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 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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