Part 19
_Canadian Monthly_ (August, 1897). By permission of the author.
CCII
_Watchers of Twilight_ (Montreal: T. H. Warren, 1894). By permission of the author. Line 2 is a quotation from William Watson’s _Last Words to the Colonies_.
CCIII
_In Various Moods_ (Toronto: William Briggs, 1894). By permission of the author.
VI.--INDIA
CCIV
_Miscellaneous Verses_ (Calcutta: Sanders, Cones & Co., 1848).
_Gunga_ (l. 49)=the Ganges.
CCV
_Cornhill Magazine_ (September, 1868), and _Verses Written in India_ (Kegan Paul & Co., 1889). By permission of author and publishers.
The massacre which suggested this poem took place near Mohundi, in Oudh (June, 1857). The lives of all the English prisoners would have been spared had they consented to profess Mahometanism by repeating the usual short formula.
CCVI-CCVIII
_Indian Lyrics_ (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1884). By permission of the author.
The Author’s Note on the second is as follows:--‘Over the well rises a pedestal supporting a statue in white marble--the Angel of Pity. Below is the inscription: _Sacred to the perpetual memory of a great company of Christian people, chiefly women and children, who near this spot were cruelly massacred by the followers of the rebel Nana Dhoondoo Punth of Bithoor; and cast, the dying with the dead, into the well below, on the 15th day of July 1857._’
As to the third,--
l. 7. _peepuls._ The peepul (or pepul) tree.
8. _poinsianas._ The _poinciana regia_, a flowering shrub introduced from Madagascar.
CCIX-CCXI
All three appeared first in _The Times of India_, and are included in _Soldierin’_ (Bombay: Indian Textile Journal Co., 1899). By permission of author and publishers.
As to the second,--l. 28. _sangared._ Sangars are temporary stone shelters for riflemen.
As to the third,--During the operations in Tirah (1897) the pass of Saransar (or Saran Sur) was the retreat of the hillmen known as the Lakka Khels. On November 9, a reconnaissance in force was made up the pass. The firing from the heights was deadly and continuous, and, in the evening, when our troops were retreating down the pass, a small party of the 48th (Northamptonshire Regiment) under Second Lieutenant Macintyre and Colour-Sergeant Luck, were cut off and surrounded by the enemy. It was found impossible to save them, and the following morning their dead bodies were found together.
l. 9. _Talavera._ The 48th are known as ‘The Talavera Boys,’ having distinguished themselves at the battle of Talavera, in the Peninsular War (July 27 and 28, 1809).
CCXII
_Departmental Ditties_ (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1886. London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1899). By permission of the author and Messrs. George Newnes, Limited. ‘The Galley-Slave’ is understood to be a mystical name for the Indian Civil Servant.
VII.--SOUTH AFRICA
CCXIII
_Ephemerides_ (London: 1828).
CCXIV
By permission of the author and the editor of _Literature_, in which publication (December 9, 1899) the poem first appeared.
CCXV
Published in G. W. Steevens’ posthumous volume, _Things Seen: with Memoir by W. E. Henley_ (Blackwood, 1900). By permission of the author. The quatrain is inscribed ‘G. W. S., December 10, 1869--January 15, 1900.’ The lines were written of G. W. Steevens, journalist and war correspondent, who died at Ladysmith during the siege.
CCXVI
_England Revisited_ (Cape Town: J. C. Juta & Co., 1900). By permission of the author.
CCXVII
_Cape Argus_ (May 6, 1901). By permission of the author and the editor of the _Cape Argus_.
CCXVIII
_Natal: The Land and its Story_ (Pietermaritzburg: Davis & Sons, Fifth Edition, 1897). By permission of the author.
l. 1. _Congella._ Hostilities having begun in Natal (1842), Captain Smith led the English forces out of Durban for a night attack on Pretorius’ position at Congella. It was a moonlight night, and the advance was observed. Our men were shot down as they marched along the shore without cover. The survivors retreated to Durban, and the Boers immediately invested the town. A despatch-rider having made his way through the Boer lines, reinforcements were sent by sea, and the siege was raised (June 25, 1842). Natal was annexed the following year, and the Boer was thus headed off from the sea.
VIII.--AUSTRALIA
CCXIX
From _Dampier’s Dream: an Australian Foreshadowing_ (Melbourne: George Robertson & Co., 1892). By permission of the author’s representatives.
William Dampier (1652-1715), pirate, circumnavigator, and captain in the navy, made several voyages to the South Seas.
CCXX
_Poems_ (Melbourne: A. H. Massina & Co., 1884). By permission of the publishers.
