HERVÉ RIEL. BY ROBERT BROWNING.

On the sea and at the Hogue, sixteen hundred ninety-two,
Did the English fight the French-woe to France!

And, the thirty-first of May, helter-skelter through the blue,
Like a crowd of frightened porpoises a shoal of sharks pursue,
Came crowding ship on ship to St. Malo on the Rance,

With the English fleet in view.

'T was the squadron that escaped, with the victor in full chase;
First and foremost of the drove, in his great ship, Damfreville;
Close on him fled, great and small,
Twenty-two good ships in all;
And they signaled to the place,
"Help the winners of a race!

Get us guidance, give us harbor, take us quick-or, quicker still,
Here's the English can and will!"

Then the pilots of the place put out brisk and leaped on board;

'Why, what hope or chance have ships like these to pass?" laughed they: "Rocks to starboard, rocks to port, all the passage scarred and scored; Shall the Formidable here, with her twelve and eighty guns, Think to make the river-mouth by the single narrow way,— Trust to enter where 't is ticklish for a craft of twenty tons, And with flow at full beside?

Now, 't is slackest ebb of tide.
Reach the mooring? Rather say,
While rock stands or water runs,
Not a ship will leave the bay!"

Then was called a council straight;

Brief and bitter the debate:

"Here's the English at our heels; would you have them take in tow All that's left us of the fleet, linked together stern and bow

For a prize to Plymouth Sound?
Better run the ships aground!"
(Ended Damfreville his speech.)
"Not a minute more to wait!

Let the captains all and each

Shove ashore; then blow up, burn the vessels on the beach!
France must undergo her fate."

"Give the word!" But no such word

Was ever spoke or heard;

For up stood, for out stepped, for in struck amid all these-
A lieutenant? A mate-first, second, third?
No such man of mark, and meet

A captain?

With his betters to compete!

But a simple Breton sailor, pressed by Tourville for the fleet—
A poor coasting-pilot he, Hervé Riel the Croisickese.

And "What mockery or malice have we here?" cries Hervé Riel; "Are you mad, you Malouins? Are you cowards, fools, or rogues? Talk to me of rocks and shoals, me who took the soundings, tell On my fingers every bank, every shallow, every swell "Twixt the offing here and Grève, where the river disembogues? Are you bought by English gold? Is it love the lying's for? Morn and eve, night and day,

Have I piloted your bay;

Entered free and anchored fast at the foot of Solidor.

Burn the fleet and ruin France? That were worse than fifty Hogues!
Sirs, they know I speak the truth! Sirs, believe me there's a way!
Only let me lead the line,
Have the biggest ship to steer,

Get this Formidable clear,
Make the others follow mine,

And I'll lead them most and least by a passage I know well,

Right to Solidor, past Grève,

And there lay them safe and sound;

And if one ship misbehave

Keel so much as grate the ground

Why, I've nothing but my life: here's my head!" cries Hervé Riel.

Not a minute more to wait.

"Steer us in then, small and great!

Take the helm, lead the line, save the squadron !” cried its chief.
Captains, give the sailor place!

He is admiral, in brief.

Still the north wind, by God's grace.

See the noble fellow's face

As the big ship, with a bound,

Clears the entry like a hound,

Keeps the passage as its inch of way were the wide sea's profound! See, safe through shoal and rock,

How they follow in a flock!

Not a ship that misbehaves, not a keel that grates the ground,

Not a spar that comes to grief!

The peril, see, is past,

All are harbored to the last,

And just as Hervé Riel hollas “Anchor!” sure as fate,

Up the English come, too late.

So the storm subsides to calm:

They see the green trees wave

On the heights o'erlooking Grève :

Hearts that bled are stanched with balm.

"Just our rapture to enhance,

Let the English rake the bay,

Gnash their teeth and glare askance,

As they cannonade away!

'Neath rampired Solidor pleasant riding on the Rance!" How hope succeeds despair on each captain's countenance!

Out burst all with one accord,

"This is paradise for hell!
Let France, let France's king

Thank the man that did the thing!"
What a shout, and all one word
"Hervé Riel."

As he stepped in front once more,

Not a symptom of surprise

In the frank blue Breton eyes-
Just the same man as before.

Then said Damfreville: "My friend,
I must speak out at the end,
Though I find the speaking hard :—
Praise is deeper than the lips:
You have saved the king his ships,
You must name your own reward.
'Faith, our sun was near eclipse!
Demand whate'er you will,

France remains your debtor still.

