seek amid Australian fields, | |
| Us, not our million-acred island yields | |
| The space to dwell in. Thrust out! Forced to hear | |
| Low ribaldry from sots, and share rough cheer | 5 |
| With rudely-nurtur’d men. The hope youth builds | |
| Of fair renown, barter’d for that which shields | |
| Only the back, and half-form’d lands that rear | |
| The dust-storm blistering up the grasses wild. | |
| There learning skills not, nor the poet’s dream, | 10 |
| Nor aught so lov’d as children shall we see.” | |
| She grips his listless hand and clasps her child, | |
| Through rainbow tears she sees a sunnier gleam, | |
| She cannot see a void, where he will be. | |
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