CCXXI
From _Australia Federata_ (_The Times_, January 1, 1901). This poem appeared the same day in the leading journals of all the States of the Commonwealth of Australia. By permission of Sir Horace Tozer, K.C.M.G., Agent-General for Queensland.
CCXXII
First published in a Tasmanian newspaper. By permission of the author.
CCXXIII
_In the Days when the World was Wide_ (Sydney: Angus & Robertson. London: The Australian Book Co., 1895). By permission of Messrs. Angus & Robertson.
_Jackeroo_ (l. 24).
CCXXIV
_Literature_ (November 11, 1899). By permission of the author and the editor of _Literature_.
CCXXV
_Maoriland and other Verses_ (Sydney: The Bulletin Newspaper Co., 1899). By permission of the publishers.
l. 2. _tussock._ ‘Tussock’ is a coarse grass.
CCXXVI
_Fair Girls and Grey Horses_ (Sydney: The Bulletin Newspaper Co., 1899). By permission of the publishers. This poem first appeared in the Sydney _Bulletin_.
l. 9. _Macquarie._ The river Macquarie rises in the Blue Mountains, eighty miles west of Sydney. After following a north-westerly course of 280 miles its waters are lost in the Macquarie marshes.
CCXXVII
First appeared in _The Brisbane Courier_ (August 8, 1899).
CCXXVIII-CCXXIX
The first appeared in _Songs of the South_ (Ward, Lock & Co., 1891), and the second is an extract from _The Commonwealth: an Ode_ (_Melbourne Age_, January 1901). By permission of the author.
As to the first,--Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), discoverer and captain in the navy, was one of the first surveyors of the east coast of Australia. He spent many years in exploring the country adjacent to the coast.
IX.--NEW ZEALAND
CCXXX
_Musings in Maoriland_ (Sydney: Arthur T. Keirle & Co., 1890). By permission of the publishers.
CCXXXI
First published in the Dunedin _Saturday Advertiser_ (June 22, 1878), and included in _Far South Fancies_ (Griffith, Farran & Co., 1889). By permission of the author.
l. 15. _Parakeets’._ The parakeet resembles a parrot in appearance, and is one of the native birds of New Zealand.
16. _Tui’s._ The tui is a mocking-bird, and has two tufts of white feathers on its neck, the rest of its plumage being jet black. It is commonly called the ‘Parson Bird,’ from its supposed resemblance to a clergyman in a white tie.
CCXXXII-CCXXXIII
The first is from _Songs of the Singing Shepherd_ (Wanganui, New Zealand: A. D. Willis, 1885), and the second from _The Pilgrim of Eternity_ (Wanganui: Wanganui Herald Co., 1892). By permission of the author.
As to the second,--_Cooee_ (l. 1). The signal-call of the aborigines of New Zealand (‘cooee’ or ‘cooey’) can be heard at a great distance.
INDEX OF FIRST LINES
PAGE
Across the streaming flood, the deep ravine 286
After dead centuries 168
Agincourt, Agincourt 3
Ah, now we know the long delay 297
Amid the loud ebriety of War 96
An effigy of brass 133
A perfect peaceful stillness reigns 316
A plenteous place is Ireland for hospitable cheer 225
Are you not weary in your distant places 196
Arvon’s heights hide the bright sun from our gazing 171
A terrible and splendid trust 239
Attend, all ye who list to hear our noble England’s praise 74
Attend you, and give ear awhile 21
Away with bayonet and with lance 63
A wee bird cam’ to our ha’ door 205
A wonderful joy our eyes to bless 122
Blows the wind to-day, and the sun and the rain are flying 196
Bonnie Charlie’s noo awa’ 198
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead 183
Britain fought her sons of yore 85
By crag and lonely moor she stands 254
By the Boer lines at Congella 288
By this, though deep the evening fell 183
Cam’ ye by Athol, lad wi’ the philabeg 199
Come, all ye jolly sailors bold 44
Come, cheer up, my lads, ’tis to glory we steer 35
Come, if you dare, our trumpets sound 31
Come, my hearties--work will stand 302
_Cooee!_ I send my voice 318
Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear 17
Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud 24
Daddy Neptune one day to Freedom did say 55
Dear Cymru, ’mid thy mountains soaring high 173
Dear Harp of my country! in darkness I found thee 216
Despond who will--_I_ heard a voice exclaim 51
Did they dare, did they dare to slay Owen Roe O’Neill 227
Does haughty Gaul invasion threat 181
Drake he’s in his hammock an’ a thousand mile away 149
Drake’s luck to all that sail with Drake 150
Effingham, Grenville, Raleigh, Drake 147
England, awake! awake! awake 45
England, England, England 252
England, queen of the waves, whose green inviolate girdle enrings thee round 125
Erin, the tear and the smile in thine eyes 215
Fair stood the wind for France 5
Fareweel to Lochaber, fareweel to my Jean 177
