Mr. Meredith tells me, by the story of Bendigeid Vran, the son
of Llyr, in the _Mabinogion_ (iii. 121-9), is reprinted from
_Modern Love_ (1862), but it originally appeared (_circ._ 1860)
in _Once a Week_, a forgotten print the source of not a little
unforgotten stuff--as _Evan Harrington_ and the first part of
_The Cloister and the Hearth_.
CXIII
From the fourth and last book of _Sigurd the Volsung_, 1877.
By permission of the Author. Hogni and Gunnar, being the guests
of King Atli, husband to their sister Gudrun, refused to tell
him the whereabouts of the treasure of Fafnir, whom Sigurd slew;
and this is the manner of their taking and the beginning of King
Atli's vengeance.
CXIV
_English Illustrated Magazine_, January 1890, and _Lyrical Poems_
(Macmillan, 1891). By permission of the Author: with whose
sanction I have omitted four lines from the last stanza.
CXV
By permission of Sir Alfred Lyall. _Cornhill Magazine_,
September 1868, and _Verses Written in India_ (Kegan Paul, 1889).
The second title is: _A Soliloquy that may have been delivered in
India, June 1857_; and this is further explained by the following
'extract from an Indian newspaper':--'They would have spared
life to any of their English prisoners who should consent to
profess Mahometanism by repeating the usual short formula; but
only one half-caste cared to save himself that way.' Then comes
the description, _Moriturus Loquitur_, and next the poem.
CXVI-CXVIII
From _Songs before Sunrise_ (Chatto and Windus, 1877), and
the third series of _Poems and Ballads_ (Chatto and Windus,
1889). By permission of the Author.
CXIX, CXX
_The Complete Poetical Works of Bret Harte_ (Chatto and Windus,
1886). By permission of Author and Publisher. _The ReveillÈ_ was
spoken before a Union Meeting at San Francisco at the beginning
of the Civil War and appeared in a volume of the Author's poems
in 1867. _What the Bullet Sang_ is much later work: dating,
thinks Mr. Harte, from '79 or '80.
CXXI
_St. James's Magazine_, October 1877, and _At the Sign of the
Lyre_ (Kegan Paul, 1889). By permission of the Author.
CXXII
_St. James's Gazette_, 20th July 1888, and _Grass of Parnassus_
(Longmans, 1888). By permission of Author and Publisher. Written
in memory of Gordon's betrayal and death, but while there were
yet hopes and rumours of escape.
CXXIII
_Underwoods_ (Chatto and Windus, 1886). By permission of the
Publishers.
CXXIV
_Love's Looking-Glass_ (Percival, 1891). By permission of
the Author.
CXXV
_Macmillan's Magazine_, November 1889. By permission of
the Author. Kamal Khan is a Pathan; and the scene of this
exploit--which, I am told, is perfectly consonant with the history
and tradition of Guides and Pathans both--is the North Frontier
country in the Peshawar-Kohat region, say, between Abazai and
Bonair, behind which is stationed the Punjab Irregular Frontier
Force--'the steel head of the lance couched for the defence of
India.' As for the Queen's Own Corps of Guides, to the general
'God's Own Guides' (from its exclusiveness and gallantry),
it comprehends both horse and foot, is recruited from Sikhs,
Pathans, Rajputs, Afghans, all the fighting races, is officered
both by natives and by Englishmen, and in all respects is worthy
of this admirable ballad.
Ressaldar = _the native leader of a _ressala_ or troop of
horse_
Tongue = _a barren and naked strath_--'what geologists
call a fan'
Gut of the Tongue = _the narrowest part of the strath_
dust-devils = _dust-clouds blown by a whirlwind_
CXXVI
_National Observer_, 4th April 1891. At the burning of the
Court-House at Cork, 'Above the portico a flagstaff bearing the
Union Jack remained fluttering in the air for some time, but
ultimately when it fell the crowds rent the air with shouts,
and seemed to see significance in the incident.'--Daily
Papers. _Author's Note._
INDEX
PAGE
A good sword and a trusty hand 207
All is finished! and at length 217
Alone stood brave Horatius 196
Amid the loud ebriety of war 264
And Rustum gazed in Sohrab's face, and said 280
Arm, arm, arm, arm! the scouts are all come in 13
As I was walking all alane 79
Ask nothing more of me, sweet 316
As the spring-tides, with heavy plash 153
At anchor in Hampton Roads we lay 227
At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay 232
Attend, all ye who list to hear our noble England's praise 200
Attend you, and give ear awhile 73
Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 28
A wet sheet and a flowing sea 148
Beat! beat! drums!--blow! bugles! blow! 257
Bid me to live, and I will live 18
Blow high, blow low, let tempests tear 89
Build me straight, O worthy Master 208
But by the yellow Tiber 183
But see! look up--on Flodden bent 116
By this, though deep the evening fell 119
Captain, or Colonel, or Knight in Arms 27
Come, all ye jolly sailors bold 92
Condemned to Hope's delusive mine 45
Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud 28
Darkly, sternly, and all alone 156
Day by day the vessel grew 214
Day, like our souls, is fiercely dark 146
Eleven men of England 244
England, queen of the waves, whose green inviolate girdle
enrings thee round 317
Erle Douglas on his milke-white steede 49
Fair stood the wind for France 6
