=Historical Note.= Burns wrote this ode to fit an old air, said in Scottish tradition to have been Robert Bruce’s march at the battle of Bannockburn. “This thought,” he says, “in my solitary wanderings, has warmed me to a pitch of enthusiasm on the theme of liberty and independence.” The story is told that Burns wrote this poem while riding on horseback over a wild moor in Scotland in company with a Mr. Syme, who, observing the expression on the poet’s face, refrained from speaking to him. Doubtless this vigorous hymn was singing itself through the soul of Burns as he wrote it. The poem is considered the most stirring war ode ever written. =Discussion.= 1. Who is supposed to speak the words? 2. To whom are they supposed to be addressed? 3. For what did Bruce contend? 4. What patriot before him had fought against great odds in the same cause? 5. In these lines, what choice does Bruce offer his army? 6. To what deep feeling does he appeal? 7. Does this poem represent truly Bruce’s own feeling for his country, as history acquaints us with it? 8. Which are the most stirring lines? 9. What was Burns’s purpose in writing it? 10. What influence does such a poem have? =Phrases= traitor knave, 328, 9 servile chains, 328, 18 dearest veins, 328, 19 proud usurpers, 328, 21 ENGLAND AND FREEDOM [Illustration] THE LAST FIGHT OF THE REVENGE SIR WALTER RALEIGH The Lord Thomas Howard, with six of her Majesty’s ships, six victuallers of London, the bark _Raleigh_, and two or three pinnaces, riding at anchor near unto Flores, one of the westerly islands of the Azores, the last of August in the afternoon, had intelligence by one Captain Middleton of the approach of the Spanish Armada. He had no sooner delivered the news but the fleet was in sight. Many of our ships’ companies were on shore in the island, some providing ballast for their ships, others filling of water and refreshing themselves from the land with such things as they could either for money or by force recover. By reason whereof our ships being all pestered and every thing out of order, very light for want of ballast, and that which was most to our disadvantage, the one half of the men of every ship sick and utterly unserviceable. For in the _Revenge_ there were ninety diseased; in the _Bonaventure_, not so many in health as could handle her mainsail; the rest, for the most part, were in little better state. The names of her Majesty’s ships were these, as followeth: the _Defiance_, which was Admiral, the _Revenge_, Vice Admiral, the _Bonaventure_, commanded by Captain Crosse, the _Lion_, by George Fenner, the _Foresight_, by Thomas Vavisour, and the _Crane_, by Duffield; the _Foresight_ and the _Crane_ being but small ships only—the others were of middle size. The rest, besides the bark _Raleigh_, commanded by Captain Thin, were victuallers, and of small force or none.