8

beän ere,

ere o

IO

a

2

14

Says that I moänt 'a naw moor aäle, but I I weänt saäy men be loiars, thaw summun beänt a fool;

said it in 'aäste; Git ma my aäle, fur I beänt a-gawin' to But 'e reaäds wonn sarmin a weeäk, an' I breäk my rule.

'a stubb'de Thurnaby waäste. Doctors, they knaws nowt, fur a says D' ya moind the waäste, my lass? naw, what's nawways true;

5 Naw soort o' koind o’use to saäy the things Theer wur a boggle" in it, I often 'eärd

naw, tha was not born then; that a do.

’um mysén;

30 I've 'ed my point o' aäle ivry noight sin' I

Moäst loike a butter-bump, fur I 'eärd

'um about an' about, An' I've 'ed my quart ivry market-noight for foorty year.

But I stubb'd ’um oop wi' the lot, an'

raävedo an' rembledo 'um out. Parson's a beän loikewoise, an' a sittin' '

my
bed.

Keäper's it wur; fo’ they fun 'um theer “The Amoighty's a taäkin o'you to 'issén," a-laäid of 'is faäce my friend," a said,

Down i' the woild 'enemies 11 äfoor I An' a towd ma my sins, an''s toithe were coom'd to the plaäce. due, an' I gied it in hond;

Noäks or Thimbleby-toäner2 'ed shot I done moy duty boy ’um, as I 'a done boy ’um as deäd as a naäil.

35 the lond.

Noäks wur 'ang'd for it oop at 'soize13_

but git ma my aäle. Larn'd a ma' beä. I reckons I 'annot sa mooch to larn.

Dubbut looök at the waäste;. theer But a cast oop, thot a did, 'bout Bessy

warn't not feeäd for a cow; Marris's barne.? Thaw a knaws I hallus voated wi' Squoire Nowt at all but bracken an' fuzz, an'

’

looök at it nowan' choorch an' staäte,

15 Warn't worth nowt a haäcre, an' now An'i'the woost o' toimes I wur niver agin

theer's lots o' feeäd, the raäte.3

Fourscoor yows15 upon it, an' some on it An' I hallus coom'd to’s choorch afoor

down i' seeäd. moy Sally wur dead, An' 'eärd 'um a bummin' awaäy loike a Nobbut a bit on it's left, an' I meän’d to buzzard-clock“ ower my 'eäd,

'a stubb'd it at fall, An' I niver knaw'd whot a meän'd but I Done it ta-year16 I meän'd, an' runn'd thowt a 'ad summut to saäy,

plow thruff it an' all, An' I thowt a said whot a owt to 'a said, If Godamoighty an' parson 'ud nobbut an' I coom'd aważy.

let ma aloän,

Meä, wi' haäte hoonderd haäcre o Bessy Marris's barne! tha knaws she laäid

Squoire's, an lond o' my oän. it to meä. Mowt a beän, mayhap, for she wur a bad

Do Godamoighty knaw what a's doing ataäkin' o' meä?

45 'Siver, I kep ’um, I kep ’um, my lass, tha I beänt wonn as saws 'ere a beän an yonder mun understond;

a peä; I done moy duty boy ’um, as I'a done boy An' Squoire u'll be sa mad an’all-a' dear, the lond.

a' dear!

And I 'a managed for Squoire coom But Parson a cooms an'a goäs, an'

a says Michaelmas thutty year. it easy an’ freeä:

25 “The Amoighty's a taäkin o'you to 'issén,

40

20

un, sheä.

a

a

A mowt 'a taäen owd Joänes, as ’ant not a Is not the Vision He, though He be not 'aäpoth' o' sense,

that which He seems? Or a mowt a' taäen young Robins-a Dreams are true while they last, and do niver mended a fence;

50

we not live in dreams? But Goda moighty a moost taäke meä an' taäke ma now,

Earth, these solid stars, this weight of Wi' aäf the cows to cauve an' Thurnaby

body and limb,

5 hoalms” to plow!

