Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-03-29

Azores Richard Law
Ana pinnace, like huitered bird came flying from
spanish ships of war at seal we have sighted sfty
Then swore Lord Thomas Howard: "'Forc Sod am
no coward;
But cannot meet them here for my ships are out OF
gear,
And the hllt my are sick. must fly, but follow
We are sI shps Of the line; can We nght with fifty.
three?"
Then spake Sir Richard Grenyille: "Ikuow you arc
no coward;
You fly them for a moment to fight with them again.
But I've ninety men and more that are lying sick
ashore.
should count myself the coward il left them, my
To these Inquisition dogs aud the devildoms of
Spain"
So Lord Howard past away with nvc ships of war that
day,
Till he melted like cloud in the silent summer
But Sir Richard bore in hand all his sick men from
the land
Very carefully and slow,
Men Of Bdeford in Devon
And we laid them on the ballast down below;
For we brought them all aboard,
And they oeS him in their pain, that they were not
To the thumbscrew aud the stake for the glory Of the
lie had only hundred seamen to work the ship aud
And he sailed away from Flores tin the spaniard
came iu sight,
with his huge sea-caStles heayipe upon the sathcr
bow
shall we fight or shall we fly?
Good Sir Richard, let US know
For to hght is hut to die
Therel be little Of us left by the time this sun be
And Sir Richard said again: ave be oil good English
Let us hang these dogs of Seville, the children of the
For never turned my back upon Don or devil yet
Sir Richard spoke and he laughed and we rosred
hurra, and so
The little Revenge sheer into the heart Of the
With her hundred lighters deck, and her ninety
For half Of their fleet to the right and half to the left
And the S Revenge ran on through the long
Thousands Of their soldiers looked down from their
decks and laughed
Thousands OF their seameu made mock at the mad
little craft
Running on and on till delayed
By their mountaiu-like SAn Philip, that Of fifteen
hundred tons,
And up-shadowins high above u, with her yawning
Took the breath from our sails and we stay'd
Whence the thunderbolt will fall
Long and loud
Four golleons drew away
From the Spanish fleet that day,
And two upon the lartoard and two upon the star
And the battle-thunder broke from them all.
VII
But anon the great San Philip she bcthought herself
Havng that within her womb that had LETT her i'll.
content;
And the rest they aboard u.s. and they fought us
hand to hand.
For a dozen times they came with their pixies and
And dozen times we shook em of as a dog that
shakes his ears
When he leaps from the water to the land.
And the sun went down. and the stars came out far
over the summer sea,
But never moment ceased the fight Of the one and
ship after ship, the whole night long their hghbuil
gAeOns came,
Ship after ship the whole night long, with her battle
ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back with
her dead and her shame
Pol some were sunk and many were shattered and
50 could fight us no more
GOD u battles, was ever battle like this in the world
before?
for he said, Fight on Gght on"
Tho bis vessel all but a wreck;
Ana u Glanced that when half Of the night
wlh grstly wound to be drest he had ief, the deck
Hut bullet struck him that dressing it suddenly
dead,
Aud hmsslf was wounded again in tho side aud the
And he said, Plight on! fight ou"'
And the night went down, aud the sun smiled out far
over the summer sea,
all in ring;
But they dared not touch us again, for they feared
tina. we still could sting:
So they watched what the end would be-
Aud We had not fought them in vain,
But in perilous plight were We,
Seeing forty Of our poor hundred were slain,
And half the rest of us MANNED for life
In the crash Of tue eannonades and the desperate
strife;
And the sick men down in the hold were most Of
them stark and cold,
And the pixies were all broken bent and the pow
der was all Of It spent;
And the mafts and the rigging were lying the
But Sir Richard cried in his English pride
''We have fought such fight for day and night
As may never be fought again!
We have won great glory, my men!
And dag less or more
At sea or ashore,
We die does it matter when:
sink me the ship, Master Guaner-siuk her! split
her in twain
Fall into the hands Of God not into the hands of
Epain!'
And the gunner said "Ay, ayw but the seamsn made
1--WE have children, we have wives
And the Lord hath spared our lives
We will make the SpAniard promise If yield 10 let
usgO;
We shall live to fight again and to strike another
blow"
And the lion there lay dying, aud they yielded to the
foe
Aud the stately Spanish mon to their flagship bore
him then,
Where th.y laid him by the mast, old Sir Richard
caught At last,
And they praised him to his face with their courtly
foreign grace;
But herose upon their decks, and he cried:
81 have fought for Queen aud Faith like valiant
man and true;
have only done my duty man is bound to do;
With Joyous tpirii l, Sir Richard Grenville die"
Aud he fell upon their deckE, and he died.
And they stared at the dead tLat had been so valiant
aud true,
And had holden the power aud glory Of Spain cheap
That he dared her with little ship and his English
few:
was he de,n or man? He was devil for aught they
knew;
But they sank his body with honor down into the
deep,