Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1883 Excerpt:...strong-armed, and heavy-mailed; Farewell the maid who must but sit and stay; The joys she had, the times when grief assailed, Her heart unbared, soul seen, Aglaia Unveiled, Shall I as one who gathers unripe fruit, Or dams a river's force ere it be run, Or like a lover fiery in his suit, Proffer the end ere strain be well begun 1 Shall good deeds die, grace go, and maid be won To one dull line and all be said and o'er? Though lovers live, and doughty deeds are done. Away! ye phantasies, this look before, Joys, sorrows, spirits meet, one spirit evermore. Ho! now I sing a gallant thing, That deed of long ago, When mighty host, to Britain's coast Once sailed the boastful foe. A foreign flag, the flaunting rag Of dusky sons of Spain; Along the waves, they came, the braves, A great, a spreading train. Sing ho! sing ho! sing ho! The coming of the foe, The battle, and the rattle, and the roar; Britannia's men of might, The days of 'eighty-eight And the steady, ever ready times of yore Hush! Silence! Ii. Their streamers won our English sun, Their thousand masts our skies, And brightly on the noontide shone, And lit their panoplies. Ah 'twas a bright, a goodly sight, To see each mighty brig; All giant-like, a power to strike In such a gallant rig. in. Along they came, for sack and fame, Drew nearer yet and near, While sharp as things with wings and stings, Hung English on their rear. Till out at last, with bending mast, Hied Drake, and British oak, Formed stern to stem, and after them Shot through the blinding smoke. IV. Shot through the sky, the smoke, say I, With many a cheer went they, And round about, and in, and out, Struck swift or slipped away; While hollow port and rocky fort, Sent back the ocean's roar, Ah years on years, old English ears Scarce heard such d...