Are they not sign and symbol of thy

division from Him? Looök'ow quoloty smoiles when they seeäs ma a passin' boy,

Dark is the world to thee; thyself art Says to thessén, naw doubt,“What a man

the reason why; a beä sewerloy!”

For is He not all but thou, that hast Fur they knaws what I beän to Squoire

power to feel “I am I”? sin' fust a coom’d to the 'All;

55 I done moy duty by Squoire an’ I done Glory about thee, without thee; and thou moy duty boy hall.

fulfillest thy doom, Squoire's i’ Lunnon, an’ summun I reckons Making Him broken gleams, and a stifled 'ull 'a to wroite,

splendor and gloom.

10 For whoä's to howd the lond ater meä thot muddles; ma quoit;

Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Sartin-sewer I beä thot a weänt niver give Spirit with Spirit can meet it to Joänes,

Closer is He than breathing, and nearer Naw, nor a moänt to Robins-a niver than hands and feet. rembles the stoäns.

60

God is law, say the wise; 0 Soul, and let But summun ’ull come ater meä mayhap us rejoice, wi' 'is kittle o' steäm

For if He thunder by law the thunder is Huzzin' an'maäzin' the blessed feälds

yet His voice. wi’ the Divil's oän team. Sin' I mun doy I mun doy, thaw loife Law is God, say some: no God at all, says they says is sweet,

the fool; But sin' I'mun doy I mun doy, for I For all we have power to see is a straight couldn abeär to see it.

staff bent in a pool; What atta stannin' theer fur, an' doesn bring ma the aäle?

And the ear of man cannot hear, and the

65 Doctor's a 'toättler, lass, an a's hallus i’

eye of man cannot see; the owd taäle;

But if we could see and hear, this VisionI weänt breäk rules fur Doctor, a knaws

were it not He? naw moor nor a floy; Git ma my aäle, I tell tha, an' if I mun doy I mun doy.

FLOWER IN THE CRANNIED WALL

a

15

THE HIGHER PANTHEISM Flower in the crannied wall,

I pluck you out of the crannies, The sun, the moon, the stars, the seas, I hold you here, root and all, in my the hills and the plains

hand, Are not these, O Soul, the Vision of Him Little flower—but if I could understand who reigns?

What you are, root and all, and all in all,

5. 1 halspennyworth

; perplexes. * buzzing S amazing 6a "tee-totaller."

I should know what God and man is.

1 river-flats.

5

IO

THE REVENGE
“Shall we fight or shall we fly?

25
Good Sir Richard, tell us now,
A BALLAD OF THE FLEET

For to fight is but to die!
I

There'll be little of us left by the time At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Gren

this sun be set.' ville lay,

And Sir Richard said again: “We be all And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came

good English men. flying from far away:

Let us bang these dogs of Seville, the chil"Spanish ships of war at sea! we have

dren of the devil,

30 sighted fifty-three!”

For I never turned my back upon Don or Then sware Lord Thomas Howard: "'Fore

devil yet.” God, I am no coward;

V But I cannot meet them here, for my ships are out of gear,

Sir Richard spoke and he laughed, and we

roared a hurrah, and so And the half my men are sick. I must fly, but follow quick.

The little Revenge ran on sheer into the

heart of the foe, We are six ships of the line; can we fight

With her hundred fighters on deck, and with fifty-three?”

her ninety sick below; II

For half of their fleet to the right and half Then spake Sir Richard Grenville: “I to the left were seen,

35 know you are no coward;

And the little Revenge ran on through the You fly them for a moment to fight with long sea-lane between.

them again. But I've ninety men and more that are

VI lying sick ashore.

Thousands of their soldiers looked down I should count myself the coward if I left

from their decks and laughed, them, my Lord Howard,

Thousands of their seamen made mock at To these Inquisition dogs and the devil

the mad little craft doms of Spain."