Ask to heart's content, and have-or my name's not Damfreville!"

Then a beam of fun outbroke

On the bearded mouth that spoke,
As the honest heart laughed through
Those frank eyes of Breton blue:
"Since I needs must say my say,

Since on board the duty's done,

And from Malo Roads to Croisic Point-what is it but a run ?— Since 't is ask and have, I may

Since the others go ashore

Come! A good whole holiday!

Leave to go and see my wife, whom I call the Belle Aurore!"
That he asked, and that he got--nothing more.

Name and deed alike are lost:

Not a pillar nor a post

In his Croisic keeps alive the feat as it befell;

Not a head in white and black

On a single fishing-smack,

In memory of the man but for whom had gone to wrack
All that France saved from the fight whence England bore the bell.
Go to Paris; rank on rank

Search the heroes flung pell-mell

On the Louvre, face and flank;

You shall look long enough ere you come to Hervé Riel.

So, for better and for worse,

Hervé Riel, accept my verse!

In my verse, Hervé Riel, do thou once more

Save the squadron, honor France, love thy wife, the Belle Aurore!

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE REVERENTIAL STYLE - TRUE EMPHASIS - NAME OF THE DEITYEXERCISES.

The question is frequently asked, in what manner should we read the Scriptures and compositions of a sacred character. As a general rule, their meaning and sentiment must dictate, as do those of all other compositions. Where the style is solemn and grand, the voice, time, and movement must be correspondingly so. The name of the Divine Being, when directly addressed, should never be pronounced in the pitches of voice used by the profane and the blasphemous; yet many ministers and preachers of the Word make no difference in this respect. But before the name is pronounced the voice should be fully suspended, and sufficient pause be given to allow an inflowing of reverential feeling. The voice should fall at least from one to two tones lower, as in parenthetical modulations. Yet, instead of being spoken more rapidly, it, on the contrary, should take a slow and tremulous circumflex movement; and this must not be affected, but heartfelt.

"Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue." "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever! The scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter."

Much difficulty is experienced by many people about finding the true emphasis of such clauses as the following: "I was created by God;" and "by God and his holy angels." If "by God" is rendered without emphasis, there is felt a want of reverence; if the preposition by is emphasized, it smacks of profanity; if again, the emphasis is placed on the name of God, it is equally suggestive of swearing; but if we resort to that slight suspensión of voice, before spoken of, after the word "by," and pronounce the name God in a grave tone, with a slight circumflexion of voice, nothing harsh or out of place will be experienced. "It was created by-God-and his holy angels," etc. These are seemingly small matters, but exceedingly important, as they go to make up the aggregate of truthful expression.

The following exercises will be practiced with direct reference to this rest of voice before the clauses and names of the Deity, and with the low, tremulous circumflex which the pronunciation of the name requires:

"3 Hail-1 Universal Lord!-3 be bounteous still, and ONLY GOOD."

"2 And if the night-hath gathered aught of evil-3 or concealed,—

2 Disperse it now as light-dispels 1 the dark."

"6 Prayer-ardent-opens heaven; lets down a stream of glory-on the consecrated hour of man-3 in audience with-1 the Deity."

"In its sublime research,-philosophy

May measure out the ocean deep,-may count
The sands or the sun's rays;-but,-1 God,-for thee
There is no weight-nor measure: none can mount
Up to thy mysteries;-reason's brightest spark,-
Though kindled by thy light,—in vain would try
To trace thy counsels infinite and—dark;

And thought is lost ere thought can soar so high,
Even like past moments—in ETERNITY."

But there are passages that require rapid and joyful movements of voice. It is always important, as has been before stated, that the subject and sentiment should be clearly defined in the mind before attempting to give them forcible expression.

Passages written under the excitement of exalted imagination, when the soul communes with the spirit of nature, require the identification of one's self with the spirit to render them properly.

The magnificent outburst of joyful emotion exhibited in the selection given below from the Psalms shows a spirit appreciative of the creative forces of all things, and if the student has not the power to enter this exalted state he can not render the words of the great singer. But if, with David, he can behold the great mass of waters surging their vast floods in the rhythm of motion-mighty waves lifting their crested heads in the sunshine, chasing each other with delight-all impelled irresistibly onward by that same power which inspires us with life and impulse-then the imagination can perceive that the floods can clap their hands and the hills be joyful together:

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.

Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before-the Lord,the King.

Let the sea-roar, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.