Far up among the forest-belted mountains 285
Fierce on this bastion beats the noon-day sun 258
First pledge our Queen this solemn night 84
Forests that beard the avalanche 121
Frae the friends and land I love 202
Free as the wind that leaps from out the North 139
From domes and palaces I bent my way 272
Glyndwr, see thy comet flaming 167
God be with the Irish host 224
God of Nations! at Thy feet 315
God of our fathers, known of old 154
God save our Lord, the King 34
Green fields of England! wheresoe’er 93
Green Flodden! on thy bloodstained head 190
Growing to full manhood now 258
Half a league, half a league 87
Harp of the mountain-land! sound forth again 166
Have done with care, my hearts! aboard amain 4
Heard ye the thunder of battle 104
He left his island home 308
Her court was pure; her life serene 83
Here, a sheer hulk, lies poor Tom Bowling 39
Here, on our native soil, we breathe once more 46
Here’s a health to the King and a lasting peace 34
Here’s a health unto His Majesty 31
How great the loss is thy loss to me 233
‘How many?’ said our good captain 108
How sleep the brave who sink to rest 36
I know ’tis but a loom of land 117
I may sit in my wee croo house 200
I’m lonesome since I cross’d the hill 43
I’m sitting on the stile, Mary 222
In all my wanderings round this world of care 211
In a quiet-water’d land, a land of roses 236
In the greyness of the dawning we have seen the pilot-star 307
In the Highlands, in the country places 195
In the ranks of the Austrian you found him 80
I remember the lowering wintry morn 295
I send to you 317
It is not to be thought of that the flood 47
It’s hame, an’ it’s hame, hame fain wad I be 193
It was a’ for our rightfu’ king 203
It wasna from a golden throne 207
I’ve heard the lark’s cry thrill the sky o’er the meadows of Lusk 234
I’ve heard the liltin’ at our ewe-milkin’ 177
Jack dances and sings, and is always content 40
King Philip had vaunted his claims 132
Last night, among his fellow roughs 90
Lest it be said 260
Let rogues and cheats prognosticate 30
Listen! my brothers of Eton and Harrow 157
Lo, how they come to me 155
Lo, our land this night is lone 231
Lo, ’tis the light of the morn 309
Lying here awake, I hear the watchman’s warning 100
March, march, Ettrick and Teviotdale 186
Men of England! who inherit 62
Men of the Hills and men of the Plains, men of the Isles and Sea 276
Methinks already from this chymic flame 32
My England, island England, such leagues and leagues away 141
My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here 180
My name, d’ye see, ’s Tom Tough, I’ve seed a little sarvice 41
New Year, be good to England. Bid her name 129
Nobly, nobly Cape St. Vincent to the North-West died away 92
Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note 69
Not ’mid the thunder of the battle guns 299
Not tasselled palm or bended cypress wooing 233
Now all the youth of England are on fire 12
O, Bay of Dublin! how my heart you’re troublin’ 222
Oh! Charlie is my darling, my darling, my darling 204
O Child of Nations, giant-limbed 250
O England, thou hast many a precious dower 99
Of Nelson and the North 60
Of old sat Freedom on the heights 82
Oft in the pleasant summer years 268
O gallant was our galley from her carven steering-wheel 280
O! he was lang o’ comin’ 199
O how comely it is, and how reviving 24
O, Kenmure’s on and awa, Willie 202
O land of Druid and of Bard 165
O! my dark Rosaleen 219
Once more upon the waters! yet once more 64
‘On with the charge!’ he cries, and waves his sword 244
O, Paddy dear! an’ did ye hear the news that’s goin’ round 211
O, the East is but West, with the sun a little hotter 243
O, then, tell me, Shawn O’Ferrall, tell me why you hurry so 235
O, the red rose may be fair 237
O, to be in England 91
O, ’twas merry down to Looe when the news was carried through 118
O undistinguished Dead 133
Our second Richard Lion-Heart 113
O, where, Kincora! is Brien the Great 218
O, where’s the slave so lowly 214
O where, tell me where, is your Highland laddie gone 178
O! why left I my hame 194
O ye, who with your blood and sweat 246
Pibroch of Donuil Dhu 185
Rain came down drenchingly; but we unblenchingly 131
Remember the glories of Brien the brave 213
Ruin seize thee, ruthless King 161
Sang one of England in his island home 262
Say not the struggle naught availeth 94
Scots, wha hae wi’ Wallace bled 180
See, see where Royal Snowdon rears 172
She is a rich and rare land 226
She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps 215
She stands alone: ally nor friend has she 124
She stands, a thousand wintered tree 143
Shy bird of the silver arrows of song 247