Running on and on, till delayed
III

By their mountain-like San Philip that, So Lord Howard passed away with five

of fifteen hundred tons,

40 ships of war that day,

And up-shadowing high above us with her Till he melted like a cloud in the silent yawning tiers of guns, summer heaven;

Took the breath from our sails, and we But Sir Richard bore in hand all his sick stayed. men from the land

15 Very carefully and slow, Men of Bideford in Devon,

And while now the great San Philip hung And we laid them on the ballast down be

above us like a cloud low:

Whence the thunderbolt will fall For we brought them all aboard,

Long and loud,

45 And they blessed him in their pain, that

Four galleons drew away they were not left to Spain,

From the Spanish fleet that day, To the thumb-screw and the stake, for the

And two upon the larboard and two upon glory of the Lord.

the starboard lay,

And the battle-thunder broke from them IV

all. He had only a hundred seamen to work

VIII the ship and to fight, And he sailed away from Flores till the But anon the great San Philip, she beSpaniard came in sight,

thought herself and went,

50 With his huge sea-castles heaving upon the Having that within her womb that had weather bow.

VII

20

85

And the rest they came aboard us, and And the pikes were all broken or bent, they fought us hand to hand,

and the powder was all of it spent; 80 For a dozen times they came with their And the masts and the rigging were lying pikes and musqueteers,

over the side; And a dozen times we shook 'em off as a But Sir Richard cried in his English dog that shakes his ears

54 pride: When he leaps from the water to the land. “We have fought such a fight for a day

and a night
IX

As may never be fought again!
And the sun went down, and the stars We have won great glory, my men!

came out far over the summer sea, And a day less or more
But never a moment ceased the fight of At sea or ashore,
the one and the fifty-three.

We die does it matter when? Ship after ship, the whole night long, their Sink me the ship, Master Gunner-sink high-built galleons came,

her, split her in twain! Ship after ship, the whole night long, with Fall into the hands of God, not into the her battle-thunder and flame:

hands of Spain!”

90 Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew

XII back with her dead and her shame. 60 For some were sunk and many were shat

And the gunner said, “Ay, ay,” but the tered, and so could fight no more-

seamen made reply: God of battles, was ever a battle like this

“We have children, we have wives, in the world before?

And the Lord hath spared our lives.

We will make the Spaniard promise, if х

we yield, to let us go; For he said, “Fight on! fight on!”

We shall live to fight again and to strike Though his vessel was all but a wreck;

another blow."

95 And it chanced that, when half of the short

And the lion there lay dying, and they summer night was gone,

65

yielded to the foe. With a grisly wound to be dressed he had

XIII left the deck,

And the stately Spanish men to their But a bullet struck him that was dressing

flagship bore him then, it suddenly dead,

Where they laid him by the mast, old Sir And himself he was wounded again in the

Richard caught at last, side and the head,

And they praised him to his face with And he said, “Fight on! fight on!”

their courtly foreign grace;

But he rose upon their decks, and he cried: XI

“I have fought for Queen and Faith like a And the night went down, and the sun

valiant man and true;

ΤΟΙ smiled out far over the summer sea, 70

I have only done my duty as a man is And the Spanish fleet with broken sides

bound to do. lay round us all in a ring;

With a joyful spirit I Sir Richard GrenBut they dared not touch us again, for

ville die!” they feared that we still could sting, And he fell upon their decks, and he died. So they watched what the end would be. And we had not fought them in vain, But in perilous plight were we,

And they stared at the dead that had been Seeing forty of our poor hundred were so valiant and true,

105 slain,

And had holden the power and glory of And half of the rest of us maimed for life Spain so cheap In the crash of the cannonades and the That he dared her with one little ship and desperate strife:

his English few; And the sick men down in the hold were Was he devil or man? He was devil for most of them stark and cold,

aught they knew,

XIV

75