264 YULE
Come, as came our fathers,
Heralded by thee, Conquering from the eastward,
Lords by land and sea. Come; and strong within us
Stir the Vikings' blood; Bracing brain and sinew;
Blow, thou wind of God !
Kingsley.
CVI
THE BIRKENHEAD
AMID the loud ebriety of War, With shouts of ' la Republique ' and * la Gloire,' The Vengeur's crew, 'twas said, with flying flag And broadside blazing level with the wave Went down erect, defiant, to their grave Beneath the sea. 'Twas but a Frenchman's brag, Yet Europe rang with it for many a year. Now we recount no fable ; Europe, hear ! And when they tell thee ' England is a fen Corrupt, a kingdom tottering to decay, Her nerveless burghers lying an easy prey For the first comer, ' tell how the other day A crew of half a thousand Englishmen Went down into the deep in Simon's Bay!
Not with the cheer of battle in the throat,
Or cannon-glare and din to stir their blood,
But, roused from dreams of home to find their boat
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