In childhood's sports, companions gay, Relics ye are of Eden's bowers, Fallen all beside the world of life Ye fearless in your nests abide- For ye could draw the admiring gaze1 Alas! of thousand bosoms kind "Live for to day; to-morrow's light Keble. THE SPANISH ARMADA.2 ATTEND all ye who list to hear our noble England's praise, 1 Admiring gaze, &c.-See Matthew vi, 28-30. 2 It is needless to point out the life and spirit that pervade these lines, and which soon draw the reader under their spell. The poet's imagination-like the alarm-fire he depicts-lights up tower after tower and hill after hill, until night becomes as bright and busy as the day." It was about the lovely close of a warm summer day, There came a gallant merchant ship full sail to Plymouth bay; Her crew hath seen Castille's black fleet, beyond Aurigny's isle,' At earliest twilight, on the waves lie heaving many a mile; At sunrise she escaped their van, by God's especial grace; And the tall Pinta, till the noon, had held her close in chase. Forthwith a guard at every gun was placed along the wall, The beacon blazed upon the roof of Edgecumbe's lofty hall; Many a light fishing-bark put out to pry along the coast; And with loose rein and bloody spur rode inland many a post. With his white hair unbonneted the stout old sheriff comes; Behind him march the halberdiers,3 before him sound the drums ; His yeomen, round the market-cross, make clear an ample space, For there behoves him to set up the standard of her Grace. And haughtily the trumpets peal, and gaily dance the bells, As slow upon the labouring wind the royal blazon swells. Look how the Lion of the sea lifts up his ancient crown, And underneath his deadly paw treads the gay lilies down. So stalked he when he turned to flight, on that famed Picard field,* Bohemia's plume, and Genoa's bow, and Cæsar's eagle shield: So glared he when at Agincourt in wrath he turned to bay, And crushed and torn beneath his claws the princely hunters lay. Ho! strike the flagstaff deep, sir knight: ho! scatter flowers, fair maids: Ho! gunners, fire a loud salute: ho! gallants, draw your blades : Thou sun shine on her joyously-ye breezes waft her wide; Our glorious SEMPER EADEM 5-the banner of our pride. The freshening breeze of eve unfurled that banner's massy fold, The parting gleam of sunshine kissed that haughty scroll of gold; Night sunk upon the dusky beach, and on the purple seaSuch night in England ne'er had been, nor e'er again shall be. From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford bay, That time of slumber was as bright and busy as the day; For swift to east and swift to west the warning radiance spread; High on St. Michael's Mount it shone-it shone on Beachy Head. Far on the deep the Spaniard saw, along each southern shire, Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of fire; The fisher left his skiff to rock on Tamar's glittering waves, The rugged miners poured to war from Mendip's sunless caves. O'er Longleat's towers, o'er Cranbourne's oaks, the fiery herald flew ; He roused the shepherds of Stonehenge, the rangers of Beaulieu : 1 Aurigny's isle—the isle of Alderney. 2 Pinta-a Spanish vessel of war built for fast sailing. 3 Halberdier-one who carried a halberd, which in early times was a long pole, terminating in a battle axe. This word is thought by some to be a corruption of helm-barte or helm-axe, so called from its original use. 4 Picard field-Crecy is in the province of Picardy. 5 Semper Eadem-always the same-Queen Elizabeth's motto. Right sharp and quick the bells all night rang out from Bristol town, street: And broader still became the blaze, and louder still the din, ; Till the proud Peak unfurled the flag o'er Darwin's rocky dales- KING'S COLLEGE CHAPEL, CAMBRIDGE.4 With ill-matched aims the architect who planned 1 Reeling a bold use of the word to denote the shaking of the steeples by the bells. 2 Wards-districts or divisions of the city. 3 Gaunt's embattled pile-Lancaster castle. 4 These are noble lines on a noble subject, and may, without much question be admitted amongst those : "Whose very sweetness yieldeth proof, That they were born for immortality." 5 Royal saint.-Henry VI. See note 4, p. 123. Albeit labouring for a scanty band Of white-robed scholars only-this immense Give all thou canst; high heaven rejects the lore So deemed the man who fashioned for the sense They dreamt not of a perishable home Who thus could build! Be mine, in hours of fear Wordsworth. TO SLEEP.4 How many of my poorest subjects Are at this hour asleep! Sleep, gentle sleep, Where the wreath, &c.-i. e. where man's boasted wisdom sinks into insignificance a very impressive metaphor. 2 Younger pile-St. Paul's. 3 Satiate, &c.-i. e. when her breast shall have received its full share, &c. 4 These lines are put into the mouth of the usurper, Henry IV. Independently of the striking character of the thoughts themselves, the versification is deliciously melodious. The cadence of the lines beginning, "And steep, &c.," is most aptly modulated, while that beginning, "And lulled, &c.," exhibits the most harmonious correspondence between sound and sense-ending in a beautiful "dying fall." 1 Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, And hushed with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber; And lulled with sounds of sweetest melody? Who take the ruffian billows by the top, Deny it to a king? Then, happy, low-lie-down!6 Shakspere. Thou leavest, &c.-This difficult passage may perhaps be thus interpreted :Thou, O sleep, forsakest the kingly couch-a luxurious and inviting place of repose as if it were a place designed for wakefulness, like a watch case, or sentry-box, or an alarm-bell, the very name of which suggests disturbance and inquietude. 2 And in the visitation, &c.—i. e. and wilt thou still keep his eyes sealed up at a time when the boisterous winds are roaring round him, ("in the visitation") and taking "the ruffian billows by the top and curling," &c. 3 Slippery-because the clouds do not hold them, but let them, as it were, slip down again. Hurly—a word of uncertain derivation-disturbance, confusion, din. 5 Most stillest-this double superlative is common in our early writers. 6 Happy low-lie-down-The common reading is "happy low, lie down," the meaning of which is obscure. Dr. Warburton altered the text on his own authority, to "happy, lowly clown;" that given above is from Knight's text, and was suggested by Coleridge, taking "low-lie-down" as a sort of compound appellative. The meaning then would be, "Then, happy is he whose head lies low," &c. |