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When Bruges and Ipres hereof herd tell,

They sent Edward to wit, that was in Arwell;
Then had he no liking longer to dwell,

1

He hasted him to the Zwyn, with sergantes snell,2
To mete with the Normandes that false war and fell,
That had ment, if they might, all Flandres to quell.

King Edward unto sail was ful sune dight,
With earls and barons and many (a) kene knight;
They came by Blankenbergh on Saint John's night—
That was to the Normandes so sorry a sight:

Yet trump'd they and daunc'd with torches ful bright—
In the wilde waniand war their hertes light.

3

4

Upon the morn after, if sooth I say,
A merry man, Sir Robert out of Morlay;
At half ebb in the Zwyn sought he the way-
Thare learnt the Normandes at bukler to play;
Helped them no prayer that they might pray-
The wretches are women, their weapon's away.
The Earl of Northampton help'd at that nede
All wise men of wordes and worthy in deed,-
Sir Walter the Mawnay, God give him mede, 5
Was bold of body, in batail to bede.

The Duke of Lancaster was dight for to drive,
With many moody men that thought for to thrive,—
Well and stalwartly stint he that strife,
That few of the Normandes left they alive;

Few left they alive but did them to leap-
Men may find by the flood a hundred on heap.

Sir William of Klinton was easy to know,
Many stout bachelors he brought in a row;
It seemed with their schoting as if it did snow;
The boast of the Normandes broght they ful low.
Their boast was abated and their mekil pride;
For might they not flee, but there must they bide.

The gude Earl of Glowcester,-God make him glade-
Broght many bold men with bowes ful brade;

2

8

1 King Edward's fleet was probably lying at anchor in Orwell Haven-the mouths of the Orwell and the Stour. 3 A wailing, diminishing cry.

Ended it.

8 Long bows.

4 Truth.

Eager, quick.

5 Ale. 6 Challenge.

To bicker with the Normandes boldly they bade,
And in midst the flood forc'd them to wade--

1

To wade war the wretches cast to the brim;
The kaitiffs came out of France to teach them to
swim.

I praise John Badding as one of the best-
Faire came he sailing out of the south-west;
To prove those Normandes was he ful prest;
Till he had fought his fill he never did rest.

John of Aile, of the Sluse, with a squadron ful sheen
Was coming into Cajont 2 cantly 3 and kene;
But sune was his trumping turned to tene,
Of him had Sir Edward his will, as I wene.

The schipmen of England sailed so swith,^

That none of the Normandes from them might skrith;
Who so knew well his craft thare might it kith: "
Of all the gude that they got gave they no tithe.

7

Two hundred and more schippes on the sandes,
Had our English men won with their handes;
The koffes of England war broght out of bandes,
And also the Cristopher that in the streme standes;
In that stound they stood, with stremers ful still,
Till they wist full well Sir Edward his will.

Sir Edward, owre gude king, worth in wall,8
Fought well on that flood, faire mot him fall;
As it is custom of king to comfort them all,
So thankt he gudely the grate and the small;

9

He thankt them gudely, God give him mede-
Thus come owre King in the Zwyne to that gude dede.

5

1 Up to the mouth; "up to his brim," said of one who has to hold his chin up to keep his mouth out of the water, is still a dialect term in the north of England. 2 A village on the river shore. 3 With cheery smartness; still in use on and about the border. 4 With speed.

5 To get away. 6 Show it off. This line makes one think that Minot had gained some practical experience of craft; only the seaman is aware how very necessary it is to know those hidden peculiarities which make up the temperament, in a way, of a vessel in order to get the best out of her in narrow waters and amongst opposing craft. 7 Merchant vessels which the enemy had made prisoners. 8 A good fighter, worth wailing for. 9 Have good fortune.

This was the bataile that fell in the Zwyn,
Where many Normandes made mekil din;
Well armed they war up to the chin:
But God and Sir Edward gert their boast blin 1
Thus blinned their boast, as we well ken:
God assoyle their souls, sais all,-Amen.
LAURENCE MINOT.

THE WYNCHYLCEE FYGHT.

How King Edward and hys menye
Met with the Spaniardes in the sea.

I wuld not spare for to speak, wist I to spede,
Of wight men with weapons and worthy in wede,
That now are driven to dale 2 and dead all their deed;
They sail in the sea, grounde-fishes to feed,—

Fell fishes they feed, for all their grete fare;
It was in the waning that they came thare.

