Then sang the souls of the gentlemen-adventurers- "Ho, we revel in our chains O'er the sorrow that was Spain's; Heave or sink it, leave or drink it, we were masters of the sea!" Up spake the soul of a grey Gothavn 'speckshioner- "Oh, the ice-blink white and near, And the bowhead breaching clear! Will Ye whelm them all for wantonness that wallow in the sea?" Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners, Crying, "Under Heaven, here is neither lead nor lee! Must we sing forevermore' On the windless, glassy floor? Take back your golden fiddles and we'll beat to open sea!" Then stooped the Lord, and He called the good sea up to Him, And 'stablished its borders unto all eternity, That such as have no pleasure For to praise the Lord by measure, They may enter into galleons and serve Him on the sea. Sun, wind, and cloud shall fail not from the face of it, And the ships shall go abroad To the Glory of the Lord Who heard the silly sailor-folks and gave them back their sea! 346 RECESSIONAL (1897) GOD of our fathers, known of old, The tumult and the shouting dies; An humble and a contrite heart. Far-called, our navies melt away; On dune and headland sinks the fire: Lo, all our pomp of yesterday Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! Judge of the Nations, spare us yet, Lest we forget-lest we forget! If, drunk with sight of power, we loose Or lesser breeds without the Law- For heathen heart that puts her trust And guarding, calls not Thee to guard, Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord! Amen. NOTES Page 1, LINE 12.-Ram. See 71, 7, below. 21.-Martir. Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered 1170. 24. Southwerk. Present Southwark, a suburb of London. 2, 25 ff.-Alexandria, Prussia, Lithuania, Russia, Granada, Algeciras: Belmarye, in Africa: Lyeys, Satalye, in Asia Minor: Grete See, Mediterranean: Tramissene, in Africa: Palatye, in Asia Minor. 3, 24.-Stratford atte Bowe. A convent near London. 32. It was customary for guests to drink from a common cup. 4, 26.-Amor vincit omnia. "Love conquers all things." 27.-Clerk. From L. clericus. One studying for holy orders. 5, 18.-Ypres, Ghent. Cloth-making cities of Belgium. 35 ff.-At Boulogne was a famous shrine to the Virgin; at Galicia, Spain, one to St. James. The bones of the Three Wise Men were thought to be preserved at Cologne. 7, 5 ff.—That is, he cared for his parish. He did not seek endowment at St. Paul's, nor retire to a monastery. 28.-Prioresses Tale. This story was common legend. 29.-Asie. Asia Minor. 30.-Iewerye. Jewish district of a medieval city. 8, 9.-Clergeon. The boy was both student and chorister. 10, 15.—Souded. M. E. “souden," to join. The lad, for his unsullied life, was one with the "White Lamb celestial." 11, 28.-Rachel. Mother of Joseph and Benjamin; Jeremiah XXXI, 15; Matthew II, 18. 12, 7.-Alma, etc. "Blessed Mother of Christ." 13, 15.-Balade (ballade). A conventionalized poetic form. 20, 24. Isaphill. Perhaps Hypsipyle, beloved of Jason. 21, 1.—Popular. I. e., ballads of the people, transmitted for the most part orally, and only written down long after they had originated. 3. Sir Patrick Spens. The loss of a party returning from the marriage of the King of Norway to Margaret, daughter of Alexander III of Scotland, may have formed the basis of this ballad. 4.—Dumferling. (Dunfermline), near Edinburgh, formerly the royal seat. 22, 13.-Aberdour. A seaport near Dunfermline. 25, 1.—Black Douglas. Probably Sir James Douglas who fought with Robert Bruce. 5. Robin Hood. An English outlaw, twelfth century. 6. Little John. A faithful henchman of Robin Hood. 16. Kirkly. (Kirkley), a priory in Yorkshire. 27, 25.-Cheviot. The Cheviot Hills extend into Scotland from Northumberland. 26.-Persë. Earl Percy (Henry Hotspur), warden of the "marches," or borderland, between England and Scotland. 33, 12.-Not historical. Percy was killed at Shrewsbury, 1403. 34, 5.-Professor Child would supply "rest"; Professor Gummere, "them off.” 42, 1.-This sonnet is a translation of Petrarch, sonnet 156. 43, 1.-From Martial, Latin poet, first century A. D. 45, 19.—Avern. (L. Avernus). Lake near Naples, traditional entrance to Hades. 49, 3.-Scallop-shell. A badge often worn by pilgrims. 50, 12.-Angels. English coins no longer issued. 51, 1 ff.-Raleigh was executed on a charge of high-treason. 12 ff. These sonnets are largely autobiographical. "Stella" (star) was Penelope Devereux, who married Lord Rich in 1581. The "star-lover" (Astrophel) was Sidney. The "Sonnet" on page 54 may have been intended as the closing one of the series. 52, 11.-Parnassus. A mountain-range northwest of Athens. In Greek legend, the abode of the nine Muses, divinities who presided over the arts, and of Apollo, god of music. 33.-Aristotle. 384-322 B. C., Greek philosopher, and the most learned man of ancient times. Wit. Learning. 53, 6.—Philomela. In Greek legend, Pandion, King of Attica, gave his daughter Procne to Tereus, king of Thrace, to wife. But Tereus took Philomela, her sister, by deceit. Philomela cut out her tongue, and induced the gods to change her to a nightingale. The sisters killed Itylus, son of Tereus, in their wrath. 55, 2.-Prothalamion. "A sponsald verse . . . in Honour of the Double Marriage (1596) of . . . the Ladie Elizabeth and the Ladie Katherine Somerset espoused to. . Master Henry Gilford, and Master William Peter, Esquyers." 6.-Titan. In Roman mythology, the sun. (Gr. Helios.) 22.-Nymphes.-In Greek mythology, lesser divinities imagined as maidens eternally young, and associated with natural objects. River nymphs were called Naiads; those of woods and trees Dryads or Hamadryads; those of the sea, Nereids. 24 ff.-At her wedding a bride's hair was left unbound. 56, 5 ff.-Two swannes. The two boats of the brides. 8.-Pindus. A mountain-range in northern Greece. 11.-Leda. A mortal, wooed by Jove in the guise of a swan. 24. Silver brood. The boats of the bridal procession. 57, 29.-Sonne, Cupid. According to Roman mythology he was the son of Venus and Mercury. 58, 15.-Cynthia. The moon. Probably also a compliment to Queen Elizabeth, who was poetically referred to as Cynthia. 26 ff.-Bricky Towers. The "Temple," London. 29.—Templar Knights. The original order of Knights Templar, founded at Jerusalem (c.) 1188, was dissolved in 1312. 31.-Stately place. Leicester House, afterward Essex House. The Earl of Leicester had been the patron of Spenser. 59, 1.-Noble peer. Essex, who sacked Cadiz in 1596. 4.-The rocks on either side the Strait of Gibraltar were known to the ancients as the Pillars of Hercules. 20.-Hesper. The evening star. 21.-According to ancient astronomy the stars sank into the ocean. 29.-Twins of Jove. Castor and Pollux. 61, 10 ff.-"The generall end therefore of all the booke ("Faerie Queene") is to fashion a gentleman, or noble person, in vertuous and gentle discipline." Spenser; Letter to Raleigh. 62, 24.-Phœbus childe. Phaethon. The name Phoebus, "light-giver," a surname of Apollo, was frequently used also to designate the sun. |