condescended, as well for fear of further loss and mischief to themselves, as also for the desire to recover Sir Richard Grenville; whom for his notable valor he seemed greatly to honor and admire. 5 When this answer was returned, and safety of life was promised, the most drew back from Sir Richard and the gunner, it being no hard matter to dissuade men from death to life. Then the General sent many boats aboard the Revenge, and divers of our men, fearing Sir Richard's disposition, stole away aboard the 10 General and other ships. Sir Richard, thus overmatched, was sent unto by Don Alfonso Bassan to remove out of the Revenge, the ship being marvelous unsavory. As he was carried out of the ship, he swooned, and reviving again desired the company to pray for him. Don Alfonso used Sir Richard with all human15 ity, highly commending his valor and greatly bewailing the danger wherein he was. To the Spaniards he was a rare spectacle, having turned one ship toward so many enemies, endured the charge and boarding of so many huge vessels, and resisted and repelled the assaults and entries of so many soldiers. 20 Sir Richard died, as it is said, the second or third day aboard the General, and was by all greatly bewailed. The comfort that remaineth to his friends is that he hath ended his life honorably in the reputation won to his country, and that he hath not outlived his own honor. NOTES AND QUESTIONS -Abridged. Biographical and Historical Note. In the autumn of 1591 a small fleet of English vessels lay at the Azores to intercept the Spanish treasureships from the Indies. On the appearance of the Spanish war-vessels sent to protect the treasure-ships, the much smaller English fleet took flight, with the exception of the Revenge, commanded by Sir Richard Grenville. Lord Bacon described the fight as "a defeat exceeding victory.” This story of the fight of the Revenge was written by Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618), a cousin of Grenville. Raleigh was an English explorer, colonizer, and historian. He planted the first English colony in America, on Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. Later, he was interested in an attempt to form a colony in Guiana, and his account of his experiences is one of the most thrilling adventure stories in the world. His daring exploits made him a favorite at the court of Queen Elizabeth, but after her death he gained the ill will of James I and was executed on a false charge of piracy and treason. In 1588, three years before the events narrated in this selection, the Spanish Armada, the great fleet sent by King Philip II to overthrow England, was met and defeated by a small English fleet. The last fight of the Revenge is one of the many smaller struggles that continued to take place, after Spain's defeat, between the two unfriendly nations. The overthrow of the great Armada is a victory of first importance, for it marked the collapse of the attempt on the part of an ambitious ruler to establish Spanish despotism not only in England, but everywhere throughout Europe. Just as the Persian dreams of world dominion were ended by the Greeks, aroused by the heroic example of Leonidas, so the defeat of the Armada by the English fleet, two thousand years later, ended the plans for world conquest on the part of Spain. Discussion. 1. Describe the English fleet as it lay anchored near Flores. 2. What was the condition of the men on the Revenge and the Bonaventure? 3. What two things could Sir Richard do? 4. Which did he choose? Why? 5. How were the Spanish ships manned as compared with the English? 6. Describe the condition of the Revenge on the second day of the fighting. 7. What was Sir Richard's order to the master gunner? 8. What was the opinion of the Captain and the Master? 9. What do you think of the reasons they gave? 10. What was the Spaniard's offer? 11. What did you read in the second paragraph on page 219 about dangers that threaten freedom? What "ambitious men or groups of men" were opposed by Leonidas? By Arnold Winkelried? By Robert the Bruce? By the English sea captains like Sir Richard? 12. Find examples of quaint expressions and uses of words, such as which for who, page 253, line 15. 13. Look up in the Glossary the meaning of: ordnance; divers; galleon; affirmed; several; squadron; assault; condescended; mortal. 14. Pronounce: victualers; Azores; armada; wounded; dissuade. Phrases for Study weigh their anchors, 253, 13 upper work altogether razed, 255, 4 must needs be possessed, 255, 8 entertain a composition, 255, 24 dangerous disposition, 255, 34 YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND THOMAS CAMPBELL Ye mariners of England, That guard our native seas, Whose flag has braved, a thousand years, The battle and the breeze! 5 Your glorious standard launch again To match another foe, And sweep through the deep, While the stormy winds do blow; While the battle rages loud and long, 10 And the stormy winds do blow. The spirits of your fathers Shall start from every wave!— For the deck it was their field of fame, 15 Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell, Britannia needs no bulwarks, No towers along the steep; Her march is o'er the mountain-waves, Her home is on the deep. 25 With thunders from her native oak She quells the floods below, As they roar on the shore, When the stormy winds do blow; 30 And the stormy winds do blow. The meteor flag of England Till danger's troubled night depart, When the storm has ceased to blow When the fiery fight is heard no more, 10 And the storm has ceased to blow. NOTES AND QUESTIONS For Biography see page 198. Discussion. 1. Which stanzas refer to the present; which one refers to the past; which one to the future? 2. Why does the poet take this view into the past and the future? 3. Notice the interesting rime in the seventh line of every stanza. 4. Notice the pleasing effect which the poet produces by using, in one line, several words beginning with the same letter: "battle," "breeze," "loud and long"; find other examples. 5. What service for our "Inheritance of Freedom" was done by the "mariners of England" in the struggle against the Spanish Armada? 6. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: launch; bulwark; steep; terrific. Library Reading. "On Admiralty Service," Harding (in Harper's Magazine, December, 1917); "Battle of the Baltic," Campbell. field of fame, 258, 13 Phrases for Study meteor flag, 259, 1 thunders from her native oak, 258,25 danger's troubled night, 259, 3 ENGLAND AND AMERICA IN 1782 ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON O Thou, that sendest out the man Strong mother of a Lion-line, Be proud of those strong sons of thine 10 15 What wonder, if in noble heat Those men thine arms withstood, But Thou rejoice with liberal joy, And shatter, when the storms are black, The seas that shock thy base! Whatever harmonies of law The growing world assume, Thy work is thine-the single note From that deep chord which Hampden smote Will vibrate to the doom. NOTES AND QUESTIONS For Biography see page 62. Discussion. 1. Why does the poet think England should be proud of America? 2. Read the lines that tell, in figurative language, what England and Englishmen will do when their rights are attacked. 3. Notice in the last stanza how the words harmonies, note, chord, smote, and vibrate all help to carry out the thought expressed in figurative language. 4. What was the "chord which Hampden smote"? 5. Is it still "vibrating"? 6. On page 220 you read that George Washington "performed a double service in the cause of freedom." What was this "double service"? Which line in the second stanza shows that Tennyson understood this fact? 7. On page 222 you read a prophecy by Burke; how does Tennyson's poem prove that Burke was right? |