ENGLAND AND FREEDOM

THE LAST FIGHT OF THE REVENGE

SIR WALTER RALEIGH

The Lord Thomas Howard, with six of her Majesty’s ships, six victuallers of London, the bark Raleigh, and two or three pinnaces, riding at anchor near unto Flores, one of the westerly islands of the Azores, the last of August in the afternoon, had intelligence by one Captain Middleton of the approach of the Spanish Armada.

He had no sooner delivered the news but the fleet was in sight. Many of our ships’ companies were on shore in the island, some [providing ballast] for their ships, others filling of water and refreshing themselves from the land with such things as they could either for money or by force recover. By reason whereof our ships being all pestered and every thing out of order, very light for want of ballast, and that which was most to our disadvantage, the one half of the men of every ship sick and utterly unserviceable. For in the Revenge there were ninety diseased; in the Bonaventure, not so many in health as could handle her mainsail; the rest, for the most part, were in little better state.

The names of her Majesty’s ships were these, as followeth: the Defiance, which was Admiral, the Revenge, Vice Admiral, the Bonaventure, commanded by Captain Crosse, the Lion, by George Fenner, the Foresight, by Thomas Vavisour, and the Crane, by Duffield; the Foresight and the Crane being but small ships only—the others were of middle size. The rest, besides the bark Raleigh, commanded by Captain Thin, were victuallers, and of small force or none.

The Spanish fleet, having [shrouded their approach] by reason of the island, were now so soon at hand as our ships had scarce time to [weigh their anchors], but some of them were driven to let slip their cables and set sail. Sir Richard Grenville was the last weighed, to recover the men that were upon the island, which otherwise had been lost. The Lord Thomas with the rest very hardly recovered the wind, which Sir Richard Grenville not being able to do, was persuaded by the master and others to cut his mainsail and cast about, and to trust to the sailing of his ship. But Sir Richard utterly refused to turn from the enemy, alleging that he would rather choose to die than to dishonor himself, his country, and her Majesty’s ship, persuading his company that he would pass through the two squadrons in despite of them and enforce those of Seville to give him way. Which he performed upon divers of the foremost, who, as the mariners term it, fell under the lee of the Revenge.

In the meanwhile, as he attended those which were nearest him, the great San Philip, being in the wind of him, and coming toward him, becalmed his sails—so huge was the Spanish ship, being of a thousand and five hundred tons; who afterlaid the Revenge aboard. When he was thus bereft of his sails, the ships that were under his lee also laid him aboard; of which the next was the admiral of the Biscayans, a very mighty and [puissant ship] commanded by Brittan Dona. The said Philip carried three tier of ordnance on a side and eleven pieces in every tier.

After the Revenge was entangled with this Philip, four others boarded her, two on her larboard and two on her starboard. The fight thus beginning at three of the clock in the afternoon continued very terrible all that evening. But the great San Philip, having received the lower tier of the Revenge, shifted herself with all diligence from her sides, utterly misliking her first entertainment. Some say that the ship foundered, but we cannot report it for truth unless we were assured.

The Spanish ships were filled with companies of soldiers, in some two hundred besides the mariners, in some five, in others eight hundred. In ours there were none at all besides the mariners but the servants of the commanders and some few voluntary gentlemen only.

After many interchanged volleys of great ordnance and small shot, the Spaniards deliberated to enter the Revenge, and made divers attempts, hoping to force her by the multitudes of their armed soldiers and musketeers, but were still repulsed again and again, and at all times beaten back into their own ships or into the seas. In the beginning of the fight, the George Noble of London, having received some shot through her by the armados, asked Sir Richard what he would command him, being but one of the victuallers and of small force. Sir Richard bade him save himself, and leave him to his fortune.

After the fight had thus without intermission continued while the day lasted and some hours of the night, many of our men were slain and hurt, and one of the great galleons of the Armada and the admiral of the Hulks both sunk, and in many other of the Spanish ships great slaughter was made. Some write that Sir Richard was very dangerously hurt almost in the beginning of the fight and lay speechless for a time ere he recovered. But two of the Revenge’s own company affirmed that he was never so wounded as that he forsook the upper deck till an hour before midnight; and then being shot into the body with a musket, as he was a-dressing was again shot into the head, and withal his chirurgeon wounded to death.