Some talk of Alexander, and some of Hercules 42
Son of the Ocean Isle 72
Sons in my gates of the West 136
Speak gently, gently tread 273
Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing 207
Steep is the soldier’s path; nor are the heights 58
Still stand thy ruins ’neath the Indian sky 275
Sun-showered land! largess of golden light 286
Sye, do yer ’ear thet bugle callin’ 147
The Campbells are comin’, O-ho, O-ho 193
The camp-fire gleams resistance 305
The cool and pleasant days are past 274
The feast is spread through England 112
The fifteenth day of July 18
The forward youth that would appear 25
The harp that once through Tara’s halls 213
Their groves o’ sweet myrtle let foreign lands reckon 182
The Isle of Roses in her Lindian shrine 103
The Isles of Greece, the Isles of Greece 65
The Little Black Rose shall be red at last 229
The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone 212
The news frae Moidart cam’ yestreen 205
There are boys to-day in the city slum and the home of wealth and pride 300
There’s a land, a dear land, where the rights of the free 92
There was a sound of revelry by night 67
There was heard the sound of a coming foe 71
The seaman slept--all nature sleeps; a sacred stillness there 293
The waves are dashing proudly down 267
The weary day rins down and dies 126
They called Thee MERRY ENGLAND in old time 50
They lie unwatched, in waste and vacant places 303
They say that ‘war is hell,’ the ‘great accursed’ 109
This England never did, nor never shall 11
This royal throne of kings, this sceptr’d isle 11
Thy voice is heard through rolling drums 83
To-day the people gather from the streets 120
To horse! to horse! the standard flies 189
Toll for the Brave 38
To mute and to material things 51
To my true king I offered free from stain 77
To Thee, our God, we fly 99
To the Lords of Convention ’twas Claver’se who spoke 187
Truth, winged and enkindled with rapture 129
Unhappy Erin, what a lot was thine 231
Vanguard of Liberty, ye men of Kent 48
War-worn, sun-scorched, stained with the dust of toil 248
We cheered you forth--brilliant and kind and brave 286
We come from tower and grange 134
We come in arms, we stand ten score 97
Welcome, wild North-easter 94
‘Well done!’ The cry goes ringing round the world 287
We’ll o’er the water, we’ll o’er the sea 201
What are the bugles saying 278
Whate’er of woe the Dark may hide in womb 123
What have I done for you 137
What of the bow 143
When Britain first at Heaven’s command 33
When I have borne in memory what has tamed 47
When the British warrior queen 36
Where Foyle her swelling waters 216
Where the remote Bermudas ride 28
Who ’as ’eard the Ram a callin’ on the green fields o’ the sea 141
Who carries the gun 144
Who fears to speak of Ninety-Eight 229
Who is he that cometh, like an honour’d guest 85
Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he 48
‘Who’ll serve the King?’ cried the sergeant aloud 57
Whom for thy race of heroes wilt thou own 78
Who to the murmurs of an earthly string 50
Why do they prate of the blessings of Peace? We have made them a curse 89
Why is it that ye grieve, O weak in faith 249
Why lingers my gaze where the last hues of day 166
Wide are the plains to the north and the westward 262
Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering to and fro 150
Ye Mariners of England 59
Yes, let us own it in confession free 78
You ask me, why, tho’ ill at ease 81
You brave heroic minds 8
Printed by BALLANTINE, HANSON & CO. Edinburgh & London
Transcriber’s Notes
As this is a collection of poems written by many different people, variations in punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were not changed, although simple typographical errors were corrected.
Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.
Page xii: “like an individual” was printed as “like an admiral”, but has been changed in accordance with the Erratum on page xiii.
In the Contents, the lifespan dates for several poets were omitted.
The book printed the names of the Poets at the top of each page; in this eBook, their names precede their first poem.
Accent marks have been retained, even though other books do not necessarily use them in the same poems. One example of this may be found on page 13, in the ninth line of “King Harry To His Soldiers”: “aspèct”.
Page 78: “who saw me tried too sorely” was misprinted as “tired”.
Page 186: The verse “Knell for the onset!” was printed unindented, but the pattern of the poem suggests that it should be indented, and other books do indent it.
Page 261: “I bid thee, Hail!” was misprinted as “the”.
The hyphenation in some Index entries was changed to match the referenced pages.