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XLV.

He flung it from him far ahead,

And never spake he more,

But — “Pass thee first, thou dauntless heart,

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The roar of fight rose fiercer yet,
And heavier still the stour,1

Till the spears of Spain came shivering in,
And swept away the Moor.

XLVII.

"Now praised be God the day is won!
They fly o'er flood and fell 2

Why dost thou draw the rein so hard,
Good knight, that fought so well?"

XLVIII.

"Oh, ride ye on, Lord King!" he said,
"And leave the dead to me;

For I must keep the dreariest watch
That ever I shall dree!3

XLIX.

"There lies above his master's heart,
The Douglas, stark 5 and grim ;
And woe that I am living man,
Not lying there by him!

1 Stour: battle; or the word may refer to the dust raised by the fight.

2 Fell: stony, barren hills.

8 Dree: suffer or endure.

4 The Douglas: Sir James Douglas.

5 Stark: stiff, rigid in death.

L.

"The world grows cold, my arm is old,
And thin my lyart 1 hair,

And all that I loved best on earth

Is stretched before me there.

LI.

"O Bothwell banks,2 that bloom so bright
Beneath the sun of May!

The heaviest cloud that ever blew

Is bound for you this day.

LII.

"And, Scotland, thou may'st veil thy head

In sorrow and in pain:

The sorest stroke upon thy brow

Hath fallen this day in Spain!

LIII.

"We'll bear them back unto our ship,
We'll bear them o'er the sea,
And lay them in the hallowed earth,
Within our own countrie.

LIV.

"And be thou strong of heart, Lord King,
For this I tell thee sure,

The sod that drank the Douglas' blood

Shall never bear the Moor!"

1 Lyart: gray.

2 Bothwell banks: Bothwell Castle, the seat of the Douglas family on the banks of the Clyde near Glasgow.

LV.

The King he lighted from his horse,
He flung his brand away,

And took the Douglas by the hand,
So stately as he lay.

LVI.

"God give thee rest, thou valiant soul!
That fought so well for Spain;
I'd rather half my land were gone,
So thou wert here again!"

LVII.

We lifted thence the good Lord James,
And the priceless heart he bore;
And heavily we steered our ship
Towards the Scottish shore.

LVIII.

No welcome greeted our return,

Nor clang of martial tread,

But all were dumb and hushed as death,
Before the mighty dead.

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1 Kirk: church; the church of Douglas Castle.

2 Melrose: Melrose Abbey, the finest specimen of Gothic architecture in Scotland, is situated on the Tweed about forty miles southeast of Edinburgh. Here the heart of the Bruce is said to have been buried.

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE.1

HALF a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of death
Rode the six hundred.
Forward, the Light Brigade!
Charge for the guns, he said.
Into the valley of death
Rode the six hundred.

Forward, the Light Brigade!
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not though the soldiers knew
Some one had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of death

Rode the six hundred.

1 During the Crimean War between England, France, and Russia, Lord Lucan, who commanded the English Light Brigade of Cavalry, chose to interpret an order of attack to mean that he should attempt to take a Russian battery at the extreme end of a long, narrow valley. To accomplish it the Brigade had to run the gauntlet of two lines of infantry and artillery, besides meeting the full fire of the battery directly in the face. The movement was a terrible blunder. Out of six hundred and seventythree that went into action, only one hundred and ninety-five came out unscathed. The rest were killed or wounded.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well.
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabering the gunners there,
Charging an army, while

All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke,
Right through the line they broke ;
Cossack 1 and Russian

Reel'd from the sabre-stroke

Shatter'd and sunder'd.

Then they rode back, but not,

Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them

Cannon behind them

Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

1 Cossack: one of a race of people inhabiting Southern Russia. On account of their great skill in horsemanship, they have long been largely employed in the Russian army as cavalry.

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