But to return to the fight, the Spanish ships which attempted to board the Revenge, as they were wounded and beaten off, so always others came in their places, she having never less than two mighty galleons by her sides and aboard her. So that ere the morning from three of the clock the day before, there had fifteen several armados assailed her; and all so ill approved their entertainment, as they were by the break of day far more willing to [hearken to a composition] than hastily to make any more assaults or entries. But as the day increased so our men decreased; and as the light grew more and more, by so much more grew our discomforts. For none appeared in sight but enemies, saving one small ship called the Pilgrim, commanded by Jacob Whiddon, who hovered all night to see the success; but in the morning was hunted like a hare among many ravenous hounds, but escaped.

All the powder of the Revenge to the last barrel was now spent, all her pikes broken, forty of her best men slain, and the most part of the rest hurt. In the beginning of the fight she had but one hundred free from sickness, and fourscore and ten sick. A small troop to man such a ship, and a weak garrison to resist so mighty an army! By those hundred all was sustained, the volleys, boardings, and enterings of fifteen ships of war. On the contrary the Spanish were always supplied with soldiers brought from every squadron, all manner of arms and powder at will. Unto ours there remained no comfort at all, no hope, no supply either of ships, men, or weapons; the masts all beaten overboard, all her [tackle cut asunder], her upper work altogether razed; and, in effect, even she was with the water, but the very foundation or bottom of a ship, nothing being left overhead either for flight or defense.

Sir Richard finding himself in this distress, and unable any longer to make resistance, having endured in this fifteen hours’ fight the assault of fifteen several armados, all by turns aboard him, and by estimation eight hundred shot of great artillery, besides many assaults and entries, and that himself and the ship must needs be possessed by the enemy, who were now cast in a ring round about him, the Revenge not able to move one way or other but as she was moved by the waves and billows of the sea—commanded the master gunner, whom he knew to be a most resolute man, to split and sink the ship, that thereby nothing might remain of glory or victory to the Spaniards, seeing in so many hours’ fight and with so great a navy, they were not able to take her, having had fifteen hours’ time, fifteen thousand men, and fifty and three sail of men-of-war to perform it withal; and persuaded the company, or as many as he could induce, to yield themselves unto God, and to the mercy of none else, but, as they had, like valiant resolute men, repulsed so many enemies, they should not now shorten the honor of their nation by prolonging their own lives for a few hours or a few days.

The master gunner readily condescended, and divers others. But the Captain and the Master were of another opinion and besought Sir Richard to have care of them, alleging that the Spaniard would be as ready to entertain a composition as they were willing to offer the same, and that there being [divers sufficient] and valiant men yet living, and whose wounds were not mortal, they might do their country and prince acceptable service hereafter.

And as the matter was thus in dispute, and Sir Richard refusing to hearken to any of those reasons, the Master of the Revenge (while the Captain won unto him the greater party) was convoyed aboard the General Don Alfonso Bassan. Who, finding none over hasty to enter the Revenge again, doubting lest Sir Richard would have blown them up and himself, and perceiving by the report of the Master of the Revenge his dangerous disposition, yielded that all their lives should be saved. To this he so much the rather condescended, as well, as I have said, for fear of further loss and mischief to themselves, as also for the desire he had to recover Sir Richard Grenville; whom for his notable valor he seemed greatly to honor and admire.

When this answer was returned, and that safety of life was promised, the common sort being now at the end of their peril, the most drew back from Sir Richard and the gunner, it being no hard matter to dissuade men from death to life. The master gunner finding himself and Sir Richard thus prevented and mastered by the greater number, would have slain himself with a sword had he not been by force withheld and locked into his cabin. Then the General sent many boats aboard the Revenge, and divers of our men, fearing Sir Richard’s disposition, stole away aboard the General and other ships. Sir Richard, thus overmatched, was sent unto by Alfonso Bassan to remove out of the Revenge, the ship being marvelous unsavory, filled with blood and bodies of dead and wounded men like a slaughter-house. Sir Richard answered that he might do with his body what he list, for [he esteemed it not]; and as he was carried out of the ship he swooned, and reviving again desired the company to pray for him. The General used Sir Richard with all humanity, and left nothing unattempted that tended to his recovery, highly commending his valor and worthiness and greatly bewailed the danger wherein he was, being unto them a rare spectacle, to see one ship turn toward so many enemies, to endure the charge and boarding of so many huge armados, and to resist and repel the assaults and entries of so many soldiers.

