ROBERT BROWNING

[205]36.Wife to both.This line is a prophecy of future events in the story.

[206]94.Osier.The reference is to baskets made of osier, a kind of willow.

[207]98. Thelion-whelpwas evidently a heraldic device over the gateway to the hall.

[208]99.Peacock-yewtree; a yewtree cut, after the fashion of the old landscape gardeners, into the shape of a peacock.

[209]213.Look on yours.This is another prophetic line.

[210]326.Garth; a yard or garden.

[211]337.Conies; rabbits.

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

[213]494.Under the palm-tree; found inJudgesiv. 5.

[214]525. TheBay of Biscayis 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'sTreasure Island.

[220]671. Aholtis a piece of woodland.

[221]671. Atilthis a name for land which is tilled.

[222]728.Latest; last.

[223]733.Shingle; coarse gravel or small stones.

[224]747.Creasy; full of creases.

Published first in theNineteenth Century, March, 1878. Reprinted inBallads, and other Poems, 1880.

The Revengedeals 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 theArmada(1588) when that great Spanish fleet, organized to deal a crushing blow to England, was defeated and almost entirely destroyed by English ships and seamen under Lord Howard and Sir Francis Drake. In 1591 he was given command of theRevenge, a second-rate ship of fivehundred 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 noble-minded, loyal, and patriotic. In Charles Kingsley'sWestward 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, God-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 Revengeis styled by Stevenson (theEnglish Admirals) "one of the noblest ballads in the English language." Indeed, in vigor of spirit, and in patriotic feeling, there are few poems which surpass it.

[225]1. TheAzores(here pronouncedA-zo-res) are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island ofFlores(pronouncedFlo-res) is the most westerly of the group.

[226]4.Lord Thomas Howardwas admiral of the fleet to which theRevengebelonged.

[227]12.The Inquisitionwas a system of tribunalsformed 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.Bidefordin 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 ofWestward Ho!

[229]21. Thethumbscrewwas an instrument of torture employed by the Inquisition.

[230]21. Victims of the Inquisition were sometimes tied to astakeand burned alive.

[231]30.Sevilleis a city in southwestern Spain. It is here to be pronounced with the accent on the first syllable.

[232]31.Don; a Spanish title 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 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 hisson 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'sLady Geraldine's Courtshipand 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.

Browning wrote concerning this poem: "There is no sort of historical foundation aboutGood 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'sSimboli, I remember." Such an incidentmight, 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,Düffeld,Mecheln,Aerschot,Hasselt,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?

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 attitude of Napoleon.

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

[247]11.Lannes; a general of Napoleon's, and the Duke of Montebello.

[248]29.Flag-bird.What bird was on Napoleon's flag?

There are many versions of this story which Browning might have used. He is said to have used directly theaccount inThe Wonders of the Little World; or a General History of Man, written by Nathaniel Wanley and published in 1678. This poem, however, from whatever source the story was taken, was deservedly popular long before Browning himself was. It was written to amuse, during a sickness, the son of William Macready, the most prominent English actor of his time and a close friend of Browning's.

[249]1.Hamelin; a town near Hanover, the capital of the province of Brunswick, Prussia.

[250]37.Guilder; a Dutch coin worth about forty cents.

[251]68.Trump of Doom.The Archangel Gabriel was to blow his trumpet to summon the dead on the Day of Judgment.

[252]79.Pied Piper.Piedmeans variegated like a magpie. Cf.piebald.

[253]89.Cham.The Great Cham, or Khan, was the ruler of Tartary. Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, gives an account of him. Dr. Johnson was called the Great Cham of literature.

[254]91.Nizam; a native ruler of Hyderabad, India.

[255]123, 126.Julius Cæsar and his Commentary.Julius Cæsar, the great Roman general and dictator, who wrote hisCommentarieson his wars in Gaul and Britain.

[256]169.Poke; pocket.

[257]182.Stiver; a small Dutch coin.

[258]188.Piebald.Cf.pied, line 79.

[259]260.Needle's eye.Cf.Matthewxix. 24;Markx. 25;Lukexviii. 25.

[260]1.Hogue.Cape La Hogue, on the east side of the same peninsula as Cape La Hague, was the scene, in 1692, of the defeat of the French by the united English and Dutch fleets.

[261]5.Saint Malo on the Rance; a town on a small island near the shore of France. The entrance to its fine harbor is very narrow and filled with rocks. At high tide there is forty-five to fifty feet of water, but at low tide this channel is dry.

[262]30.Plymouth Sound.Plymouth is on the southwestern coast of England.

[263]43.Pressed; forced into military or naval service.

[264]43.Tourville; the famous French admiral, who commanded at La Hogue.

[265]44.Croisickese; La Croisic, a small fishing village near the mouth of the Loire, which Browning often visited.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was born in London, of Italian parentage, in 1828. He was educated at King's College School, but became very early a student of painting, in which art he attained considerable prominence. He was a member of the famous pre-Raphaelite group of artists and authors, and was largely responsible for the movement started by them. In 1861 he publishedThe Early Italian Poets, a volume of translations; in 1870,Poems; and in 1881,Ballads and Sonnets. His last days were unhappy, his death in 1882 being hastened by overindulgence in narcotics.

