Well it thine age became,
O noble Erpingham!
Which didst the signal aim
To our hid forces,-

When from a meadow by,
Like a storm suddenly,

The English archery

Stuck the French horses.

With Spanish yew so strong,
Arrows a cloth-yard long
That like to serpents stung,

Piercing the weather,-
None from his fellow starts,
But, playing manly parts
And like true English hearts,
Stuck close together.

When down their bows they threw
And forth their bilboes drew

And on the French they flew,
Not one was tardy;

Arms from the shoulders sent,
Scalps to the teeth were rent,
Down the French peasants went,-
Our men were hardy.

This while our noble King,
His broad sword brandishing,
Into the host did fling,

As to o'erwhelm it,

And many a deep wound lent
His arm with blood besprent;
And many a cruel dent

Bruizèd his helmet.

Gloster, that duke so good,
Next of the royal blood,

66

For famous England stood
With his brave brother;
Clarence, in steel so bright,
Though but a maiden knight,
Yet in that furious fight
Scarce such another.

Warwick in blood did wade;
Oxford the foe invade,

And cruel slaughter made
Still as they ran up ;

Suffolk his axe did ply;
Beaumont and Willoughby
Bare them right doughtily;
Ferrers and Fanhope.

Upon St. Crispin's Day
Fought was this noble fray.,
Which Fame did not delay
To England to carry.
O when shall Englishmen
With such acts fill a pen,
Or England breed again
Such a King Harry?

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.

1772-1834.

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER.

PART I.

It is an ancient Mariner,

And he stoppeth one of three;

By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,

Now wherefore stopp'st thou me ?

"The bridegroom's doors are open'd wide, And I am next of kin ;

An ancient Mariner meeteth three gal lants bidden to a weddingfeast, and detaineth one.

The guests are met, the feast is set :
Mayst hear the merry din."

[But still he holds the wedding-guest : "There was a ship!" quoth he.

66 Nay! if thou hast got a laughsome tale, Mariner! come with me!"]

He holds him with his skinny hand; "There was a ship," quoth he.

"Hold off! unhand me, greybeard loon!"
Eftsoons his hand dropt he.

He holds him with his glittering eye
The wedding-guest stood still,
And listens like a three-years' child:
The Mariner hath his will.

The wedding-guest sat on a stone :
He can not choose but hear;

And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.

"The ship was cheer'd, the harbour clear'd,

Merrily did we drop

Below the kirk, below the hill,

Below the light-house top.

"The sun came up upon the left,

Out of the sea came he;

And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.

The wedding-guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.

The bride hath paced into the hall,

The weddingguest is spellbound by the eye of the old seafaring man, and constrained to hear his tale.

The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward with a good wind and fair weather, till it reached the line.

Red as a rose is she :

Nodding their heads, before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.

The wedding-guest he beat his breast,
Yet he can not choose but hear!
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.

"And now the storm-blast came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong;

He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us South along.

"With sloping masts, and dipping prow,

As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,-

The ship drove fast, loud roar'd the blast,
And Southward aye we fled.

"And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold;

And ice mast-high came floating by,
As green as emerald.

"And through the drifts, the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen :

Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken,-
The ice was all between.

“The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around;

It crack'd and growl'd, and roar'd and howl'd,

Like noises in a swound.

"At length did cross an albatross,

Thorough the fog it came;

The wedding-
guest heareth
the bridal
music; but the
Mariner con-

tinueth his
tale.

The ship driven by a storm towards the South Pole.

The land of ice and of fearful sounds, where no living thing

was to be seen.

Till a great
sea-bird, called
the albatross,

As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hail'd it in God's name.

"It ate the food it ne'er had ate,
And round and round it flew,
The ice did split with a thunder-fit ;
The helmsman steer'd us through!

"And a good South wind sprung up behind;
The albatross did follow.

And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariners' hollo!

"In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud

It perch'd for vespers nine;

Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,

Glimmer'd the white moonshine."

came through the snow-fog, and was received with great joy and hospitality.

And, lo! the albatross proveth a bird of good omen, and followeth the ship as it returned northward through fog and floating ice.

"The sun now rose upon the right;

Out of the sea came he,

Still hid in mist, and on the left

Went down into the sea.

"And the good South wind still blew behind,

But no sweet bird did follow,

Nor any day, for food or play,

Came to the mariners' hollo!

"And I had done a hellish thing,
And it would work them woe;
For all averr'd I had kill'd the bird

His shipmates cry out against the ancient Mariner for