3

They sailed forth in the Swin in a somer's tyde,
With tromps and tabors and mekil other pryde;
The wordes of those war-men walked full wide;

The goods that they robbed from holds 'gan they to hide;

In holds they have hidden grete wealths, as I wene, Of gold and of silver, of skarlet and green.

5

When they sailed westward, those wight men in war, Their hurdis, their ankers hanged they on here; 6 Wight men of the west nighed them nare

7

And gert them stumble in the snare; might they no fare &

Far might they not flit, but thare must they fine," And what they before reived that must they tyne.1o

1 Put an end to the matter. 2 Driven to death and their deeds ended. 3 In spite of their boasting, which is again referred tostanza 2, line 3. 4 At the mouth of the Thames. 5 Made of

"hurds ❞—i. e. the hard parts of flax and hemp; it was a broad band of canvas, secured to supports around a galley, to protect rowers from the enemy's arrows. 6 Anchored at Winchelsea. 7, 8 and 9 Brave men from the west came near and bade the Spaniards to go no further, but stop and fight. 10 What they had taken they would have to lose.

Boy with thy black beard1 I rede that thou blin, And sune set these to strive with sorrow of thy syn; If thou wert in England nought shouldst thou win; Come thou more on that coast, thy bale 2 sall bigin;

Thare kindles thy care, kene men sall thee kepe, And do thy death in a day and dump in the depe. Ye broght out of Bretayne3 yowre custom with care; Ye met with the merchants and stripped them ful bare : It is good reason and right that you will misfare, When ye wuld in England lerne of a new lare— New lare sall ye lerne, Sir Edward to lout;

4

For when ye stoode in your strength ye war all too

5

stout.5

LAURENCE MINOT.

THE SPANISH ARMADA.

FROM merciless invaders,

From wicked men's advice,

O God! arise and helpe us
To quele owre enemies.

Sinke deepe theyr potent navies,
Theyr strength and corage breake:

O God! arise and arm us,

For Jesus Christ his sake.

Though cruell Spain and Parma
With heathene legions come,
O God! arise and arme us-
Wee'll dye for owre home.

We will not change our Credo
For Pope nor booke nor bell;
And yf the devil come hymselfe,
Wee'll hounde hym backe to hell.

JOHN STILL.6

"Black

on, been a
2 Downfall, which

1 Said to have been a noted pirate. It is worthy of notice that throughout the annals of piracy there has, off and beard," who was usually the worst during his time. seems to suggest that Minot did not read the pirate's end in the present fight. 3 These Spanish pirates had lately raided the coast of Brittany. Here Minot seems to have merely flung satire at the vanquished enemy.

4 Salute.

6 Still (1543-1607) graduated at Christ's College, Cambridge, and

R

THE SPANISH ARMADA.1

It was about the lovely close of a warm summer day, There came a gallant merchantman full sail to Plymouth Bay;

Her crew had seen Castile's black fleet, beyond Auvigney's isle,

At earliest twilight, on the waves lie heaving many a mile.

At sunrise she escaped their van, by God's especial

grace;

And the tall Pinta till the moon had held her close in

chase.

Forthwith a guard at every gun was placed along the wall;

The beacon blazed along the roof of Edgcumbe's lofty

hall;

Many a light fishing bark put out to ply along the coast, And with loose rein and bloody spur rode inland many a post.

MACAULAY.

THE DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA.2

THE Spaniards' long time care and cost, invincible surnam'd,

3

Was now afloat, whilst Parma, too, from Flanders hither aim'd;

became Bishop of Bath and Wells. In a literary sense his chief claim to notice is that he is said-on rather slight evidence-to have written Gammer Gurton's Needle, which was the second, if not the first (their dates being so very close together) real comedy in the language.

1 It may seem to be-so far as wording and time of production are concerned-out of place to put this extract from Macaulay's ballad in here; but the purpose is, with these Armada pieces, to give a consecutive impression of the coming of the great fleet, its destroyal, and the feeling that followed.

2 From Warner's Albion's England. Warner was born in the year of the Armada; and, as his figures are all wrong, he probably wrote from hearsay. 3 Duke of Parma (Pier Luigi, natural son of Pope Paul III), who waited in the neighbourhood of Dunkirk with 30,000 soldiers to invade England.

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