Rossetti's painting had a marked effect upon his poetry, chiefly in giving him the faculty of vivid and ornate description. Though essentially a lyric poet, he revived old English ballad forms with much success, and his narrative poems are vigorous and spirited. A good short life of Rossetti is that by Joseph Knight in the Great Writers Series.

First published in 1881 in the volume calledBallads and Sonnets.

Henry the First, the third son of William the Conqueror had, on the death of his brother William the Second (William Rufus) in 1100, seized the crown of England by force from his other elder brother, Robert, Duke of Normandy. In 1106, after overthrowing Robert at Tenchebray, he became also Duke of Normandy, thus uniting under himself the two nations. This bond of union he further strengthened by marrying Mathilda, an English princess. His reign, which lasted until 1135, marked a revival in English national feeling, and a long step was taken toward the assimilation of the victorious Normans by the people whom they had conquered.

Henry and Mathilda had only one son, William, who was born in 1103. The following account of his death is given by William of Malmesbury (edited by J. C. Giles): "Giving orders for returning to England, the king set sail from Barfleur just before twilight on the seventh before the kalends of December; and the breeze which filled his sails conducted him safely to his kingdom and extensive fortunes. But the young prince, who was now somewhat more than seventeen years of age, and, by his father's indulgence, possessed everything but the name of king, commanded another vessel to be prepared for himself; almost all the young nobility flocking around him, from similarity of youthful pursuits. The sailors, too, immoderately filled with wine, with that seaman's hilarity which their cups excited, exclaimed, that those who were now ahead must soon be left astern; for the ship was of the best construction and recently fitted with new materials. When, therefore, it was now dark night, these imprudent youths, overwhelmed with liquor, launched the vessel from the shore.... The carelessness of the intoxicated crew drove her on a rock which rose above the waves not far from shore.... The oars, dashing, horribly crashed against the rock, and her battered prow hung immovably fixed. Now, too, the waterwashed some of the crew overboard, and, entering the chinks, drowned others; when the boat having been launched, the young prince was received into it, and might certainly have been saved by reaching the shore, had not his illegitimate sister, the Countess of Perche, now struggling with death in the larger vessel, implored her brother's assistance. Touched with pity, he ordered the boat to return to the ship, that he might rescue his sister; and thus the unhappy youth met his death through excess of affection; for the skiff, overcharged by the multitudes who leaped into her, sank, and buried all indiscriminately in the deep. One rustic alone escaped; who, floating all night upon the mast, related in the morning the dismal catastrophe of the tragedy."

[266]Henry never recovered from the shock of this disaster; and although he married again, he left at his death no direct male heir to the throne.

[267]2.Rouen; a city in northwest France on the river Seine.

[268]14.Clerkly Henry.In his youth Henry had been a student and scholar—hence his early nickname "Henry Beauclerc."

[269]15.Ruthless; pitiless.

[270]17.Eyes were gone.According to a legend, which, however, has no historical foundation, Henry had put out the eyes of his brother Robert.

[271]26.Fealty.Under the feudal system each vassal or dependant was required to take an oath of allegiance to his overlord.

[272]35.Liege; having the right to allegiance.

[273]36.Father's foot.William the Conqueror, Henry's father, defeated Harold, the English king, at Hastings in 1066 and thus became master of England.

[274]39.Rood; the fourth part of an acre.

[275]45.Harfleur's harbor.Harfleur is a seaport town on the north bank of the outlet of the river Seine in northwest France.

[276]59.Hind; servant.

[277]98.Moil; wet.

[278]138.Maugre; notwithstanding.

[279]163.Honfleur; a town on the south bank of the outlet of the river Seine, opposite Harfleur.

[280]166.Body of Christ; the procession of the Holy Communion.

[281]178.Hight; called.

[282]198.Foredone; gone.

[283]211.Shrift; the confession made to a priest.

[284]214.Winchester; a cathedral city in southern England, the ancient capital of the country.

[285]233.Pleasaunce; pleasure.

[286]236.Pardie; certainly or surely. It was originally an oath from the Frenchpar Dieu.

[287]260.Dais; the platform on which was the king's throne.

[288]268.Rede; story.

William Morris was born in 1834 in Walthamstead, Essex, England, and died in London in 1896. He went to Exeter College, Oxford, in 1853, where he formed a close friendship with Edward Burne-Jones, the future artist. A little later he came under the influence of Rossetti, who induced him to attempt painting, an art which he followed with no great success. In 1858 he publishedThe Defence of Guinevere, and Other Poems. This volume was followed byThe Life and Death of Jason(1867),The Earthly Paradise(finished 1872), andSigurd the Volsung(1876). In 1863 he became a manufacturer of wall paper and artistic furniture, branching out afterwards into weaving, dyeing, and other crafts. After 1885 he was a confirmed Socialist, speaking frequently at laborers'meetings and pouring forth a steady stream of leaflets and pamphlets in support of his radical beliefs. His death was probably due to overwork.