Sir Richard died, as it is said, the second or third day aboard the General, and was by them greatly bewailed. What became of his body, whether it was buried in the sea or on the land we know not; the comfort that remaineth to his friends is that he hath ended his life honorably in respect of the reputation won to his nation and country, and of the same to his posterity, and that, being dead, he hath not outlived his own honor.

—Abridged.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biographical and Historical Note. In the autumn of 1591 a small fleet of English vessels lay at the Azores to intercept the Spanish treasure ships from the Indies. On the appearance of the Spanish war-vessels sent to convoy the treasure ships, the much smaller English fleet took flight with the exception of the Revenge, commanded by Sir Richard Grenville. Lord Bacon described the fight as “a defeat exceeding victory.”

This story of the fight of the Revenge was written by Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618), a cousin of Grenville’s. He was an English explorer, colonizer, and historian. He planted the first English colony in America, on Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. Later, he was interested in an attempt to form a colony in Guiana, and his account of his experiences is one of the most thrilling adventure stories in the world. His daring exploits made him a favorite at the court of Queen Elizabeth, but after her death he gained the ill-will of James I and was executed on a false charge of piracy and treason.

Discussion. 1. Describe the English fleet as it lay anchored near Flores. 2. What was the condition of the men on the Revenge and the Bonaventure? 3. What two things could Sir Richard do? 4. Which did he choose? Why? 5. How were the Spanish ships manned as compared with the English? 6. What quality of character did Sir Richard show in his treatment of the George Noble? 7. Describe the condition of the Revenge on the second day of the fighting. 8. What was Sir Richard’s order to the master gunner? 9. What was the opinion of the captain and the Master? 10. What do you think about the reasons they gave? 11. What was the Spaniard’s offer? 12. Would you have been on the side of the captain and the Master of the Revenge, or on the side of Sir Richard and the master gunner? 13. Pronounce the following: Armada; Azores; becalmed; tiers; bade; hovered; ravenous; dissuade.

Phrases

YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND

THOMAS CAMPBELL

Ye Mariners of England,

That guard our native seas,

Whose flag has braved, a thousand years,

The battle and the breeze!

Your [glorious standard] launch again

To match another foe,

And sweep through the deep,

While the stormy winds do blow;

While the battle rages loud and long,

And the stormy winds do blow.

The spirits of your fathers

Shall start from every wave!—

For the deck it was their [field of fame],

And Ocean was their grave.

Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell,

Your manly hearts shall glow,

As ye sweep through the deep,

While the stormy winds do blow;

While the battle rages loud and long

And the stormy winds do blow.

Britannia needs no bulwarks,

No towers along the steep;

Her march is o’er the mountain-waves,

Her home is on the deep.

With thunders from her native oak

She quells the floods below,

As they roar on the shore,

When the stormy winds do blow;

When the battle rages loud and long

And the stormy winds do blow.

The [meteor flag] of England

Shall yet terrific burn;

Till [danger’s troubled night] depart,

And the [star of peace] return.

Then, then, ye [ocean-warriors]!

Our song and feast shall flow

To the fame of your name,

When the storm has ceased to blow;

When the fiery fight is heard no more,

And the storm has ceased to blow.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

For Biography, [see page 180].

Discussion. 1. Which stanza refers to the present; which one to the past; and which one to the future? 2. Why does the poet take this view into the past and the future? 3. Notice the interesting rime in the seventh line of every stanza. 4. Compare the eighth, ninth, and tenth lines of the fourth stanza with the corresponding lines in the other stanzas. 5. Notice the pleasing effect which the poet produces by using, in one line, several words beginning with the same letter: “battle,” “breeze,” “loud and long.” 6. Find other examples. 7. Show that this poem, written long after Sir Richard Grenville’s death, expresses the spirit in which he fought.

