Part 17

They curse her desert places! How can they understand, Who know not what her face is And never held her hand?-- Who may have heard the meeting Of boughs the wind has stirred, Yet missed the whispered greeting Our listening hearts have heard.

For some have travelled over The long miles at her side, Yet claimed her not as Lover Nor thought of her as Bride: And some have followed after Through sun and mist for years, Nor held the sunshine laughter, Nor guessed the raindrops tears.

If we some white arms’ folding, Some warm, red mouth should miss-- Her hand is ours for holding, Her lips are ours to kiss; And closer than a lover She shares our lightest breath, And droops her great wings over To shield us to the death.

The winds of Dawn are roving, The river-oaks astir ... What heart were lorn of loving That had no Love but her? Till last red stars are lighted And last winds wander West, Her troth and mine are plighted-- The Lover I love best!

_William Ogilvie._

EVANS

CCXXVII

A FEDERAL SONG

In the greyness of the dawning we have seen the pilot-star, In the whisper of the morning we have heard the years afar. Shall we sleep and let them be When they call to you and me? Can we break the land asunder God has girdled with the sea? For the Flag is floating o’er us, And the track is clear before us;-- From the desert to the ocean let us lift the mighty chorus For the days that are to be.

We have flung the challenge forward:--‘Brothers stand or fall as one!’ She is coming out to meet us in the splendour of the sun;-- From the graves beneath the sky Where her nameless heroes lie, From the forelands of the Future they are waiting our reply! We can face the roughest weather If we only hold together, Marching forward to the Future, marching shoulder-firm together; For the Nation yet to be.

All the greyness of the dawning, all the mists are overpast; In the glory of the morning we shall see her face at last. He who sang, ‘She yet will be,’ He shall hail her, crowned and free! Could we break the land asunder God had girdled with the sea? For the Flag is floating o’er us, And the star of Hope before us, From the desert to the ocean, brothers, lift the mighty chorus For Australian Unity!

_George Essex Evans._

O’HARA

CCXXVIII

FLINDERS

He left his island home For leagues of sleepless foam, For stress of alien seas, Where wild winds ever blow; For England’s sake he sought Fresh fields of fame, and fought A stormy world for these, A hundred years ago.

And where the Austral shore Heard southward far the roar Of rising tides that came From lands of ice and snow, Beneath a gracious sky To fadeless memory He left a deathless name A hundred years ago.

Yea, left a name sublime From that wild dawn of Time, Whose light he haply saw In supreme sunrise flow, And from the shadows vast, That filled the dim dead past, A brighter glory draw, A hundred years ago.

Perchance, he saw in dreams Beside our sunlit streams In some majestic hour Old England’s banners blow; Mayhap, the radiant morn Of this great nation born, August with perfect power, A hundred years ago.

We know not,--yet for thee Far may the season be, Whose harp in shameful sleep Is soundless lying low! Far be the noteless hour That holds of fame no flower For those who dared our deep A hundred years ago!

_John Bernard O’Hara._

CCXXIX

THE AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH

Lo, ’tis the light of the morn Over the mountains breaking, And our Empire’s day is born, The life of a Nation waking To the triumph of regal splendour, To the voice of conquering fate That cries ‘No longer wait!’ To the rising hopes that send her Fearless upon her way With no thoughts of her yesterday, But dreams of a mighty State Great ’mid the old grave nations, Divine in her aspirations; Blest be the men who brought her, Freedom’s starriest daughter, Out of the night Into the light, A power and a glory for evermore!-- Let the old world live in the pages Time wrote in the dark of the ages, For us ’tis the light of the morning breaking on sea and shore!

They found her a maiden with dower Only of seasons sunny, Blue skies and the frail white flower Of Peace with its song’s sweet honey, And the joy of her wild seas flinging Their voices on fairy strands Where only the winds’ soft singing Broke on the sleep of day, Or a whistling spear by the dim green way Of the water and the lands. Green were the woodlands round her, Blue were the seas that bound her, Soft was the sky above her, A dreamily lonely lover; Streams and dells And the mountain wells, And the voice of the forest were hers alone, And the life of the grim grave ranges, The night and the noon and the changes Of light on the topmost peaks when the rose of the dawn was blown.

Lift up thine honoured head! The skies are all aflame; The east to morn is wed; Lift up thine honoured head, And fearless keep thy fame! There is work for thee to do, A nation’s work is thine; O land, beloved, mine! Gird thee for life anew! With strength, that fails not, keep Thy pathway bright with Good; Let Honour, Justice, sweep Aside the weeds that creep-- Grim Error, Unbelief, And their Titanic brood, Be thine the task to rear The spacious halls of Art, To hearken to sweet Song, Be thine the pride to fear No foe while in thy heart The love of Truth is strong, To help the weak, and be Beloved and great and free, Even as thy Mighty Mother--the Grey Queen of the Sea!

