Then off there flung in smiling joy,
And held himself erect

By just his horse's mane, a boy :
You hardly could suspect-
(So tight he kept his lips compressed,
Scarce any blood came through)

You looked twice ere you saw his breast
Was all but shot in two.

"Well," cried he, "Emperor, by God's grace
We've got you Ratisbon !

The marshal's in the market-place,

And you'll be there anon

1

3

To see your flag-bird 2 flap his vans 3

Where I, to heart's desire,

Perched him!" The chief's eye flashed; his plans
Soared up again like fire.

The chief's eye flashed; but presently

Softened itself, as sheathes

A film the mother eagle's eye

When her bruised eaglet breathes;

"You're wounded!" 66

Nay," his soldier's pride

Touched to the quick, he said:

"I'm killed, sire!" And, his chief beside,

Smiling, the boy fell dead.1

1 Anon: presently.

2 Flag-bird: the eagle on the French flag.

ROBERT BROWNING.

3 Vans: wings.

4 Fell dead: a similar incident occurred at the Battle of Gettysburg, 1863. An officer of the Sixth Wisconsin approached Lieutenant-Colonel Dawes, the commander of the regiment, after the sharp fight in the railroad cut. The colonel supposed, from the firm and erect attitude of the man, that he came to report for orders of some kind; but the compressed lips told a different story. With a great effort the officer said, 'Tell them at home I died like a man and a soldier.' He threw open his coat, displayed a ghastly wound, and dropped dead at the colonel's feet.- Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, by Major-General Doubleday.

YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND.

YE mariners of England,

That guard our native seas,

Whose flag has braved, a thousand years,
The battle and the breeze,

Your glorious standard launch again,
To match another foe!

And sweep through the deep

While the stormy winds do blow
While the battle rages loud and long,
And the stormy winds do blow.

The spirits of your fathers

Shall start from every wave!

For the deck it was their field of fame,

And ocean was their grave.

Where Blake 1 and mighty Nelson 2 fell

Your manly hearts shall glow,
As ye sweep through the deep

"He is con

1 Blake: a distinguished English admiral (1599–1657). sidered as the founder of the naval supremacy of England." His great battles were with the Dutch and the Spanish.

2 Nelson: Southey calls Lord Nelson (1758-1805) "the greatest naval hero of our own and of all former times." He won the battle of the Nile over Napoleon, battle of the Baltic, and the great and decisive battle of Trafalgar, which destroyed Napoleon's combined French and Spanish fleets and made "England mistress of the seas." In this last engagement (1805) Nelson was mortally wounded.

While the stormy winds do blow —
While the battle rages loud and long,
And the stormy winds do blow.

Britannia 1 needs no bulwarks,
No towers along the steep;
Her march is o'er the mountain-wave,
Her home is on the deep.

With thunders from her native oak 2
She quells the floods below,
As they roar on the shore

When the stormy winds do blow
When the battle rages loud and long,
And the stormy winds do blow.

The meteor flag of England
Shall yet terrific burn,

Till danger's troubled night depart,

And the star of peace

return.

Then, then, ye ocean-warriors!

Our song and feast shall flow

To the fame of your name,

When the storm has ceased to blow
When the fiery fight is heard no more,

And the storm has ceased to blow.

THOMAS CAMPBELL,

1 Britannia: the Roman or Latin name of Britain.

2 Oak: formerly all men-of-war were built of oak.

3 Meteor: so called from its bright, fiery red. Milton uses the same expression, "The imperial ensign . . . shone like a meteor."

...

BATTLE OF THE BALTIC.1

OF Nelson 2 and the north

Sing the glorious day's renown,
When to battle fierce came forth

All the might of Denmark's crown,

And her arms along the deep proudly shone;
By each gun the lighted brand

In a bold, determined hand,

And the prince of all the land

Led them on.

Like leviathans 3 afloat

Lay their bulwarks on the brine;
While the sign of battle flew
On the lofty British line-

It was ten of April morn by the chime.
As they drifted on their path
There was silence deep as death;

And the boldest held his breath

For a time.

1 Battle of the Baltic: during the wars with Napoleon, England claimed the right to search all neutral vessels, the object being to prevent trade with France.

In 1800 Russia, Denmark, and Sweden entered into a treaty or coalition known as the "Second Armed Neutrality" to resist England's claim.

In 1801 the "Battle of the Baltic" was fought, in which Nelson bombarded Copenhagen, destroyed a great part of the Danish fleet, and gained such a victory that, with the death of the Czar, which shortly after followed, the coalition was broken up.

2 Nelson: see note 2, p. 179.

3 Leviathans: sea-monsters.

But the might of England flushed

To anticipate the scene;

And her van the fleeter rushed

O'er the deadly space between.

"Hearts of oak!" our captain cried; when each gun

1

From its adamantine 1 lips

Spread a death-shade round the ships,

Like the hurricane eclipse

Of the sun.

Again! again! again!

And the havoc did not slack,

Till a feeble cheer the Dane

To our cheering sent us back;
Their shots along the deep slowly boom –
Then ceased-and all is wail,

As they strike the shattered sail,
Or in conflagration pale,

Light the gloom.

Out spoke the victor then,

As he hailed them o'er the wave:

"Ye

are brothers! ye are men!

And we conquer but to save ;

So peace instead of death let us bring;
But yield, proud foe, thy fleet,
With the crews, at England's feet,

And make submission meet