Phrases

ENGLAND AND AMERICA NATURAL ALLIES

JOHN RICHARD GREEN

Whatever might be the importance of American independence in the history of England, it was of [unequaled moment] in the history of the world. If it crippled for a while the supremacy of the English nation, it founded the supremacy of the English race. From the hour of American Independence the life of the English people has flowed not in one current, but in two; and while the older has shown little signs of lessening, the younger has fast risen to a greatness which has changed the face of the world. In 1783 America was a nation of three millions of inhabitants, scattered thinly along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. It is now [1877] a nation of forty millions, stretching over the whole continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In wealth and [material energy], as in numbers, it far surpasses the mother-country from which it sprang. It is already the main branch of the English people; and in the days that are at hand the main current of that people’s history must run along the channel not of the Thames or the Mersey, but of the Hudson and the Mississippi.

But distinct as these currents are, every year proves more clearly that in spirit the English people are one. The distance that parted England from America lessens every day. The ties that unite them grow every day stronger. The social and political differences that threatened a hundred years ago to form an [impassable barrier] between them grow every day less. Against this silent and [inevitable drift] of things the spirit of [narrow isolation] on either side the Atlantic struggles in vain. It is possible that the two branches of the English people will remain forever separate [political existences]. It is likely enough that the older of them may again break in twain, and that the English people in the Pacific may assert as distinct a national life as the two English peoples on either side the Atlantic. But the spirit, the influence, of all these branches will remain one.

And in thus remaining one, before half a century is over it will change the face of the world. As two hundred millions of Englishmen fill the valley of the Mississippi, as fifty millions of Englishmen [assert their lordship] over Australasia, this vast power will tell through Britain on the old world of Europe, whose nations will have shrunk into insignificance before it. What the issues of such a world-wide change may be, not even the wildest dreamer would dare to dream. But [one issue is inevitable]. In the centuries that lie before us, the [primacy of the world] will lie with the English people. [English institutions], English speech, English thought, will become the main features of the political, the social, and the intellectual life of mankind.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. John Richard Green (1837-1883) was born at Oxford, England. In his early life he entered the ministry and became not only an eloquent preacher, but an effective worker among his parishioners. Ill health caused him to resign and devote his time entirely to writing. He was a noted English historian, the author of A History of the English People and The Making of England. His vivid imagination enabled him to picture the life of the people and to make history interesting and popular.

Discussion. 1. What do you think of the reasoning in the first paragraph? 2. What victory was there in the political defeat of the British government? 3. How is the distance between England and America lessened today? 4. How are the ties between the two countries being strengthened? 5. What does the author hint at in the last part of the second paragraph? 6. What do you think of the prophecy in the first sentence of the last paragraph? 7. Is his dream any nearer reality today than when the author wrote these lines? 8. Pronounce the following: Thames; isolation; inevitable; primacy.

Phrases

ENGLAND AND AMERICA IN 1782

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON

O Thou, that sendest out the man

To rule by land and sea,

[Strong mother of a Lion-line],

Be proud of those strong sons of thine

Who [wrench’d their rights] from thee!

What wonder, if [in noble heat]

Those men [thine arms withstood],

[Re-taught the lesson thou hadst taught],

And in thy spirit with thee fought—

Who sprang from English blood!

But Thou rejoice with liberal joy,

Lift up [thy rocky face],

And shatter, when the storms are black,

In many a streaming torrent back,

The seas that shock thy base!

Whatever [harmonies of law]

The growing world assume,

Thy work is thine—the single note

From that deep chord which Hampden smote

Will vibrate to the doom.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

For Biography, [see page 49].

Historical Note. John Hampden (1594-1643) was a celebrated English statesman and patriot. When Charles I attempted to impose a tax upon his subjects without the authority of Parliament, Hampden refused to pay. The King’s government brought suit against him, and although the case was decided against Hampden, later the House of Lords ordered the judgment of the court to be canceled.

Discussion. 1. Why does the poet think England should be proud of America? 2. Name some of the rights won by those of “English blood” before this. 3. Read the lines that tell, in figurative language, what England and Englishmen will do when their rights are attacked. 4. Notice in the last stanza how the words harmonies, note, chord, smote, and vibrate all help to carry out the thought, expressed in figurative language. 5. What was the “chord which Hampden smote”? 6. Is it still “vibrating”? 7. Did the poet use the same riming scheme in each of the stanzas?

Phrases

ENGLAND TO FREE MEN

JOHN GALSWORTHY

[Men of my blood], you English men!

From misty hill and misty fen,

From cot, and town, and plow, and moor.

