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THE SPANISH ARMADA.

The fresh'ning breeze of eve unfurl'd that banner's massy fold

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

Night sunk 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, as busy as the day; For swift to east, and swift to west, the warning radiance spread

High on St. Michael's Mount it shone-it shone on Beachy Head.

Far o'er the deep, the Spaniard saw, along each southern

shire,

Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of fire;

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 Cranborne's oaks, the fiery herald flew

He roused the shepherds of Stonehenge the rangers of Beaulieu.

Right sharp and quick the bells rang out, all night, from Bristol town;

And, ere the day, three hundred horse had met on Clifton Down.

THE SPANISH ARMADA.

119

The sentinel on Whitehall gate looked forth into the night,

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

The 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 farthest wards was heard the rush of hurrying feet,

And the broad streams of flags and pikes dash'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, for wild Blackheath, the warlike errand went ;

And roused, in many an ancient hall, the gallant squires of Kent:

Southward, for Surrey's pleasant hills, flew those bright coursers forth ;

High on black Hampstead's swarthy moor, they started for the north;

120

THE SPANISH ARMADA.

And on, and on, without a pause, untired they bounded still;

All night from tower to tower they sprang, all night from hill to hill;

Till the proud Peak unfurl'd the flag o'er Derwent'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 town and hamlet rose in arms, o'er all the boundless

plain :

Till Belvoir's lordly towers the sign to Lincoln sent,

And Lincoln sped the message on, o'er the wide vale of

Trent;

Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burnt on Gaunt's embattled

pile,

And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of

The Castle by the Sea.

AST thou seen that lordly

castle,

That Castle by the

Sea?

Gold and red above it

The clouds float gor

geously.

"And fain it would stoop downward To the mirror'd wave below; And fain it would soar upward

In the evening's crimson glow."

"Well have I seen that castle,

That Castle by the Sea,

And the moon above it standing,
And the mist rise solemnly."

"The winds and the waves of ocean,
Had they a merry chime?

Didst thou hear, from those lofty chambers,
The harp and the minstrel's rhyme ?"

"The winds and the waves of ocean,

They rested quietly,

But I heard on the gale a sound of wail,
And a tear came to mine eye."