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Patriotic Song: A book of English verse, being an anthology of the patriotic poetry of the British Empire, from the defeat of the Spanish Armada till the death of Queen Victoria — John Shaqi

Patriotic Song: A book of English verse, being an anthology of the patriotic poetry of the British Empire, from the defeat of the Spanish Armada till the death of Queen Victoria

General

Patriotic Song: A book of English verse, being an anthology of the patriotic poetry of the British Empire, from the defeat of the Spanish Armada till the death of Queen Victoria

English poetry; Patriotic poetry, English

They had no sooner spoken
    But straight appeared in sight
  Three lusty Spanish vessels
    Of warlike trim and might;
  With bloody resolution
    They thought our men to spill,
  And vowed that they would make a prize
    Of our _Angel Gabriel_.

  Our gallant ship had in her
    Full forty fighting men;
  With twenty piece of ordnance
    We played about them then,
  With powder, shot, and bullets
    Right well we worked our will,
  And hot and bloody grew the fight
    With our _Angel Gabriel_.

  Our Captain to our Master said,
    ‘Take courage, Master bold!’
  Our Master to the seamen said,
    ‘Stand fast, my hearts of gold!’
  Our Gunner unto all the rest,
    ‘Brave hearts, be valiant still!
  Fight on, fight on in the defence
    Of our _Angel Gabriel_!’

  We gave them such a broadside
    It smote their mast asunder,
  And tore the bowsprit off their ship,
    Which made the Spaniards wonder,
  And causèd them in fear to cry,
    With voices loud and shrill,
  ‘Help, help, or sunken we shall be
    By the _Angel Gabriel_!’

  So desperately they boarded us
    For all our valiant shot,
  Threescore of their best fighting men
    Upon our decks were got;
  And lo! at their first entrances
    Full thirty did we kill,
  And thus with speed we cleared the deck
    Of our _Angel Gabriel_.

  With that their three ships boarded us
    Again with might and main,
  But still our noble Englishmen
    Cried out ‘A fig for Spain!’
  Though seven times they boarded us
    At last we showed our skill,
  And made them feel what men we were
    On the _Angel Gabriel_.

  Seven hours this fight continued:
    So many men lay dead,
  With Spanish blood for fathoms round
    The sea was coloured red.
  Five hundred of their fighting men
    We there outright did kill,
  And many more were hurt and maimed
    By our _Angel Gabriel_.

  Then seeing of these bloody spoils,
    The rest made haste away:
  For why, they said, it was no boot
    The longer there to stay.
  Then they fled into Calès,
    Where lie they must and will
  For fear lest they should meet again
    With our _Angel Gabriel_.

  We had within our English ship
    But only three men slain,
  And five men hurt, the which I hope
    Will soon be well again.
  At Bristol we were landed,
    And let us praise God still,
  That thus hath blest our lusty hearts
    And our _Angel Gabriel_.

                    _Anonymous._




MILTON


XI

TO THE LORD GENERAL

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Patriotic Song: A book of English verse, being an anthology of the patriotic poetry of the British Empire, from the defeat of the Spanish Armada till the death of Queen Victoria

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