O where are kings and empires now

O where are kings and empires now. Arthur Cleveland Coxe* (1818-1896). The customary form of this hymn is that of four quatrains, selected from Coxe’s longer poem, ‘Chelsea’, a tribute to the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, where he was a divinity student. According to JJ, it first appeared in the Churchman (1839). In ten 8-line stanzas, it was published in Coxe’s Christian Ballads (1840). It is a confident poem in which the opening is charmingly set in England: When old Canute the Dane   Was merry England’s king; A thousand years agone, and more,   As ancient rymours sing! His boat was rowing down the Cam   At eve, one summer day, When Ely’s tall cathedral peered...