Farewell! farewell! the voice you hear 133
Farewell, ye dungeons dark and strong 95
Get up! get up for shame! The blooming morn 15
God prosper long our noble king 47
God who created me 328
Go fetch to me a pint o' wine 97
Good Lord Scroope to the hills is gane 64
Hame, hame, hame, hame fain wad I be 147
Hark! I hear the tramp of thousands 322
He has called him forty Marchmen bold 69
Here, a sheer hulk, lies poor Tom Bowling 90
He spoke, and as he ceased he wept aloud 272
He spoke, and Sohrab kindled at his taunts 267
He spoke; but Rustum gazed, and gazed, and stood 275
High-spirited friend 12
How happy is he born or taught 11
I am the mashed fireman with breast-bone broken 254
If doughty deeds my lady please 88
If sadly thinking 91
I love contemplating, apart 140
In the ship-yard stood the Master 210
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan 136
Iphigeneia, when she heard her doom 138
I said, when evil men are strong 105
Is life worth living? Yes, so long 308
It is not growing like a tree 13
It is not to be thought of that the Flood 101
It is not yours, O mother, to complain 326
It was a' for our rightfu' King 99
I wish I were where Helen lies 77
Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border side 329
King Philip had vaunted his claims 324
Lars Porsena of Clusium 179
Last night, among his fellow-roughs 242
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour 102
Mortality, behold and fear 15
Much have I travelled in the realms of gold 179
My boat is on the shore 164
My dear and only love, I pray 31
Next morn the Baron climbed the tower 114
Nobly, nobly Cape St. Vincent to the north-west died away 248
Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note 172
Now all the youth of England are on fire 2
Now entertain conjecture of a time 4
Now fell the sword of Gunnar, and rose up red in the air 297
Now the noon was long passed over when again the rumour arose 304
Now we bear the king 10
Now while the Three were tightening 189
Now word is gane to the bold Keeper 67
O born in days when wits were fresh and clear 282
O Brignall banks are wild and fair 126
O England is a pleasant place for them that's rich and high 260
Of Nelson and the North 144
O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend 1
Oft in the pleasant summer years 311
O have ye na heard o' the fause Sakelde 66
O how comely it is, and how reviving 31
O joy of creation 323
O Mary, at thy window be 98
Once did She hold the gorgeous East in fee 100
On the sea and at the Hogue, sixteen hundred and ninety-two 248
Othere, the old sea-captain 223
Our English archers bent their bowes 51
O Venice! Venice! when thy marble walls 165
O, young Lochinvar is come out of the west 112
Pibroch of Donuil Dhu 129
Ruin seize thee, ruthless King 80
Should auld acquaintance be forgot 96
Simon Danz has come home again 228
Stern Daughter of the Voice of God 103
Still the song goeth up from Gunnar, though his harp to earth
be laid 301
Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright 19
Tell me not, Sweet, I am unkind 32
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold 150
The boy stood on the burning deck 175
The breaking waves dashed high 177
The captain stood on the carronade: 'First Lieutenant,'
says he 174
The charge of the gallant three hundred, the Heavy Brigade 239
The fifteenth day of July 60
The forward youth that would appear 34
The glories of our birth and state 20
The herring loves the merry moonlight 131
The isles of Greece, the isles of Greece 167
The King sits in Dunfermline town 57
The last sunbeam 258
The Moorish King rides up and down 160
The newes was brought to Eddenborrow 56
The night is past, and shines the sun 151
The Sea! the Sea, the open Sea 149
The stag at eve had drunk his fill 121
The weary day rins down and dies 319
The winds were yelling, the waves were swelling 205
Then speedilie to wark we gaed 71
Then with a bitter smile, Rustum began 269
Then with a heavy groan, Rustum bewailed 277
This, this is he; softly a while 30
Through the black, rushing smoke bursts 265
Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies 3
Tiger, tiger, burning bright 94
'Tis time this heart should be unmoved 171
Toll for the Brave 85
To mute and to material things 107
To my true king I offered free from stain 206
To the Lords of Convention 'twas Claver'se who spoke 134
'Twas at the royal feast for Persia won 40
Up from the meadows rich with corn 230
Vain is the dream! However Hope may rave 325
We come in arms, we stand ten score 284
Welcome, wild north-easter 262
When George the Third was reigning a hundred years ago 285
When I consider how my light is spent 29
When I have borne in memory what has tamed 101
When Love with unconfinËd wings 33
When the British warrior queen 86
When the head of Bran 290
Where the remote Bermudas ride 39
Why sitt'st thou by that ruined hall 130
Winds of the World, give answer! They are whimpering
to and fro 335
With stout Erle Percy, there was slaine 54
Would you hear of an old-time sea-fight 255
Ye Mariners of England 143
Ye shall know that in Atli's feast-hall on the side
that joined the house 293
Yet once more, O ye laurels, and once more 21