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For I never turn'd my back upon Don or devil Ship after ship, the whole night long, their high-built galleons came,

yet.

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V

Sir Richard spoke and he laughed, and we roar'd a hurrah, and so

The little Revenge ran on sheer into the heart of the foe,

With her hundred fighters on deck, and her ninety sick below;

For half of their fleet to the right and half to the left were seen,

And the little Revenge ran on thro' the long sea-lane between.

VI

Thousands of their soldiers look'd down from
their decks and laugh'd,

Thousands of their seamen made mock at the
Imad little craft

Running on and on, till delay'd

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For he said, "Fight on! fight on!"
Tho' his vessel was all but a wreck;
And it chanced that, when half of the short
summer night was gone,

With a grisly wound to be drest he had left
the deck,

But a bullet struck him that was dressing it suddenly dead,

By their mountain-like San Philip that, of And himself he was wounded again in the side

fifteen hundred tons,

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And up-shadowing high above us with her yawning tiers of guns,

Took the breath from our sails, and we stay 'd.

VII

and the head,

And he said, "Fight on! fight on!"

ΧΙ

And the night went down, and the sun smiled out far over the summer sea,

70

And while now the great San Philip hung And the Spanish fleet with broken sides lay

above us like a cloud

Whence the thunderbolt will fall

Long and loud,

Four galleons drew away

From the Spanish fleet that day,

round us all in a ring;

But they dared not touch us again, for they

fear'd that we still could sting,

So they watch'd what the end would be.
And we had not fought them in vain,

And two upon the larboard and two upon the But in perilous plight were we,

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And the sun went down, and the stars came Sink me the ship, Master Gunner-sink her, out far over the summer sea,

split her in twain!

But never a moment ceased the fight of the Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands

one and the fifty-three.

of Spain!"'

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And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant and true,

And had holden the power and glory of Spain
so cheap

That he dared her with one little ship and his
English few;

'ed my point o' aäle ivry noight sin' I beän 'ere.

I've 'ed my quart ivry market-noight for foorty year.

III

8

Parson's a beän loikewoise, an' a sittin' çre o' my bed.

"The Amoighty 's a taäkin o' you to 'issén,

my friend," a said,

An' a towd ma my sins, an' 's toithe were due, an' I gied it in hond;

I done moy duty boy 'um, as I 'a done boy the lond.

IV.

12

Larn'd a ma' beä. I reckons I 'annot sa mooch to larn.

Was he devil or man? He was devil for aught But a cast oop, thot a did, 'bout Bessy Marthey knew, ris's barne. But they sank his body with honour down into Thaw a knaws I hallus voäted wi' Squoire an' the deep. choorch an' staäte, And they mann'd the Revenge with a swarthier An' i' the woost o' toimes I wur niver agin

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And the water began to heave and the weather to moan,

the raäte.

V

18

I hallus coom'd to 's choorch afoor moy
Sally wur deäd,

'eärd 'um a bummin' awaäy loike a buz-
zard-clock2 ower my 'eäd,

And or ever that evening ended a great gale 1 ou as in hour blew,

And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake grew,

Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their masts and their flags,

And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shotshatter'd navy of Spain,

And the little Revenge herself went down by the island crags

To be lost evermore in the main.

2 cockchafer *Note that in this dialect poem an a pronounced very lightly represents thou, as in "'asta" (hast thou), or he, as in "a says"; or it is a mere prefix to a participle, as in "a beän," "a sittin'"; or, pronounced broadly, it may stand for have, as in "as I 'a done.' Further, toitne tithe; barne bairn; raäte = churchrate, or tax; 'siver howsoever; stubbed grubbed; boggle = bogle (ghost); raäved and rembled tore out and removed; 'soize sizes; yows = ewes ; 'aäpoth half-pennyworth; sewer-loy surely; atta art thou; hallus i' the owd taäle always urging the same thing. The numbered notes are Tenny

son's.

=

as

An' I niver knaw'd whot a meän'd but I Done it ta-year I meän 'd, an' runn'd plow thowt a 'ad summut to saäy, thruff it an' all,

An' I thowt a said whot a owt to 'a said, an' If Godamoighty an' parson 'ud nobbut let ma I coom'd awaäy.

VI

20

Bessy Marris's barne! tha knaws she laäid it to meä.

aloän,

Meä, wi' haäte hoonderd haäcre o' Squoire 's, an lond o' my oän.

XII

44

Mowt a beän, mayhap, for she wur a bad un, Do Godamoighty knaw what a's doing a-taäkin'

sheä.

'Siver, I kep 'um, I kep 'um, my lass, tha mun

understond;

o' meä?

I beänt wonn as saws 'ere a beän an yonder a peä;

I done moy duty boy 'um, as I 'a done boy the An' Squoire 'ull be sa mad an' all-a' dear,

lond.

VII

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But Parson a cooms an' a goäs, an' a says it easy an' freä:

"The Amoighty 's a taäkin o' you to 'issén, my friend," says 'eä.

I weänt say men be loiars, thaw summun said it in 'aäste;

But 'e reäds wonn sarmin a weeäk, an' I 'a

stubb'd Thurnaby waäste.

VIII

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But

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Wi'

Godamoighty a moost taäke meä an' taäke

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Looök 'ow quoloty smoiles when they seeäs ma a passin' boy,

Says to thessén, naw doubt, "What a man a beä sewer-loy!"'

Fur they knaws what I beän to Squoire sin fust a coom'd to the 'All;

Keäper's it wur; fo' they fun 'um theer a-laäid I done moy duty by Squoire an' I done moy

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Noäks or Thimbleby-toäners 'ed shot 'um as Squoire 's i' Lunnon, an' summun I reckons

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Nobbut a bit on it 's left, an' I mean 'd to 'a Sin' I mun doy I mun doy, thaw loife they stubb'd it at fall,

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have done it, while you were asleep-you were only made for the day.

have gather'd my baby together-and now you may go your way.

VI

20

Nay-for it's kind of you, madam, to sit by an old dying wife.

But say nothing hard of my boy, I have only an hour of life.

I kiss'd my boy in the prison, before he went out to die.

"They dared me to do it," he said, and he never has told me a lie.

I whipt him for robbing an orchard once when he was but a child

"The farmer dared me to do it," he said; he was always so wild

And idle and could n't be idle-my Willyhe never could rest.

The King should have made him a soldier, he would have been one of his best.

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Falls? what falls! who knows? As the tree I came into court to the judge and the lawyers.

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They would scratch him up-they would hang But I cannot hear what you say for my Willy's him again on the cursed tree. voice in the wind

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Sin? O, yes, we are sinners, I know-let all The snow and the sky so bright-he used but that be, to call in the dark, And read me a Bible verse of the Lord's good- And he calls to me now from the church and I will toward mennot from the gibbet-for hark!

"Full of compassion and mercy, the Lord''- Nay-you can hear it yourself—it is coming

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