Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/240

 Bl VMSII ARMADA. 215

&quot;Toll for the brave,&quot; occasionally sung among the simple ditties of childhood. The destructive weap ons and instruments of torture, taken from the Spanish armada, are placed in the neighborhood of a waxen effigy of Queen Elizabeth, on horseback, going to return thanks at St. Paul s for the defeat of that terrible arm ament, by the artillery of Heaven, which she caused to be kept in memory by a medal with the inscription, &quot; Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them.&quot; I placed my thumb in the screws which the Dons provided for their English neighbors, touched the edge of the axe that beheaded Anne Boleyn, felt the rugged block which had been so oft saturated with noble blood, and entered, with indignation, the dark, miserable dungeon where the noble Sir Walter Ra leigh was nightly locked, while his chainless intellect verified the assertion of the poet,

&quot; The oppressor holds

The body bound, but knows not what a range The spirit takes.&quot;

The warders of the Tower, with their flat hats or caps, encircled with wreaths, and laced frock-coats, lead the mind back to the time of Henry the Eighth, who established that gorgeous costume. I formed quite a friendship for the line of equestrian kings, knights, and cavaliers, from Henry the Sixth to James the Second, who were ranged in full armor ; and regretted

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