TALES OF THE MERMAID TAVERN. BY ALFRED NOYES. III. A KNIGHT OF THE OCEAN-SEA. "WINE, Ben, red wine or white?"-"O, red for me, Flared to the door, and through its glowing frame, Some five late-comers from the theatre streamed "The best play Greene ever wrote," one cried; and then the voice "Why, Ben, of all the tragical affairs "No!" Their friends, their charts, their storms, their stars, their God, I bought in Bread Street for a penny, this A KNIGHT OF THE OCEAN-SEA. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, hard of hand, Gazed from the rocks of his New Found Land And thought of the home where his heart would be. He gazed across the wintry waste That weltered and hissed like molten lead,"He saileth twice who saileth in haste! I'll wait the favour of Spring," he said. Ever the more, ever the more, He heard the winds and the waves roar! The yellow clots of foam went by Like shavings that curl from a ship-wright's plane, Clinging and flying, afar and nigh, Shuddering, flying and clinging again. A thousand bubbles in every one Shifted and shimmered with rainbow gleams; But-had they been planets and stars that spun He had let them drift by his feet like dreams: Heavy of heart was our Admirall, For, out of his ships,-and they were but three !He had lost the fairest and most tall, And he was a Knight of the Ocean-sea. Ever the more, ever the more, He heard the winds and the waves roar! Heavy of heart, heavy of heart, For she was a galleon mighty as May, And he was aware of a whisper blown From foc'sle to poop, from windward to lee, That the fault was his, and his alone, And he was a Knight of the Ocean-sea. "Had he done that! Had he done this!" And yet his mariners loved him well; But an idle word is hard to miss, And the foam hides more than the deep can tell. And the deep had buried his best-loved books, With many a hard-won chart and plan! And a king that is conquered must see strange looks, So bitter a thing is the heart of man! And-"Who will you find to pay your debt? For a venture like this is a costly thing! Will they stake yet more, tho' your heart be set On the mightier voyage you planned for the spring?" He raised his head like a Viking_crowned,— And She will lend me ten thousand pound Ever the more, ever the more, He heard the winds and the waves roar! Outside-they heard the great winds blow! For the great grim waves were as molten lead But the trumpeter thought of an ale-house bench, And the cabin-boy longed for a Devonshire lane, And the gunner remembered a green-gowned wench, And the foc'sle whisper went round again,— "Sir Humphrey Gilbert is hard of hand, But his courage went down with the ship, may-be, And we wait for the Spring in a desert land, For-he is afraid of the Ocean-sea." Ever the more, ever the more, He heard the winds and the waves roar! He knew, he knew how the whisper went! "Up with your sails, my sea-dogs all! The wind has veered! And my ships," quoth he, "They will serve for a British Admirall Who is Knight-in-chief of the Ocean-sea!" His will was like a North-east wind "My little ship's-company, lads, hath passed Ever the more, ever the more, We heard the winds and the waves roar! Beyond Cape Race, the pale sun splashed And still as the dark began to fall, We saw the sails of our Admirall Ever the more, ever the more, We heard the winds and the waves roar ! On Monday, at noon of the third fierce day On the salt wet decks as he walked half-lame. For a rusty nail thro' his foot had pierced. 66 Come, master-surgeon, mend it for me; Though I would it were changed for the nails that amerced The dying thief upon Calvary." The surgeon bathed and bound his foot, And the master entreated him sore to stay; I know not why so little a thing, When into his pinnace we helped him down, But he called as he went "Keep watch and steer! To heaven, my lads, by sea as by land!" Ever the more, ever the more, We heard the gathering tempest roar! Three hundred leagues on our homeward road, But joyfully cried our Admirall there As he sate abaft with a book in his hand, And dark and dark that night 'gan fall, An evil sign of peril and death, Burning pale on the high main-mast; Clear thro' the thunders, far and clear, To heaven, my lads, by sea as by land!" Ever the more, ever the more, We heard the rising hurricane roar! And over us fled the fleet of the stars, Twould sweep to the lights of Charles's Wain, To the thundering gulfs of the Ocean-sea. We saw it shine as it swooped from the height, And the light was out! Like a wind-blown spark, Over our fleets for evermore The winds 'ull triumph and the waves roar! Silence a moment held the Mermaid Inn, In solemn temples and great palace-halls, No less to make men emulate their virtues Which our adventurous captains even now VOL. CLXXXIX.-NO, MCXLV. 2 D |