Cheer! cheer! from park and tower,
        London town! 
    When the King shall ride in state
    From St. James’s royal gate,
    And to all his peers relate
        Our renown.

    The bells shall ring! the day
        Shall not close,
    But a glaze of cities bright
    Shall illuminate the night,
    And the wine-cup shine in light
        As it flows.

    Yes—­yet amid the joy
        And uproar,
    Let us think of them that sleep
    Full many a fathom deep
    All beside thy rocky steep,
        Elsinore!

    Brave hearts, to Britain’s weal
        Once so true! 
    Though death has quenched your flame,
    Yet immortal be your name! 
    For ye died the death of fame
        With Riou.

    Soft sigh the winds of Heaven
        O’er your grave! 
    While the billow mournful rolls
    And the mermaid’s song condoles,
    Singing—­glory to the souls
        Of the brave.

IX

THE DEATH OF NELSON

    O’er Nelson’s tomb, with silent grief oppressed,
    Britannia mourns her hero now at rest;
    But those bright laurels will not fade with years,
    Whose leaves are watered by a nation’s tears.

    ’Twas in Trafalgar’s bay
    We saw the Frenchmen lay,
    Each heart was bounding then,
    We scorn’d the foreign yoke,
    For our ships were British oak,
    And hearts of oak our men! 
    Our Nelson mark’d them on the wave,
    Three cheers our gallant seamen gave,
    Nor thought of home and beauty. 
    Along the line this signal ran,
    England expects that ev’ry man
    This day will do his duty.

    And now the cannons roar
    Along th’ affrighted shore,
    Our Nelson led the way,
    His ship the Victory nam’d! 
    Long be that Victory fam’d,
    For vict’ry crown’d the day! 
    But dearly was that conquest bought,
    Too well the gallant hero fought,

    For England, home, and beauty. 
    He cried as ’midst the fire he ran,
    “England shall find that ev’ry man,
    This day will do his duty!”

    At last the fatal wound,
    Which spread dismay around,
    The hero’s breast received;
    “Heaven fights upon our side! 
    The day’s our own!” he cried;
    “Now long enough I’ve lived! 
    In honour’s cause my life was passed,
    In honour’s cause I fall at last,
    For England, home, and beauty.” 
    Thus ending life as he began,
    England confessed that every man
    That day had done his duty.

APPENDIX

SOME INCIDENTS OF NELSON’S LIFE

(Chronologically arranged)

1758.  On 29th September he was born.