I have adopted the birth-day order: for that is the simplest. And I have begun with--not Chaucer, nor Spenser, nor the ballads, but--Shakespeare and Agincourt; for it seemed to me that a book of heroism could have no better starting-point than that heroic pair of names. As for the ballads, I have placed them, after much considering, in the gap between old and new, between classic and romantic, in English verse. The witness of Sidney and Drayton's example notwithstanding, it is not until 1765, when Percy publishes the 'Reliques,' that the ballad spirit begins to be the master influence that Wordsworth confessed it was; while as for the history of the matter, there are who hold that 'Sir Patrick Spens,' for example, is the work of Lady Wardlaw, which to others, myself among them, is a thing preposterous and distraught. It remains to add that, addressing myself to boys, I have not scrupled to edit my authors where editing seemed desirable, and that I have broken up some of the longer pieces for convenience in reading. Also, the help I have received while this book of 'Noble Numbers' was in course of growth--help in the way of counsel, suggestion, remonstrance, permission to use--has been such that it taxes gratitude and makes complete acknowledgment impossible. W. E. H. CONTENTS WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616) and MICHAEL DRAYTON (1563-1631). PAGE I. AGINCOURT Introit 1 Interlude 2 Harfleur 3 The Eve 4 The Battle 6 After 10 SIR HENRY WOTTON (1568-1639). II. LORD OF HIMSELF 11 BEN JONSON (1574-1637). III. TRUE BALM 12 IV. HONOUR IN BUD 13 JOHN FLETCHER (1576-1625). V. THE JOY OF BATTLE 13 FRANCIS BEAUMONT (1586-1616). VI. IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY 15 ROBERT HERRICK (1591-1674). VII. GOING A-MAYING 15 VIII. TO ANTHEA, WHO MAY COMMAND HIM ANYTHING 18 GEORGE HERBERT (1593-1638). IX. MEMENTO MORI 19 JAMES SHIRLEY (1594-1666). X. THE KING OF KINGS 20 JOHN MILTON (1608-1674). XI. LYCIDAS 21 XII. ARMS AND THE MUSE 27 XIII. TO THE LORD GENERAL 28