Come in—before I shut the door!

Into my courtyard paved with stones

That keep the names, that keep the bones,

Of none but English men who came

[Free of their lives], to guard my fame.

I am your native land [who bred]

[No driven heart], no driven head;

I fly a flag in every sea

Round the old Earth, of Liberty!

I am the Land [that boasts a crown];

The sun comes up, the sun goes down—

And never men may say of me,

Mine is a breed that is not free.

I have a wreath! My forehead wears

A hundred leaves—a hundred years

I never knew the words: “You must!”

And shall my wreath return to dust?

Freemen! [The door is yet ajar];

From northern star to southern star,

O ye who count and [ye who delve],

Come in—before my clock strikes twelve!

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. John Galsworthy (1867-⸺) was born in Coombe, Surrey, England, and has led the life of the typical English gentleman. After spending five years at Harrow he went to Oxford University. In 1890 he was admitted to the bar, but he disliked the profession of law and never practiced it. He spent several years, after leaving college, in foreign travel, and did not begin to write until he was thirty years old. He has written a number of dramas dealing with social questions, such as “Justice” and “Strife.” He is also well-known for his short stories and novels. During the recent World War, Mr. Galsworthy served several months in an English hospital for French soldiers.

The poem “England to Free Men” was written when England was for the first time about to adopt conscription as a method of recruiting an army to oppose German aggression in Belgium and France.

Discussion. 1. Who is supposed to be speaking in this poem? 2. Whom does the speaker address? 3. Of what “courtyard” does the poet speak? 4. What is the meaning of the first two lines of the second stanza? 5. What kind of flag does the poet say England “flies in every sea”? 6. Explain the “wreath” mentioned in the last stanza. 7. What does the poet mean by “before my clock strikes twelve”? 8. What has been America’s attitude toward conscription? 9. What impression of the author do you gain from this poem? 10. Tell what you know of him.

Phrases

“MEN WHO MARCH AWAY”
(Song of the Soldiers)

THOMAS HARDY

What of [the faith and fire within us]

Men who march away

Ere the barn-cocks say

Night is growing gray,

Leaving all that here could win us;

What of the faith and fire within us

Men who march away?

Is it a [purblind prank], O think you,

[Friend with the musing eye],

Who watch us stepping by

With doubt and dolorous sigh?

Can much pondering so hoodwink you!

Is it a purblind prank, O think you,

Friend with the musing eye?

Nay. We well see what we are doing,

Though some may not see,

[Dalliers as they be];

England’s need are we;

Her distress would leave us rueing:

Nay. We well see what we are doing,

Though some may not see!

In our heart of hearts believing

Victory crowns the just,

And that braggarts must

Surely [bite the dust],

Press we [to the field ungrieving],

In our heart of hearts believing

Victory crowns the just.

Hence the faith and fire within us

Men who march away

Ere the barn-cocks say

Night is growing gray,

Leaving all that here could win us;

Hence the faith and fire within us

Men who march away.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Thomas Hardy (1840-⸺) was born in Dorsetshire, England. He was educated at local schools and by private tutors. At the early age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an architect of Worcester, in which line of work he made sufficient success to win a prize for design from the Architectural Association. At the same time he was writing some verse and an occasional short story, and was at a loss to know which kind of work to follow for a profession. However, after 1870 he spent most of his time in writing. He excels as a short story writer, his “The Three Strangers” appearing in a number of lists of the one hundred best short stories. Among his other works, Laughing Stock and Other Verses, Under the Greenwood Tree, and A Pair of Blue Eyes are widely known. Mr. Hardy was given the Order of Merit in 1910. The Poem “Men Who March Away,” from Selected Poems of Thomas Hardy, was written at the time the English soldiers were entering the World War.

Discussion. 1. What “faith and fire” must the soldier have who freely enlists in the service of his country in war? 2. Whom does the poet address in the second stanza? 3. Use other words instead of “purblind prank.” 4. Explain the meaning of the fourth and fifth lines of the third stanza. 5. Why does the poet say the soldiers march away to war ungrieving? 6. What reason is given for the “faith and fire” of the soldiers? 7. In the fourth stanza, with what belief does the author accredit us? 8. What effect does the poet create by repeating the first stanza in closing the poem?

Phrases