Cossack and Russian Reel'd from the sabre-stroke Shatter'd and sunder 'd. Then they rode back, but not, Not the six hundred. Cannon to right of them, Cannon behind them Volley'd and thunder'd; Storm'd at with shot and shell, While horse and hero fell, They that had fought so well Came thro' the jaws of Death, When can their glory fade? THE CAPTAIN A LEGEND OF THE NAVY He that only rules by terror Doeth grievous wrong. Deep as hell I count his error. Let him hear my song. Brave the captain was; the seamen Made a gallant crew, Gallant sons of English freemen, Sailors bold and true. But they hated his oppression; Stern he was and rash, So for every light transgression Day by day more harsh and cruel Secret wrath like smother'd fuel Of his vessel great in story, So they past by capes and islands, Sailing under palmy highlands Far within the South. On a day when they were going In the north, her canvas flowing, Then the Captain's colour heightened, Joyful came his speech; But a cloudy gladness lighten'd In the eyes of each. "Chase," he said; the ship flew forward, And the wind did blow; Stately, lightly, went she norward, Till she near'd the foe. Then they look'd at him they hated, Had what they desired; Mute with folded arms they waited Not a gun was fired. But they heard the foeman's thunder Roaring out their doom; All the air was torn in sunder, Crashing went the boom, Spars were splinter 'd, decks were shatter'd, Bullets fell like rain; Over mast and deck were scatter'd Blood and brains of men. Spars were splinter'd; decks were broken; Every mother's son Down they dropt-no word was spoken Each beside his gun. On the decks as they were lying, Were their faces grim. In their blood, as they lay dying, Those in whom he had reliance For his noble name With one smile of still defiance Sold him unto shame. Shame and wrath his heart confounded, Pale he turn'd and red, Till himself was deadly wounded Dismal error! fearful slaughter! Years have wandered by; Side by side beneath the water Crew and Captain lie; There the sunlit ocean tosses O'er them mouldering, And the lonely seabird crosses THE REVENGE* A BALLAD OF THE FLEET I 70 At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay, And a pinnace, like a flutter'd bird, came flying from far away; "Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted fifty-three!" *See Sir Walter Raleigh's account, p. 208. For I never turn'd my back upon Don or devil Ship after ship, the whole night long, their high-built galleons came, yet." V Ship after ship, the whole night long, with her battle-thunder and flame: And the night went down, and the sun smiled out far over the summer sea, 70 And while now the great San Philip hung And the Spanish fleet with broken sides lay above us like a cloud Whence the thunderbolt will fall Long and loud, Four galleons drew away From the Spanish fleet that day, round us all in a ring; But they dared not touch us again, for they So they watch'd what the end would be. And two upon the larboard and two upon the But in perilous plight were we, Seeing forty of our poor hundred were slain, In the crash of the cannonades and the des- And the sick men down in the hold were most of them stark and cold, And the pikes were all broken or bent, and the powder was all of it spent; 80 And the masts and the rigging were lying over But Sir Richard cried in his English pride: a night As may never be fought again! We have won great glory, my men! At sea or ashore, We die-does it matter when? And the sun went down, and the stars came Sink me the ship, Master Gunner-sink her, out far over the summer sea, split her in twain! But never a moment ceased the fight of the Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands one and the fifty-three. of Spain!" 90 And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant and true, And had holden the power and glory of Spain That he dared her with one little ship and his Was he devil or man? He was devil for aught But a cast oop, thot a did, 'bout Bessy Marthey knew, ris's barne. But they sank his body with honour down into Thaw a knaws I hallus voäted wi' Squoire an' the deep. choorch an' staäte, And they mann'd the Revenge with a swarthier An' i' the woost o' toimes I wur niver agin 110 alien crew, And away she sail'd with her loss and long'd for her own; the raäte. V 16 An' I hallus coom'd to 's choorch afoor moy When a wind from the lands they had ruin'd awoke from sleep, An' 'eärd 'um a bummin' awaäy loike a buzzard-clock ower my 'eäd, And the water began to heave and the weather And a wave like the wave that is raised by an Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their masts and their flags, And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shotshatter'd navy of Spain, And the little Revenge herself went down by the island crags To be lost evermore in the main. = 2 cockchafer *Note that in this dialect poem an a pronounced very lightly represents thou, as in "'asta" (hast thou), or he, as in "a says"; or it is a mere prefix to a participle, as in "a beän," "a sittin'"; or, pronounced broadly, it may stand for hare, as in "as I 'a done.' Further, toitne tithe; barne bairn; raäte churchrate, or tax; 'siver howsoever; stubbed = grubbed; boggle bogle (ghost); raäved and rembled = tore out and removed; 'soize = assizes: yows ewes ; 'aäpoth half-pennyworth; sewer-loy surely; atta art thou; hallus the owd tale always urging the same thing. The numbered notes are Tennyson's. = = An' I niver knaw'd whot a meän'd but I Done it ta-year I meän'd, an' runn'd plow thowt a 'ad summut to saäy, thruff it an' all, An' I thowt a said whot a owt to 'a said, an' If Godamoighty an' parson 'ud nobbut let ma I coom'd awaäy. VI 20 Bessy Marris's barne! tha knaws she laäid it to meä. aloän,Meä, wi' haäte hoonderd haäere o' Squoire's, an lond o' my oän. XII 44 Mowt a beän, mayhap, for she wur a bad un, Do Godamoighty knaw what a's doing a-taäkin' sheä. 'Siver, I kep 'um, I kep 'um, my lass, tha mun understond; o' meä? I beänt wonn as saws 'ere a beän an yonder a peä; I done moy duty boy 'um, as I 'a done boy the An' Squoire 'ull be sa mad an' all-a' dear, lond. VII 24 Says 32 to thessén, naw doubt, "What a man a But I stubb'd 'um oop wi' the lot, an' raäved an' rembled 'um out. IX Fur they knaws what I beän to Squoire sin' fust a coom'd to the 'All; Keäper's it wur; fo' they fun 'um theer a-laäid I done moy duty by Squoire an' I done moy of 'is faäce Down i' the woild 'enemies afoor I coom'd to the plaäce. duty boy hall. XV 56 Noäks or Thimbleby-toäner 'ed shot 'um as Squoire 's i' Lunnon, an' summun I reckons Nobbut a bit on it 's left, an' I meän'd to 'a Sin' I mun doy I mun doy, thaw loife they |