THE REVENGE. A BALLAD OF THE FLEET, 1591. I. summer heaven; IV. He had only a hundred seamen to work the ship and to fight, And he sail'd away from Flores till the Spaniard came in sight, With his huge sea-castles heaving upon the weather bow. "Shall we fight or shall we fly? Good Sir Richard, let us know, For to fight is but to die! There'll be little of us left by the time the sun be set." And Sir Richard said again: "We be all good Englishmen. Let us bang these dogs of Seville, the children of the devil, For I never turn'd my back upon Don or devil yet." V. Sir Richard spoke, and he laugh'd, and we roared a hurrah, and so The little "Revenge" ran on sheer into the heart of the foe, With her hundred fighters on deck, and her ninety sick below; For half of their fleet to the right and half to the left were seen, And the little "Revenge" ran on thro' the long sea-lane between. VI. But Sir Richard bore in hand all his sick Thousands of their soldiers look'd down men from the land Very carefully and slow, Men of Bideford in Devon, And we laid them on the ballast down below; For we brought them all aboard, And they blest him in their pain, that they were not left to Spain, To the thumbscrew and the stake, for the glory of the Lord. from their decks and laugh'd, Thousands of their seamen made mock at the mad little craft Running on and on, till delay'd By their mountain-like "San Philip" that, of fifteen hundred tons, And up-shadowing high above us with her yawning tiers of guns, Took the breath from our sails, and we stay'd. VII. And while now the great "San Philip" Four galleons drew away And the battle-thunder broke from them VIII. But anon the great "San Philip," she bethought herself and went, Having that within her womb that had left her ill-content; And the rest they came aboard us, and they fought us hand to hand, For a dozen times they came with their pikes and musqueteers, And a dozen times we shook 'em off as a dog that shakes his ears XI. And the night went down, and the sun Seeing forty of our poor hundred were And half of the rest of us maim'd for life And the sick men down in the hold were But Sir Richard cried in his English pride, When he leaps from the water to the land. As may never be fought again ! We have won great glory, my men! At sea or ashore, We die-does it matter when? XII. And the gunner said, "Ay, ay," but the "We have children, we have wives, We shall live to fight again, and to strike And the lion there lay dying, and they yielded to the foe. XIII. And the stately Spanish men to their THE DEFENCE OF LUCKNOW. DEDICATORY POEM TO THE PRINCESS ALICE. DEAD PRINCESs, living Power, if that, which lived True life, live on — and if the fatal kiss, Born of true life and love, divorce thee not Shot thro' the staff or the halyard, but ever we raised thee anew, And ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew. II. Frail were the works that defended the hold that we held with our livesWomen and children among us, God help them, our children and wives! Hold it we might and for fifteen days or for twenty at most. "Never surrender, I charge you, but every man die at his post! | Voice of the dead whom we loved, our Lawrence the best of the brave: Cold were his brows when we kiss'd him we laid him that night in his grave. "Every man die at his post!" and there hail'd on our houses and halls Death from their rifle-bullets, and death from their cannon-balls, Death in our innermost chamber, and death at our slight barricade, Death while we stood with the musket, and death while we stoopt to the spade, Death to the dying, and wounds to the wounded, for often there fell Striking the hospital wall, crashing thro' it, their shot and their shell, Death for their spies were among us, their marksmen were told of our Ay, but the foe sprung his mine many times, and it chanced on a day Soon as the blast of that underground thunderclap echo'd away, Dark thro' the smoke and the sulphur like so many fiends in their hellCannon-shot, musket-shot, volley on volley, and yell upon yell Fiercely on all the defences our myriad enemy fell. What have they done? where is it? Out yonder. Guard the Redan! Storm at the Water-gate! storm at the Bailey-gate! storm, and it ran Surging and swaying all round us, as ocean on every side Plunges and heaves at a bank that is daily drown'd by the tide So many thousands that if they be bold enough, who shall escape? Kill or be kill'd, live or die, they shall know we are soldiers and men ! Ready! take aim at their leaders - their masses are gapp'd with our grapeBackward they reel like the wave, like the wave flinging forward again, Flying and foil'd at the last by the hand ful they could not subdue; And ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew. | Better to fall by the hands that they love, than to fall into theirs!" Roar upon roar in a moment two mines by the enemy sprung Clove into perilous chasms our walls and our poor palisades. Rifleman, true is your heart, but be sure that your hand be as true! Sharp is the fire of assault, better aim'd are your flank fusillades — Twice do we hurl them to earth from the ladders to which they had clung, Twice from the ditch where they shelter we drive them with hand-grenades ; And ever upon the topmost roof our banner of England blew. |