_John Bernard O’Hara._

IX

NEW ZEALAND

BRACKEN

CCXXX

NEW ZEALAND HYMN

God of Nations! at Thy feet In the bonds of love we meet, Hear our voices, we entreat, God defend our free land! Guard Pacific’s triple star From the shafts of strife and war. Make her praises heard afar, God defend New Zealand!

Men of every creed and race Gather here before Thy face, Asking Thee to bless this place, God defend our free land! From dissension, envy, hate, And corruption guard our State, Make our country good and great, God defend New Zealand!

Peace, not war, shall be our boast, But, should foes assail our coast, Make us then a mighty host, God defend our free land! Lord of Battles, in Thy might, Put our enemies to flight, Let our cause be just and right, God defend New Zealand!

Let our love for Thee increase, May Thy blessings never cease, Give us plenty, give us peace, God defend our free land! From dishonour and from shame Guard our country’s spotless name, Crown her with immortal fame, God defend New Zealand!

May our mountains ever be Freedom’s ramparts on the sea, Make us faithful unto Thee, God defend our free land! Guide her in the nations’ van, Preaching love and truth to man, Working out Thy glorious plan, God defend New Zealand!

_Thomas Bracken._

BATHGATE

CCXXXI

OUR HERITAGE

A perfect peaceful stillness reigns, Not e’en a passing playful breeze The sword-shaped flax-blades gently stirs: The vale and slopes of rising hills Are thickly clothed with yellow grass, Whereon the sun, late risen, throws His rays, to linger listlessly. Naught the expanse of yellow breaks, Save where a darker spot denotes Some straggling bush of thorny scrub; While from a gully down the glen, The foliage of the dull-leaved trees Rises to view; and the calm air From stillness for a moment waked By parakeets’ harsh chattering, Swift followed by a tui’s trill Of bell-like notes, is hushed again. The tiny orbs of glistening dew Still sparkle, gem-like, ’mid the grass; While morning mist, their Mother moist, Reluctant loiters on the hill, Whence presently she’ll pass to merge In the soft depths of the blue heav’ns. This fertile Isle to us is given Fresh from its Maker’s hand; for here No records of the vanished past Tell of the time when might was right, And self-denial weakness was; But all is peaceful, pure, and fair. Our heritage is hope. We’ll rear A Nation worthy of the land; And when in age we linger late, Upon the heights above life’s vale, Before we, like the mist, shall merge In depths of God’s eternity, We’ll see, perchance, our influence Left dew-like, working for the good Of those whose day but dawns below.

_Alexander Bathgate._

MONTGOMERY

CCXXXII

TO ONE IN ENGLAND

I send to you Songs of a Southern Isle, Isle like a flower In warm seas low lying: Songs to beguile Some wearisome hour, When Time’s tired of flying.

Songs which were sung To a rapt listener lying, In sweet lazy hours, Where wild-birds’ nests swing, And winds come a-sighing In Nature’s own bowers.

Songs which trees sing, By summer winds swayed Into rhythmical sound; Sweet soul-bells sung Through the Ngaio’s green shade, Unto one on the ground.

Songs from an Island Just waking from sleeping In history’s morning; Songs from a land Where night shadows creep When your day is dawning.

* * * * *

O songs, go your way, Over seas, over lands, Though friendless sometimes, Fear not, comes a day When the world will clasp hands With my wandering rhymes.

_Eleanor Elizabeth Montgomery._

CCXXXIII

A VOICE FROM NEW ZEALAND

_Cooee!_ I send my voice Far North to you, Rose of the water’s choice, Dear England true! Guardian angels three-- Faith, Hope, and Charity-- Welcome the strong sons free Born unto you.

_Cooee!_ Through flamegirt foam Speeds now my soul Straight to thy hero home. Blue waters roll Round where Immortals trod-- Shakespeare--half man, half God-- Laughed, with divining rod, Sounding the soul.

Thou shining gem of sea! Angels on wing, Resting where men are free, Teach them to sing Such songs blind Milton heard, Coleridge and Wordsworth stirred, Keats’, and our own lost bird’s Haunting, sweet ring.

_Cooee!_ North, hear the song On the South’s breath, Laurels to life belong; Cypress to death! Wreathe in song’s garland fair, Culled with a Nation’s care, My cypress leaf--a prayer, Warm with South’s breath!

