Lyra Heroica | Page 6

282
WILLIAM CORY (b. 1823).
CX. SCHOOL FENCIBLES 284
CXI. THE TWO CAPTAINS 285
GEORGE MEREDITH (b. 1828).
CXII. THE HEAD OF BRAN 290
WILLIAM MORRIS (b. 1834).
CXIII. THE SLAYING OF THE NIBLUNGS
Hogni 293
Gunnar 297
Gudrun 301
The Sons of Giuki 304
ALFRED AUSTIN (b. 1835).
CXIV. IS LIFE WORTH LIVING? 308
SIR ALFRED LYALL (b. 1835).
CXV. THEOLOGY IN EXTREMIS 311
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE (b. 1837).
CXVI. THE OBLATION 316
CXVII. ENGLAND 317
CXVIII. THE JACOBITE IN EXILE 319
BRET HARTE (b. 1839).
CXIX. THE REVEILL�� 322
CXX. WHAT THE BULLET SANG 323
AUSTIN DOBSON (b. 1840).
CXXI. A BALLAD OF THE ARMADA 324
ANDREW LANG (b. 1844).
CXXII. THE WHITE PACHA 325
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON (b. 1850).
CXXIII. MOTHER AND SON 326
HENRY CHARLES BEECHING (b. 1859).
CXXIV. PRAYERS 328
RUDYARD KIPLING (b. 1865).
CXXV. A BALLAD OF EAST AND WEST 329
CXXVI. THE FLAG OF ENGLAND 335
NOTES 341
INDEX 359
For I trust, if an enemy's fleet came yonder round by the hill, And the rushing battle-bolt sang from the three-decker out of the foam, That the smooth-faced snub-nosed rogue would leap from his counter and
till,?And strike, if he could, were it but with his cheating yard-wand, home.
_Tennyson._
LYRA HEROICA
I
AGINCOURT
INTROIT
O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend?The brightest heaven of invention,?A kingdom for a stage, princes to act?And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!?Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,?Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,?Leashed in like hounds, should Famine, Sword and Fire?Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,?The flat unrais��d spirits that have dared?On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth?So great an object. Can this cockpit hold?The vasty fields of France? or may we cram?Within this wooden O the very casques?That did affright the air at Agincourt??O pardon! since a crooked figure may?Attest in little place a million,?And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,?On your imaginary forces work.?Suppose within the girdle of these walls?Are now confined two mighty monarchies,?Whose high uprear��d and abutting fronts?The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:?Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;?Into a thousand parts divide one man,?And make imaginary puissance;?Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them?Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;?For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,?Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times,?Turning the accomplishment of many years?Into an hour-glass.
INTERLUDE
Now all the youth of England are on fire,?And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies:?Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought?Reigns solely in the breast of every man:?They sell the pasture now to buy the horse,?Following the mirror of all Christian kings,?With wing��d heels, as English Mercuries:?For now sits Expectation in the air,?And hides a sword from hilts unto the point?With crowns imperial, crowns and coronets,?Promised to Harry and his followers.?The French, advised by good intelligence?Of this most dreadful preparation,?Shake in their fear, and with pale policy?Seek to divert the English purposes.?O England! model to thy inward greatness,?Like little body with a mighty heart,?What mightst thou do, that honour would thee do,?Were all thy children kind and natural!?But see thy fault: France hath in thee found out?A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills?With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted men,?One, Richard Earl of Cambridge, and the second,?Henry Lord Scroop of Masham, and the third,?Sir Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland,?Have for the gilt of France--O guilt indeed!--?Confirmed conspiracy with fearful France;?And by their hands this grace of kings must die,?If hell and treason hold their promises,?Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton!--
HARFLEUR
Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies?In motion of no less celerity?Than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen?The well-appointed king at Hampton Pier?Embark