I am not responsible for the present collection; perhaps, if I had made it, I should have left out some few songs which find a place in it, and should have inserted some few others which do not, but the purpose of it I heartily approve. To consolidate the Empire, and to animate it as a whole with noble ideas, is one of the greatest needs and duties of the present day; and an empire, like an individual, lives not by bread alone, but by its sentiments, its ambitions, its ideals. J. E. C. CALCUTTA. _October 1901._ ERRATUM Page xii, line 6, _for_ ‘an admiral’ _read_ ‘an individual.’ CONTENTS I.--ENGLAND PAGE ANONYMOUS (_c._ 1580). I. SONG OF THE ENGLISH BOWMEN 3 GEORGE PEELE (1558?-1592?). II. FAREWELL TO DRAKE AND NORRIS 4 MICHAEL DRAYTON (1563-1631). III. BALLAD OF AGINCOURT 5 IV. THE VIRGINIAN VOYAGE 8 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616). V. A PICTURE OF ENGLAND 11 VI. ENGLAND INVINCIBLE 11 VII. ENGLAND AT WAR 12 VIII. WOLSEY TO CROMWELL 17 BALLADS. IX. BRAVE LORD WILLOUGHBY (_c._ 1590) 18 X. THE HONOUR OF BRISTOL (_c._ 1626) 21 JOHN MILTON (1608-1674). XI. TO THE LORD GENERAL 24 XII. DELIVERANCE 24 ANDREW MARVELL (1620-1678). XIII. HORATIAN ODE UPON CROMWELL’S RETURN FROM IRELAND 25 XIV. SONG OF THE EMIGRANTS IN BERMUDA 28 MARTIN PARKER (_ob._ 1656?). XV. THE KING’S EXILE 30 ANONYMOUS (_c._ 1667). XVI. HERE’S A HEALTH UNTO HIS MAJESTY 31 JOHN DRYDEN (1631-1701). XVII. A SONG OF KING ARTHUR 31 XVIII. LONDON IN 1666 32 JAMES THOMSON (1700-1748). XIX. RULE BRITANNIA 33 JOHN DYER (_c._ 1708). XX. DOWN AMONG THE DEAD MEN 34 ANONYMOUS (_c._ 1740). XXI. GOD SAVE THE KING 34 DAVID GARRICK (1717-1779). XXII. HEARTS OF OAK 35 WILLIAM COLLINS (1721-1759). XXIII. THE SLEEP OF THE BRAVE 36