_Eleanor Elizabeth Montgomery._

NOTES

I.--ENGLAND

I

_Agincourt, or the English Bowmans Glory. To a pleasant new Tune._ Quoted in Heywood’s _King Edward IV._, and, therefore, popular before 1600. This ballad has been severely edited, and I omit several stanzas. It is printed in full in Hazlitt’s edition of Collier’s ‘Shakespeare’s Library,’ vol. i. (Reeves & Turner, 1825).

II

Published in 1589.

III-IV

Both were published in _Poemes Lyrick and Pastorall_ (1605?) and _Poemes_ (1619). As to the first:--l. 6. _Caux_ (‘commonlie called Kidcaux,’ says Holinshed) was the district north-east of the mouth of the Seine.

l. 83. _bilbos._ Swords, from Bilbao.

92. _ding._ To belabour with blows.

V-VI

The first is from John of Gaunt’s dying speech (_King Richard II._,

## Act ii. sc. 1). _King Richard II._ was probably written early in

1593. It was published anonymously in 1597. The second is from _King John_, Act v. sc. 7. 1594 is the date assigned to Shakespeare’s _King John_, which was first printed in the First Folio (1623). These and the two succeeding numbers follow the text of ‘The Globe Edition’ of Shakespeare’s Works. I am indebted to the publishers of that edition, Messrs. Macmillan & Co., and to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press, Oxford, for kindly extending to readers of this volume the benefits of the scientific labours of Dr. W. G. Clark and Mr. W. A. Wright.

VII

From various parts of _King Henry V._ The play was written in 1598, and performed for the first time early in 1599. The first complete version was published in the First Folio (1623).

l. 23. _rivage._ The shore.

27. _sternage._ (To sternage of=astern of, so as to follow.)

40. _puissance._ Strength.

87. _battle._ An army, or division of an army.

90. _accomplishing._ Equipping.

144. _Crispian._ ‘The daie following,’ says Holinshed, ‘was the five and twentieth of October in the year 1415, being then fridaie, and the feast of Crispine and Crispinian, a daie faire and fortunate to the English, but most sorrowfull and unluckie to the French.’

174. _Whiffler._ Herald or usher.

183. _ostent._ Clear, visible.

VIII

_King Henry VIII._, Act ii. sc. 3.

IX

Printed by Percy (_Reliques of Ancient English Poetry_, 1765). ‘From an old black-letter copy.’

_Cailìver_ (l. 21)=Caliver, a kind of light musket.

X

There are broadsides of this ballad in the Roxburghe and Bagford Collections. The version here given is taken from Mr. Henley’s volume, _Lyra Heroica_ (David Nutt, 1891), by permission of editor and publisher. The full title of the Roxburghe broadside is as follows:--‘The Honour of Bristol, shewing how the Angel Gabriel of Bristol fought with three ships, who boarded as many times, wherein we cleared our Decks, and killed five hundred of their Men, and wounded many more, and make them fly into Cales, where we lost but three men, to the Honour of the Angel Gabriel of Bristol. To the tune of _Our Noble King in his Progress_.’

Calés (l. 13), pronounced as a dissyllable, is, of course, Cadiz.

XI--XII

The first is entitled: _To the Lord General Cromwell, May 1652: On the Proposals of certain Ministers at the Committee for Propagation of the Gospel_, and was written against the intolerant Fifteen Proposals of John Owen and the majority of the Committee. This sonnet first appeared at the end of Philip’s _Life of Milton_ (1694).

_Hireling wolves_ (l. 14)=the paid clergy.

The second is from the chorus of _Samson Agonistes_ (ll. 1268-1286). _Samson Agonistes_ was first published in 1671, in the small octavo volume which contained _Paradise Regained_.

XIII--XIV

The _Horatian Ode_ was first printed in 1776, in Captain Edward Thompson’s edition of Marvell’s _Works_.

l. 15. _side._ Party.

32. _Bergamot._ A kind of pear.

67, &c. The finding of the human head at Rome, regarded as a happy omen, is mentioned by Pliny (_Nat. Hist._, xxviii. 4).

The second appeared in _Poems_ (1681).

XV

Produced in 1643. The author was a famous ballad-monger of Charles I.’s time. The original refrain was ‘When the King comes home in peace again’ (_Roxburghe Collection of Ballads_, iii. 256; _Loyal Garland_, 1671 and 1686; Ritson, _Ancient Songs_). The song was written to support the declining cause of the Royal Martyr. It helped to keep up the spirits of the Cavaliers in the days before the Restoration (1660), which event it was used to celebrate. When the Revolution (1688) drove the Stuarts into exile, this song became a weapon in the hands of the Jacobites.

