Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/775

 INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 757

When King and People understand each other past a doubt, It takes a foe and more than, a foe to knock that country

out; For tKe one will do what the other requires as soon as the

need is shown, And hand in hand they can make a stand which neither could

make alone!

This wisdom had Elizabeth and all her subjects too,

For she was theirs and they were hers, as well the Spaniard

knew; For when his grim Armada came to conquer the Nation and

Throne, Wfty, back to back they met an attack that neither could face

alone !

It is not wealth nor talk nor trade nor schools nor even the

Vote, Will save your land when the enemy's hand is tightening

round your throat. But a King and a People who thoroughly trust each other in

all that is done Can sleep on their bed without any dread for the world will

leave 'em alone!

JAMES I

(1603-1625)

'p HE child of Mary Queen of Scots,

A shifty mother's shiftless son, Bred up among intrigues and plots,

Learned in all things, wise in none. Ungainly, babbling, wasteful, weak,

Shrewd, clever, cowardly, pedantic, The sight of steel would blanch his cheek,

The smell of baccy drive him frantic.