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 stalk'd he when he turn'd 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 turn'd to

bay,

And crush'd 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 blades:

your

Thou sun, shine on her joyously; ye breezes, waft her

wide;

Our glorious SEMPER EADEM, the banner of our pride.

The freshening breeze of eve unfurl'd that banner's massy fold;

The parting gleam of sunshine kiss'd that haughty scroll of gold;

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 warflame

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.

F

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

waves;

The rugged miners pour'd 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.

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 Whitehall gate look'd forth into the

night,

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

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

And with one start, and with one cry, the royal city woke.

At once on all her stately gates arose the answering

fires;

At once the wild alarum clash'd from all her reeling

spires ;

From all the batteries of the Tower peal'd 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 rush'd 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,

bounded still :

without a pause, untired they

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

Till the proud Peak unfurl'd 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 stream'd in crimson on the wind the Wrekin's crest of light,

Till broad and fierce the star came forth on Ely's

stately fane,

And tower and hamlet rose in arms o'er all the bound

less plain;

Till Belvoir's 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 blazed on Gaunt's embattled pile,

And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of

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 fiftythree!"

Then sware Lord Thomas Howard: "Fore God I

am no coward;