XVI

This was a very popular loyal song in the reign of Charles II. Both words and music are given in Playford’s _Musical Companion_ (1667).

XVII--XVIII

The first is from Dryden’s opera, _King Arthur, or the British Worthy_ (1691). As to the first: ‘A battle is supposed to be given behind the scenes, with drums, trumpets, and military shouts and excursions; after which, the Britons, expressing their joy for the victory, sing this song of triumph.’--Author’s Note.

The second is an extract from _Annus Mirabilis_ (1667).

XIX

This famous song, which Heine once declared expressed the whole character of the English people, made its first appearance in _The Masque of Alfred_ (1740).

XX

This song is at least as old as the reign of Queen Anne. In the British Museum there are many half-sheet copies, with music. The earliest begins, ‘Here’s a health to the Queen,’ &c.

XXI

The first print of our National Anthem is to be found in _Harmonica Anglicana_, a collation of part songs (_circa_ 1742). This copy consists of two stanzas only. The third made its appearance when _Harmonica Anglicana_ was extended to two volumes, with the new title _Thesaurus Musicus_. The copy printed in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ (October 1745) contains the three stanzas given here, and is called, ‘A Song for Two Voices sung at both play-houses.’

XXII

Sung in Garrick’s pantomime, _The Harlequin’s Invasion_, produced December 31, 1759.

XXIII

_Odes_ (‘Printed for A. Millar in the Strand,’ 1746), and Dodsley’s _Museum_ (iv., 1749).

XXIV-XXV

The first was written ‘after reading Hume’s _History_ in 1780’ (Benham). The second was written in September 1782. The _Royal George_ (108 guns) was being repaired at Spithead (August 29, 1782), when she capsized and sank instantly. Rear-Admiral Richard Kempenfelt was then under orders to proceed to the relief of Gibraltar.

XXVI-XXVIII

The first is from _The Oddities, a Table Entertainment_ (1789-1790), and its original title was _Poor Tom, or the Sailor’s Epitaph_. The second was first sung in _The Wags, or the Camp of Pleasure_ (October 18, 1790). The third was first sung in _A Tour to Land’s End_ (1798), and its original title was _Yo heave ho!_ The first collected edition of Charles Dibdin’s songs was issued in five volumes from 1790 to 1799.

XXIX

The air of _The British Grenadiers_ is at least as old as the reign of Elizabeth, and is one of the most characteristic of the English National airs. The words here given are from a copy (with music) about a hundred and fifty years old.

XXX

Chappell dates this song 1758. The matter is not free from doubt, but the reference in the second stanza to ‘Brighton Camp’ is a clue. There were encampments along the south coast (1758-9) when Hawke and Rodney were watching the French fleet in Brest Harbour. The song appears to be English, although it has appeared in several collections of Irish music. I have omitted several stanzas which appear in Chappell’s version (_Popular Music of the Olden Time_, vol. ii. p. 710).

XXXI

From _Lock and Key_, ‘a musical entertainment,’ first performed at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (_circa_ 1790).

XXXII

From two of the _Prophetic Books_ entitled _Jerusalem_ and _Milton_ respectively, and both published in 1804.

XXXIII

_Poems_ (1807). Composed August 1802. ‘On August 29th left Calais at 12 in the morning for Dover.... Bathed and sat on the Dover Cliffs, looked upon France. We could see the shores about as plain as if it were an English lake. Mounted the coach at half-past four, arrived in London at six.’--(Dorothy Wordsworth’s Journal.)

XXXIV-XL

_Poems_ (1807). The first and second were composed in September 1802, the third in 1803, and the fourth in 1806. The fifth is from the third stanza of the _Thanksgiving Ode_ (1816). The sixth and seventh were ‘composed or suggested during a Tour in the Summer of 1833,’ and were published in _Yarrow Revisited and Other Poems_ (1835).

XLI

From the Introduction to the first canto of _Marmion_ (1808).

XLII-XLIII

_The Snug Little Island, or The March of Invasion_ was first sung by ‘Jew’ Davis in _The British Raft_ at Sadler’s Wells on Easter Monday, 1797. Tune--‘The Rogue’s March.’ The author’s title for the next number (_Last Lays_, 1833) is _A Soldier’s Life_.

XLIV

_Poetical Works_, vol. iii. (Longmans, 1838). This is number xxxiii. of the ‘Inscriptions.’

