"Through all that night the great white storm Of worlds in silence rolled; Sirius with green-azure sparkle, Mars in ruddy gold. Heaven looked with stillness terrible Down on a fight most fierce and fell-- A sea transfigured into hell. "Some know not they are wounded till 'Tis slippery where they stand; Then each one tighter grips his steel As 'twere salvation's hand. Grim faces glow through lurid night With sweat of spirit shining bright: Only the dead on deck turn white. "At daybreak the flame-picture fades In blackness and in blood; There, after fifteen hours' fight, The unconquered sea-king stood, Defying all the powers of Spain: Fifteen armadas hurled in vain, And fifteen hundred foemen slain. "About that little bark _Revenge_ The baffled Spaniards ride At distance. Two of their good ships Were sunken at her side; The rest lie round her in a ring As round the dying lion-king The dogs afraid of his death-spring. * * * * * "Old heroes who could gladly do, As they could greatly dare; A vesture very glorious Their shining spirits wear, Of noble deeds! God give us grace, That we may see such face to face, In our great day that comes apace." We will only add here that the _Revenge_ foundered a few days after the fight with two hundred Spaniards on board her, and conclude with Sir Richard Grenville's last words, "Here die I, Richard Grenville, with a joyful and quiet mind, for that I have ended my life as a true soldier ought to do, fighting for his queen, religion, and honour; my soul willingly departing from this body, leaving behind the lasting fame of having behaved as any valiant soldier is in his duty bound to do."--ED.] THE STORY OF ADMIRAL BLAKE. BY JOHN CAMPBELL. Robert Blake, who became the admiral of the Commonwealth, was the eldest son of Mr. Humphrey Blake, a Spanish merchant who, having acquired a considerable fortune for the times in which he lived, purchased a small estate near Bridgewater, in which neighbourhood his family had been long settled. Robert was born in the month of August, 1598, and was educated at a free school in Bridgewater. He afterwards removed to Oxford, where he was first a member of St. Alban's Hall and next of Wadham College. Having taken a degree and met with more than one disappointment in his endeavours to obtain academical preferment, he left the university after a stay of seven years.