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.