XLV-XLVII

The first two were published with _Gertrude of Wyoming_ (1809). The first (written at Altona during the winter of 1800-1) is based on a seventeenth-century song which Campbell used to sing. As to the second (written in 1805), I omit stanzas 5, 6, and 8, an improvement suggested by Mr. Henley. The third appeared in _Theodoric and Other Poems_ (Longmans, 1824).

XLVIII

_Songs and Poems_ (edited by Peter Cunningham, 1847).

XLIX-LI

The first is from _Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage_ (canto iii. stanza 2, and canto iv. stanzas 8, 9, 10). The third canto was published in 1816, and the fourth in 1818. Byron left England--never to return--on April 24, 1816.

l. 22. The poet’s body was sent home to England, and was buried in the family vault at Hucknall Torkard, near Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire.

32. The answer of the mother of Brasidas, the Spartan General, to the strangers who praised the memory of her son.

The second is from the third canto of _Don Juan_ (1821).

The third is from _Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage_ (canto iii. stanzas 21-28). The Duchess of Richmond’s famous ball took place on June 15, 1815, the eve of Quatre Bras, at the Duke’s house in the Rue de la Blanchisserie, Brussels.

20. _Brunswick’s fated chieftain._ The Duke of Brunswick (1771-1815) was killed at Quatre Bras. His father, author of the famous manifesto against the French Republic (July 15, 1792), had fallen at Jena (1806).

54. _Evan’s--Donald’s._ Sir Evan Cameron (1629-1719) and his grandson Donald Cameron of Lochiel (1695-1748). The former fought at Killiecrankie (1689), and the latter, celebrated by Campbell in _Lochiel’s Warning_, was wounded at Culloden (1746).

55. _Ardennes._ The general term is applied to the forest of Soignies, which at this time occupied the whole country between Brussels and Waterloo.

LII

First published (without the author’s permission) in the _Newry Telegraph_ (April 19, 1817), and reprinted in many other journals. Highly praised by Byron (1822)--‘Such an ode as only Campbell could have written’--this poem was attributed to Byron himself, and claimed by many impostors. The question of authorship was settled in 1841 by the discovery of an autograph copy in a letter from Wolfe to a college friend.

LIII-LIV

_Works, with a Memoir_ (7 vols., William Blackwood & Sons, 1839). Most of Mrs. Hemans’ poems were first published in periodicals, such as _The Edinburgh Monthly Magazine_ and _The New Monthly Magazine_. The latter was, for a time, edited by Thomas Campbell, not very successfully. The ‘Author’s Note’ on the first number is as follows:--‘It is supposed that war was anciently proclaimed in Britain by sending messengers in different directions through the land, each bearing a _bended bow_; and that peace was in like manner announced by a bow unstrung, and, therefore, straight.’

LV-LVI

The first (reprinted from _Knight’s Quarterly Magazine_) was included in the 1848 edition of the _Lays of Ancient Rome_. It is dated 1832.

LVII-LVIII

_Alma and other Poems_ (1855), and _Poems_ (New Edition, 2 vols., Macmillan & Co., 1885). By permission of Mr. A. Chenevix Trench.

LIX

_Last Poems_ (Smith, Elder & Co., 1862). This volume was published after the author’s death. By permission of the publishers.

LX-LXVI

The first two appeared in _Poems_ (2 vols., Edward Moxon, 1842). The third is from _The Princess: a Medley_ (Edward Moxon, 1847). The fourth is from the lines entitled, _To the Queen_, forming the Dedication of the Seventh Edition of _Poems_ (London: 1851). The fifth and sixth first appeared in _The Examiner_, in 1852; the former on January 31, and the latter on February 7. The seventh is from the _Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington_, published separately in November 1852 (Edward Moxon), and reprinted with _Maud_ (1855).

LXVII-LXVIII

The first appeared in _The Examiner_, December 9, 1854, and was reprinted with _Maud_ (1855). Written on December 2nd, in a few minutes, after reading the description in _The Times_, in which occurred the phrase ‘someone had blundered.’ (_Memoir_, i. p. 381.) The second is from _Maud_.

LXIX

_The Return of the Guards and Other Poems_ (Macmillan & Co., 1866). By permission of the publishers. The poem deals with an incident of the war with China (1860):--‘Some Seiks (Sikhs) and a private of the Buffs (or East Kent Regiment) having remained behind with the grog-carts, fell into the hands of the Chinese. On the next morning they were brought before the authorities, and commanded to perform the _Ko tou_. The Seiks obeyed; but Moyse, the English soldier, declaring that he would not prostrate himself before any Chinaman alive, was immediately knocked upon the head, and his body thrown upon a dunghill.’ Quoted by the author from _The Times_.

LXX-LXXI