'The Pride of Greenwich: One Tree Hill' by Mr. T. Nicholls
This poem, first published in the 1780s, celebrates the prodigious view from One Tree Hill in Greenwich Park.
In the poem, the narrator compares the view from Greenwich Park with other famous vistas around the world, arguing that One Tree Hill outshines them all. He also imagines Queen Elizabeth I – ‘Fair Eliza’ – gazing out over London and the Thames (‘Tamesis’) from this famous spot.
The poem is thought to be the work of Thomas Nicholls, a little-known poet who may also have worked as a London publisher. He was active from around 1776 until 1812.
Several different variations of Nicholls’ poem were published in the 1780s. The version reproduced below appeared in The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure in May 1784. This monthly magazine published in London covered art, science and literature.
Nicholls’ poem begins by referencing other poets who have written about the views from famous hills across the UK. These include John Denham (1615-1669) who wrote of Cooper’s Hill near Gloucester and John Dyer (1699-1757) who was inspired by the Welsh Grongar Hill.
None of these views could compare to Greenwich, argues Nicholls. Read on to see if you agree…..
To Cooper’s Hill, so green and gay,
How sweetly Denham tun’d the lay!
Of Grongar’s height soft Dyer sung,
While Richmond wak’d the lyre of Young.
Each flow’ry hill that charms around,
A Poet’s grateful praise has found,
Save one, that claims the Muse’s skill,
The pride of Greenwich, One Tree Hill.Tamesis, chief of rivers, say,
In all thy wand’ring, winding way,
Dost thou so fair a hill remark
As this, the boast of Greenwich Park?
I know thou’lt say, (and answer true)
Not such a beauty meets my view.
Go, Richmond, fam’d for prospects still,
And bow thine head to One Tree Hill.
Italia’s sons their Hybla boast,
The fairest hill on Sicil’s cost;
With all its charms the peasant knows
How fierce the burning Siroc blows;
Such languor spreading with its breath,
As leads to sickness, oft to death;
Here no such terror comes to kill,
Health’s best retreat is One Tree Hill.O how thy College, through the green,
Old Greenwich, dignifies the scene!
Nor that alone, it fills the breast
With rapture, scarce to be exprest;
Soft rapture! rais’d to pearl the eye,
From Britain’s best philanthropy!
Ye vet’ran tars here wander still,
And rest your limbs on One Tree Hill.
Here, fair Eliza, virgin queen,
From bus’ness free, enjoy’d the scene;
Here oft in pensive form she stood,
And kindly plann’d for Britain’s good;
So record tells, and this beside,
Sung ditties to the silver tide.
Full worth such honours art thou still,
Belov’d of thousands, One Tree Hill.O here, how sweet, while nature’s gay,
To mark the river’s wreathy way;
There white-wing’d Commerce daily pours
The riches of a thousand shores,
Whilst bright Augusta, in return,
Deals matchless treasures from her urn;
Not thou, fam’d Windsor, Royal still,
Can shew such scenes as One Tree Hill.
Here let me oft at the early hour,
Beneath this tree enjoy the show’r,
That when the fleeting cloud’s gone by,
The rainbow’s tints may glad my eye;
The while the song-birds warble sweet,
In coverts green, below by feet;
Coverts yielding many a rill,
That whisper soft to One Tree Hill.Here let me oft, at sultry noon,
When roses fill the lap of June,
Inhale the breeze that sweeps the glade
Where Nature’s fairest carpet’s laid,
And the wild thyme, offering free
Its lips, to chear the roving bee;
At this warm hour, when all is still,
here let me breathe on One Tree Hill.
Here oft the rising wave survey,
Illumin’d by the beams of day,
Yon crested herds, the nimble doe
That trips the fairy land below;
And thou, of Cities sure the Queen,
Whose argent turrets close the scene,
Renown’d Augusta, who can’st fill
The mind with bliss from One Tree Hill.Here often let me stray awhile,
And, Poplar, view thy verdant isle,
Whose pastures rear a finer fleece
Than any in the isles of Greece;
Then as from charm to charm I rove,
O Kent, I’ll sing the land I love,
Where ev’ry scene delights me still,
But none, ye swains, like One Tree Hill.
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