Morris was by instinct a lover of the beautiful and harmonious. A fluent versifier, he delighted especially in the composition of narrative poetry, which he adorned with ornate description and superb decoration. This very richness sometimes cloys the taste and tends to arouse a feeling of monotony. His longest work,The Earthly Paradise, is modelled somewhat on Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales, and contains twenty-four stories, twelve mediæval and twelve classic in origin.

A satisfactory short life is that by Alfred Noyes in the English Men of Letters Series.

Published in 1868 as the first story in the collection calledThe Earthly Paradise. The episode was a favorite with Greek and Latin writers, and has been used occasionally in modern times. The metre in this version is the antiquated Rime Royal.

[289]1.Arcadiawas a province of the Grecian peninsula.

[290]14.Cornelis a kind of wood of great hardness used for making bows.

[291]28.King Schœnus; a Bœotian king, the son of Athamas. Most other versions of the story name Iasius as Atalanta's father.

[292]62.Image of the sun; a statue of Phœbus Apollo, the sun-god.

[293]63.The Fleet-foot One; Mercury (Hermes), the messenger of the gods.

[294]79.Diana; the daughter of Jupiter and Latona, and the sister of Apollo. She was the goddess of the moon and of the hunt. She was also the protector of chastity. See Guerber,Myths of Greece and Rome, Chapter VI.

[295]80.Lists; desires.

[296]177.Saffron gown; the orange-yellow dress indicative of the bride.

[297]184.The sea-born one; Aphrodite (Venus).See page 266.

[298]206. TheDryadswere wood-nymphs who were supposed to watch over vegetation.

[299]208.Adonis' bane; the wild boar. Adonis was a beautiful youth who was passionately loved by Venus, though he did not return her affection. He was mortally wounded at a hunt by a wild boar, and died in the arms of the goddess.

[300]211.Argive; Grecian.

[301]224.Must; the juice of the grape before fermentation.

[302]353.Argos; a city in Argolis, a province in the northeast part of the Peloponnesian peninsula in Greece.

[303]373.Queen Venus.It was to Venus, the goddess of love, that unhappy lovers were accustomed to turn for aid.

[304]391.Holpen; the old past participle of the word help.

[305]516.Damascus; the chief city of Syria.

[306]535.Saturn(Cronus or Time) was the father of Jupiter. Under his rule came the so-called Golden Age of the world.

[307]671.Phœnician.The Phœnicians lived on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and were famous for their commerce and trade.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, Maine, on February 27, 1807. He entered Bowdoin College at the early age of fifteen, graduating there in 1825. He then spent about three years abroad preparing himself for a position, as Professor of Modern Languages at Bowdoin, which he tookon his return. There he remained six years, leaving in 1834 to become a professor in Harvard College. His first book of poems,Voices of the Night, appeared in 1839, and two years later he publishedBallads and other Poems. Both volumes were received cordially and had a wide circulation. Other important later works wereEvangeline(1847),Hiawatha(1855),The Courtship of Miles Standish(1858), andTales of a Wayside Inn(finished 1873). In 1854 he left off teaching and settled down to a quiet literary life. During a trip to Europe in 1868 he was given honorary degrees by both Oxford and Cambridge. He died in Boston in 1882. It is a testimonial to his popularity in England that his bust was placed in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey, the only memorial to an American author there.

Longfellow was a scholarly and cultured poet, influenced much by foreign literatures and proficient in translation. His verse is rarely impassioned, but is usually simple, smooth, and polished. America has had no finer narrative poet; and it is unquestionable that this form of poetry was well adapted to his genius, which was fluent, but not often strongly emotional.

Longfellow's diary for the date December 17, 1839, contains the following entry: "News of shipwrecks horrible on the coast. Twenty bodies washed ashore near Gloucester, one lashed to a piece of wreck. There is a reef called Norman's Woe, where many of these took place; among others the schooner Hesperus—I must write a ballad upon this." Two weeks later he wrote: "I sat last evening till twelve o'clock by my fire, smoking, when suddenly it came into my mind to write the 'Ballad of the Schooner Hesperus,' which I accordingly did. Then I went to bed, but I could not sleep. Newthoughts were running in my mind, and I got up to add them to the ballad. It was three by the clock. I then went to bed and fell asleep. I feel pleased with the ballad. It hardly cost me an effort. It did not come into my mind by lines, but by stanzas."

Published first in 1841 inBallads and Other Poems.

Published in 1863 asThe Landlord's Talein the first series ofTales of a Wayside Inn.

General Gage, commander of the British forces in Boston and vicinity, despatched, on the night of April 18, 1775, a body of troops to seize stores said to be concealed at Concord. According to the story, Paul Revere spread the warning throughout the surrounding country, and when the British arrived at Lexington they found a small body of militia lined up to oppose them. A skirmish ensued in which the first blood of the war was spilled, several being killed and others wounded.

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