Chapter CII: A Ballad to Queen Elizabeth of the Spanish Armada

(BALLADE.)

AUSTIN DOBSON.--1840-

King Philip had vaunted his claims;
He had sworn for a year he would sack us;
With an army of heathenish names
He was coming to fagot and stack us;
Like the thieves of the sea he would track us,
And shatter our ships on the main;
But we had bold Neptune to back us,--
And where are the galleons of Spain?

His carackes were christen'd of dames
To the kirtles whereof he would tack us;
With his saints and his gilded stern-frames,
He had thought like an egg-shell to crack us;
Now Howard may get to his Flaccus,
And Drake to his Devon again,
And Hawkins bowl rubbers to Bacchus,--
For where are the galleons of Spain?

Let his Majesty hang to St. James
The axe that he whetted to hack us;
He must play at some lustier games
Or at sea he can hope to out-thwack us;
To his mines of Peru he would pack us
To tug at his bullet and chain;
Alas! that his Greatness should lack us!--
But where are the galleons of Spain?

ENVOY.

GLORIANA!--the Don may attack us
Whenever his stomach be fain;
He must reach us before he can rack us, ...
And where are the galleons of Spain?

* * * * *

_He lives not best who dreads the coming pain
And shunneth each delight desirable:_
FLEE THOU EXTREMES, _this word alone is plain,
Of all that God hath given to Man to spell!_

ANDREW LANG.--1844.
_From Sonnets from the Antique._