English Narrative Poems Part 33

[212] 370. =Just ... begun=; notice here the repet.i.tion of line 67: each of the two lines introduces a crisis in the life of Philip. Several other such repet.i.tions may be found in the poem.

[213] 494. =Under the palm-tree=; found in _Judges_ iv. 5.

[214] 525. The =Bay of Biscay= is off the west coast of France and north of Spain.

[215] 527. =Summer of the world=; the equator.

[216] 563. =Stem=; the trunk of a tree.

[217] 573. =Convolvuluses=; plants with twining stems.

[218] 575. =The broad belt of the world.= The ancients considered the ocean to be a body of water completely surrounding the land.

[219] 633. This description may be compared with that of Ben Gunn in Stevenson's _Treasure Island_.

[220] 671. A =holt= is a piece of woodland.

[221] 671. A =tilth= is a name for land which is tilled.

[222] 728. =Latest=; last.

[223] 733. =s.h.i.+ngle=; coa.r.s.e gravel or small stones.

[224] 747. =Creasy=; full of creases.

THE REVENGE (Page 146)

Published first in the _Nineteenth Century_, March, 1878. Reprinted in _Ballads, and other Poems_, 1880.

_The Revenge_ deals with an incident of the war between England and Spain during the latter half of the sixteenth century. Sir Richard Grenville, the hero, came from a long line of fighters and was one of the most famous naval commanders of the period. He had led, in 1585, the first English colony to Virginia, and had been in charge of the Devon coast defence at the time of the _Armada_ (1588) when that great Spanish fleet, organized to deal a crus.h.i.+ng blow to England, was defeated and almost entirely destroyed by English s.h.i.+ps and seamen under Lord Howard and Sir Francis Drake. In 1591 he was given command of the _Revenge_, a second-rate s.h.i.+p of five hundred tons' burden and carrying a crew of two hundred and fifty men, and sent to the Azores to intercept a Spanish treasure fleet. While there, he was cut off from his own squadron and left with two alternatives: to turn his back on the enemy, or to sail through the fifty-three Spanish vessels opposed to him. He refused to retreat, and the terrible battle described in the ballad was the result.

Grenville was a somewhat haughty and tyrannical leader, though n.o.ble-minded, loyal, and patriotic. In Charles Kingsley's _Westward Ho!_ which gives a vivid portrayal of English national feeling and character during these stirring times, he is made to take an important part, and is idealized as "a truly heroic personage--a steadfast, G.o.d-fearing, chivalrous man, conscious (as far as a soul so healthy could be conscious) of the pride of beauty, and strength, and valour, and wisdom." Froude calls him "a goodly and gallant gentleman." Perhaps the best comment on him is found in his own dying words: "Here die I, Richard Grenville, with a joyful and quiet mind: for that I have ended my life as true soldier ought to do, that hath fought for his country, Queen, religion, and honour. Whereby my soul most joyfully departeth out of this body, and shall always leave behind it an everlasting fame of a valiant and true soldier; that hath done his dutie as he was bound to do."

_The Revenge_ is styled by Stevenson (the _English Admirals_) "one of the n.o.blest ballads in the English language." Indeed, in vigor of spirit, and in patriotic feeling, there are few poems which surpa.s.s it.

[225] 1. The =Azores= (here p.r.o.nounced _A-zo-res_) are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island of _Flores_ (p.r.o.nounced _Flo-res_) is the most westerly of the group.

[226] 4. =Lord Thomas Howard= was admiral of the fleet to which the _Revenge_ belonged.

[227] 12. =The Inquisition= was a system of tribunals formed in the thirteenth century by the Roman Catholic Church to investigate and punish cases of religious unbelief. In the sixteenth century the Inquisition became infamous in Spain because of the cruelty of its persecutions, many people suffering terrible tortures and dying the most painful deaths, through its instrumentality.

[228] 17. =Bideford= in Devon was the birthplace of Sir Richard Grenville. In the sixteenth century it was one of England's chief seaports and sent seven vessels to fight the Armada. It is described in the opening chapter of _Westward Ho!_

[229] 21. The =thumbscrew= was an instrument of torture employed by the Inquisition.

