I NARRATIVE AND DRAMATIC POEMS ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER Much have I traveled in the realms of gold, mesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Then felt I like some watcher of the skies -JOHN KEATS INCIDENT OF THE FRENCH CAMP You know we French stormed Ratisbon: A mile or so away, On a little mound, Napoleon Stood on our storming-day; Just as perhaps he mused, "My plans Out 'twixt the battery smokes there flew Until he reached the mound. . Then off there flung in smiling joy, And held himself erect By just his horse's mane, a boy; You hardly could suspect― You looked twice ere you saw his breast "Well," cried he, "Emperor, by God's grace We've got you Ratisbon! The marshal's in the market-place, And you'll be there anon 2 To see your flag-bird flap his vans Where I, to heart's desire, Perched him!" The chief's eye flashed; his plans Soared up again like fire. The chief's eye flashed; but presently Softened itself, as sheathes A film the mother-eagle's eye When her bruised eaglet breathes: "You're wounded!" "Nay," his soldier's pride Touched to the quick, he said: "I'm killed, sire!" And, his chief beside, ON Smiling, the boy fell dead. HERVÉ RIEL1 Robert Browning N the sea and at the Hogue, sixteen hundred ninety-two, Did the English fight the French,-woe to France! And, the thirty-first of May, helter-skelter through the blue, Like a crowd of frightened porpoises a shoal of sharks pursue, Came crowding ship on ship to Saint Malo on the Rance, With the English fleet in view. 'Twas the squadron that escaped, with the victor in full chase; First and foremost of the drove, in his great ship, Dam freville; Close on him fled, great and small, Twenty-two good ships in all; And they signaled to the place: "Help the winners of a race! Get us guidance, give us harbor, take us quick—or, quicker still, Here's the English can and will!" 1 Reprinted with the permission of The Macmillan Company. Then the pilots of the place put out brisk and leapt on board; "Why, what hope or chance have ships like these to pass?" laughed they: "Rocks to starboard, rocks to port, all the passage scarred and scored, Shall the Formidable here with her twelve and eighty guns Think to make the river mouth by the single narrow way, Trust to enter where 'tis ticklish for a craft of twenty tons, And with flow at full beside? Now, 'tis slackest ebb of tide. Reach the mooring? Rather say, While rock stands or water runs, Then was called a council straight. Brief and bitter the debate: "Here's the English at our heels, would you have them take in tow All that's left us of the fleet, linked together stern and bow, For a prize to Plymouth Sound? Better run the ships aground!" (Ended Damfreville his speech). "Not a minute more to wait! Let the captains all and each Shove ashore, then blow up, burn the vessels on the beach! France must undergo her fate. "Give the word!" But no such word Was ever spoke or heard: For up stood, for out stepped, for in struck amid all these -A captain? A lieutenant? A mate-first, second, third? |