Hurrah! the foes are moving.
Hark to the mingled din
Of fife, and steed, and trump,
and drum, and roaring culverin.
The fiery Duke is pricking
fast across St. Andre’s plain,
With all the hireling chivalry
of Guelders and Almayne.
Now by the lips of those ye
love, fair gentlemen of France,
Charge for the golden lilies,—upon
them with the lance.
A thousand spurs are striking
deep, a thousand spears in rest,
A thousand knights are pressing
close behind the snow-white crest;
And in they burst, and on
they rushed, while like a guiding star,
Amid the thickest carnage
blazed the helmet of Navarre.
Now, God be praised, the day
is ours. Mayenne hath turned his rein.
D’Aumale hath cried
for quarter. The Flemish count is slain.
Their ranks are breaking like
thin clouds before a Biscay gale;
The field is heaped with bleeding
steeds, and flags, and cloven mail.
And then we thought on vengeance,
and, all along our van,
“Remember St. Bartholomew!”
was passed from man to man.
But out spake gentle Henry,
“No Frenchman is my foe:
Down, down with every foreigner,
but let your brethren go.”
Oh! was there ever such a
knight, in friendship or in war,
As our Sovereign Lord, King
Henry, the soldier of Navarre?
Right well fought all the
Frenchmen who fought for France to-day;
And many a lordly banner God
gave them for a prey.
But we of the Religion have
borne us best in fight;
And the good lord of Rosny
has ta’en the cornet white.
Our own true Maximilian the
cornet white hath ta’en,
The cornet white with crosses
black, the flag of false Lorraine.
Up with it high; unfurl it
wide; that all the host may know
How God hath humbled the proud
house which wrought His church such woe.
Then on the ground, while
trumpets sound their loudest points of war,
Fling the red shreds, a footcloth
meet for Henry of Navarre.
Ho! maidens of Vienna; Ho!
matrons of Lucerne;
Weep, weep, and rend your
hair for those who never shall return.
Ho! Philip, send, for
charity, thy Mexican pistoles,
That Antwerp monks may sing
a mass for thy poor spearman’s souls.
Ho! gallant nobles of the
League, look that your arms be bright;
Ho! burghers of Saint Genevieve,
keep watch and ward to-night.
For our God hath crushed the
tyrant, our God hath raised the slave,
And mocked the counsel of
the wise, the valour of the brave.
Then glory to His holy name,
from whom all glories are;
And glory to our Sovereign
Lord, King Henry of Navarre.
THOMAS B. MACAULAY.
THE GLOVE AND THE LIONS.
“The Glove and the Lions” was one of my early reading-lessons. It is an incisive thrust at the vanity of “fair” women. A woman be a “true knight” as well as a man. Leigh Hunt (1784-1859.)