POETRY FOR

Now God be with him, said our King,
Sith't will no better be;

I trust I have within my realm
Five hundred good as he.

God save the King, and bless the land
In plenty, joy, and peace;

And grant, henceforth, that foul debate
'Twixt noblemen may cease.

THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA.

Attend, all ye who list to hear our noble England's praise;

I tell of the thrice famous deeds she wrought in ancient days,

When that great fleet invincible against her bore in

vain

The richest spoils
Spain.

of Mexico, the stoutest hearts of

It was about the lovely close of a warm summer day, gallant merchant-ship full sail to

There came a

Plymouth Bay;

Her crew hath seen Castile's black fleet, beyond Aurigny's1 isle,

At earliest twilight,

a mile.

on the waves lie heaving many

At sunrise she escaped their van, by God's especial

grace;

And the tall Pinta2, till the noon, had held her close

in chase.

Forthwith a guard at every gun was placed along the

wall;

The beacon blazed

lofty hall;

Alderney.

3 Edgecumbe, near 1

upon

the roof of Edgecumbe's3

2 One of the Spanish ships of war.

Plymouth.

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, 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:

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 EADEM1

pride.

The freshening breeze of eve unfurled that banner's

massy

fold;

The parting gleam of sunshine kissed that haughty

scroll of gold;

1 The motto of Queen Elizabeth.

POETRY FOR

Night sank upon the dusky beach, and on the purple

sea,

Such 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 ghastly war-flame spread;

High on St. Michael's Mount1 it shone: it shone on Beachy Head.

Far on the deep the Spaniard saw, along each southern shire, Cape beyond cape,

points of fire.

in endless range, those twinkling

The fisher left his skiff to rock on Tamar's2 glittering

waves:

The rugged miners poured to war from Mendip's sunless caves:

O'er Longleat's towers3, o'er Cranbourne's oaks, the fiery herald flew

He roused the shepherds of Stonehenge, the rangers

of Beaulieu.5

Right sharp and quick the bells all night rang out

from Bristol town,

And ere the day three hundred horse had met on Clifton down;

The sentinel on

night,

Whitehall gate looked forth into the

And saw o'erhanging Richmond Hill the streak of blood-red light.

The bugle's note and cannon's roar the deathlike silence broke,

And with one start and with one cry, the royal cit

woke.

'A rock in Cornwall.

2 A river in Devonshire.

3 In Wilts, seat of the Marquis of Bath.
5 In New Forest.

4

Dorsetshire.

At once on all her stately gates arose the answering fires;

At once the wild alarum clashed from all her reeling spires;

From all the batteries of the Tower pealed loud the voice of fear;

And all the thousand masts of Thames sent back a louder cheer:

And from the furthest wards was heard the rush of hurrying feet,

And the broad streams of pikes and flags rushed down each roaring street:

And broader still became the blaze, and louder still the din,

As fast from every village round the horse came spurring in:

And eastward straight from wild Blackheath the warlike errand went,

And roused in many an ancient hall the gallant squires of Kent.

Southward from Surrey's pleasant hills flew those bright couriers forth;

High on bleak Hampstead's swarthy moor they started for the north;

And on, and on, without a pause, untired they bounded

still:*

All night from tower to tower they sprang; they sprang from hill to hill:

Till the proud Peak unfurled the flag o'er Darwin's

rocky dales,

Till like volcanoes flared to heaven the stormy hills of

Wales,

Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's

lonely height,

Till streamed in crimson on the wind the Wrekin's

crest of light,

POETRY FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.

fill broad and fierce the star came forth on Ely's stately fane1,

And tower and hamlet rose in arms o'er all the boundless plain;

Till Belvoir's2 lordly terraces the sign to Lincoln sent, And Lincoln sped the message on o'er the wide vale of Trent;

Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burned on Gaunt's embattled pile3,

And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle.

MACAULAY.

1 Ely Cathedral.

2 Belvoir in Leicestershire.

8 John of Gaunt built part of the castle of Lancaster.

THE END.

LONDON:
SPOTTISWOODES and SHAW,
New-street-Square.