118 THE SPANISH ARMADA. The fresh'ning breeze of eve unfurl'd that banner's massy fold The parting gleam of sunshine kiss'd that haughty scroll of gold. Night sunk upon the dusky beach, and on the purple sea; Such night in England ne'er had been, nor e'er again shall be. From Eddystone to Berwick bounds, from Lynn to Milford bay, That time of slumber was as bright, as busy as the day; For swift to east, and swift to west, the warning radiance spread High on St. Michael's Mount it shone-it shone on Beachy Head. Far o'er the deep, the Spaniard saw, along each southern shire, Cape beyond cape, in endless range, those twinkling points of fire; The fisher left his skiff to rock on Tamar's glittering waves, The rugged miners pour'd to war, from Mendip's sunless caves: O'er Longleat's towers, o'er Cranborne's oaks, the fiery herald flew He roused the shepherds of Stonehenge-the rangers of Beaulieu. Right sharp and quick the bells rang out, all night, from Bristol town; And, ere the day, three hundred horse had met on Clifton Down. THE SPANISH ARMADA. 119 The sentinel on Whitehall gate looked forth into the night, And saw, o'erhanging Richmond Hill, that streak of blood-red light. The bugle's note, and cannon's roar, the deathlike silence And with one start, and with one cry, the royal city woke; And all the thousand masts of Thames sent back a louder And from the farthest wards was heard the rush of hurrying feet, And the broad streams of flags and pikes dash'd down each roaring street : And broader still became the blaze, and louder still the din, As fast from every village round the horse came spurring in; And eastward straight, for wild Blackheath, the warlike errand went; And roused, in many an ancient hall, the gallant squires of Kent : Southward, for Surrey's pleasant hills, flew those bright coursers forth ; High on black Hampstead's swarthy moor, they started for the north ; ७ 120 THE SPANISH ARMADA. And on, and on, without a pause, untired they bounded still; All night from tower to tower they sprang, all night from hill to hill; Till the proud Peak unfurl'd the flag o'er Derwent's rocky dales; Till, like volcanoes, flared to heaven the stormy hills of Wales ; Till twelve fair counties saw the blaze on Malvern's lonely height; Till stream'd in crimson, on the wind, the Wrekin's crest of light. Till, broad and fierce, the star came forth, on Ely's stately fane, And town and hamlet rose in arms, o'er all the boundless plain : Till Belvoir's lordly towers the sign to Lincoln sent, And Lincoln sped the message on, o'er the wide vale of Trent; Till Skiddaw saw the fire that burnt on Gaunt's embattled pile, And the red glare on Skiddaw roused the burghers of Carlisle. The Castle by the Sea. AST thou seen that lordly That Castle by the Gold and red above it The clouds float gor- "And fain it would stoop downward "Well have I seen that castle, And the moon above it standing, "The winds and the waves of ocean, Had they a merry chime ? Didst thou hear, from those lofty chambers, "The winds and the waves of ocean, But I heard on the gale a sound of wail, Q |