The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-03-28
9uetru.
TENNYsoN's NEW POEM.
"THn REvrNopi BALLAD OF THE FLnnTo


"THB REVENGE: A BALLAD OF THE FLEET
The new number OF the Nineteenth Century
has the following from the pen Of the Poet
Laureate
AT Flores In the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay,
And pnnace, like futterd bird, came flying from
far away
spanish ships Of war at sea we have sighted fifty
threeIn
Then sware Lord Thomas Howardi "Fore God
am no coward,
But cannot meet them here for my ships are out of
gear
And the half my men are sick I must fly, but fol.
low quick
We are six ships of the llnei can we fight with fifty,
threeW
Then spake Sir Richard Grenvllie: "I know you are
no coward;
You fly them for moment to fight with them again.
But I've ninety men and more that are lying sick
ashore
should count myself the coward If LEFT them, my
Lord Howard
To these InQusItlOn dogs and the devIldoms of
Spain"
Lord Howard passes away, and Sir Richard
Grenville is left with his own ship, containing
ninety sick men and 100 seamen ft 10 work the
ship and to fight. They encounter the Spanish
feet one to fifty three.
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 hgh.built
galleOns came,
Ship after ship, the whole night long, with her battle
thunder and flame;
Ship aNer ship, the whole night long, drew back with
her dead and her shame
For some were sunk and many were shatterd, and
so could fight us no more
God ofbattes ever battle like this in the world
before?
For he said, Eight on fight ont"
Tho his vessel was all but wreck
| Andit chanced that, when half of the Summer night
was gone
With grsly wound to be drest he had left the deck
But bullet struck him that was dressing Ii suddenly
dead
And himself he was wounded again in the side and
the head,
And he said, Eight on fight onm
And the night went down. and sun smiled out far
over the Summer sea,
And the Spanish fleet with broken sides lay round us
all in n ring;
But they dared not touch us again, for they feard
| that we still could sting
| So they watched what the end would be.
The end was not doubtful, and Sir Richard
Grenville had his way of encountering it.
"Slnk me the ship, Master Gunner-sink her, split
her in twainl
Fall into the hands of God not into the hands OF
Spain!n
But the crewlwere of less heroic mood, for "the
lion there lay dying and they yielded to the foe"
And the stately Spanish men to their flagship bore
him then.
| Where they laid him by the mast old Sir Richard
| caught at last
And they praised him to his face with their courtly
foreign grace;
But he rose upon their decks and he crled
II have fought for Queen and Faith like q valiant
| man and true;
I have only done my duty as a man is bound to do
With joyful spirit l. Sir Richard Grenville de!"
And he fell upon their decks, and he died.
And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant
and true,
And had holden the power andgglory of Spain so
| cheap
That he dared herw one llttesship and his Eng
lish few
Was he devil or man? He was devil for ought they
| knew,
| But they sank his body with honor down into the
deep.
And they mann'd the Revenge with swarthier alien
And away she salld with her loss and longd for her
| own;
When wind from the lands they had ruln'd awolle
from sleep,
And the water began to heave and the weather to
| moan.
| And or ever that evening ended great galeiblew,
And wave like the wave that is raised by an earth
quake grew
Till it smote on their hus and their sai1sand their
masts and their flags,
And the whole sea plunged and fell over the shot.
| shattered navy of Spain,
And the little Revenge herself went down by the
island crags
To be lost evermore in the main.