[230] 21. Victims of the Inquisition were sometimes tied to a =stake= and burned alive.

[231] 30. =Seville= is a city in southwestern Spain. It is here to be p.r.o.nounced with the accent on the first syllable.

[232] 31. =Don=; a Spanish t.i.tle of rank, here used to designate any Spaniard.

[233] 46. =Galleon=; a name applied to sailing vessels of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

ROBERT BROWNING

Robert Browning was born at Camberwell, May 7, 1812, and died at Venice, December 12, 1889. Browning's father, as his grandfather had been, was employed in the Bank of England. Mr. Browning, who was an indulgent father, decided that his son's education should be under private tutors.

This lack of being educated with other boys is sometimes supposed to have been one of the causes why Browning found difficulty in expressing his thoughts clearly to other people. It was at first planned that Browning should become a lawyer, but as he had no taste for this, his father agreed to allow his son to adopt literature as a profession.

When Browning had made his choice, he read Johnson's Dictionary for preparation. _Pauline_, his first published poem, attracted almost no attention, but Browning kept on writing, regardless of inattention. The actor, Macready, with whom he became friendly, turned Browning's attention to the writing of plays, but he was never successful as a writer for the stage. On his return from his second visit to Italy, in 1844, he read Miss Elizabeth Barrett's _Lady Geraldine's Courts.h.i.+p_ and expressed so much appreciation of this poem that, on the suggestion of a common friend, he wrote to tell Miss Barrett how much he liked her work.

This was the beginning of one of the famous literary love affairs of the world. Although Miss Barrett was several years older than Browning and a great invalid, they were married, against family opposition, in 1846, and went immediately to Italy. Mrs. Browning's health was now much improved, and she lived till 1861. On her death, Browning, greatly overcome, returned to England. Gradually he went more and more into society, and as his popularity as a poet increased, he became a well-known figure in public. He continued writing throughout his life.

He died at his son's house in Venice in 1889.

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX (Page 154)

Browning wrote concerning this poem: "There is no sort of historical foundation about _Good News from Ghent_. I wrote it under the bulwark of a vessel off the African coast, after I had been at sea long enough to appreciate even the fancy of a gallop on the back of a certain good horse 'York' then in my stable at home. It was written in pencil on the fly-leaf of Bartoli's _Simboli_, I remember." Such an incident might, of course, have happened at the "Pacification of Ghent," a treaty of union between Holland, Zealand, and southern Netherlands under William of Orange, against Philip II of Spain. The distance between Ghent and Aix as mapped out in this poem is something more than ninety miles. Do you think a horse could gallop that distance? Notice that the verse gives the effect of galloping.

[234] 10. =Pique=; seems to be the pommel.

[235] 14 ff. =Lokeren=, =Boom=, =Duffeld=, =Mecheln=, =Aerschot=, =Ha.s.selt=, =Looz=, =Tongres=, =Dalhem=; towns varying from seven to twenty-five miles apart on the route taken from Ghent to Aix.

[236] See Note 235 above.

[237] See Note 235 above.

[238] See Note 235 above.

[239] See Note 235 above.

[240] See Note 235 above.

[241] See Note 235 above.

[242] See Note 235 above.

[243] See Note 235 above.

[244] 46. =Save Aix.= Notice that this is the first we know of the purpose of this ride. Is this an advantage or a disadvantage?

INCIDENT OF THE FRENCH CAMP (Page 156)

Ratisbon (German Regensburg), which has been besieged seventeen times since the eighteenth century, was stormed by Napoleon, May, 1809, during his Austrian campaign. Mrs. Sutherland Orr, the biographer of Browning, says this incident actually happened, except that the hero was a man and not a boy.

[245] 5. =Neck out-thrust.= Notice how Browning gives the well-known att.i.tude of Napoleon.

[246] 9. =Mused.= What effect has this supposed soliloquy of Napoleon?