“Up!” saith the king, “load, fire and slay!” ’Tis a kindly signal given: However happy on earth be they, They’ll be happier in heaven. Tell them, as soon as their souls are free They’ll sing like birds on a Christmas-tree. Down with them all! If they rise again, They will munch our beef and bread: War there must be with the living men; There’ll be peace when all are dead! This earth shall be our wide, wide home: Our foes shall have the world to come. Starve, starve them all, till through the skin You may count each hungry bone! Tap, tap their veins, till the blood runs thin, And their sinful flesh is gone! While life is strong in the German sky, What matters it who besides may die? No sigh so sweet as the cannon’s breath, No music like to the gun! There’s a merry Christmas to war and death, And a happy New Year to none. Thus saith the king to the echoing ball: “With the blessing of God we will slay them all!” Sir R. Vyvyan and Sir C. Lemon were standing for East Cornwall in the Conservative and Church interest. The opposition party was that of the Dissenters; and their cry was “Down with the Church!” Thereupon Mr. Hawker wrote the lines:— Shall the grey tower in ruin bow? Must the babe die with nameless brow? Or common hands in mockery fling The unblessed waters of the spring? No! while the Cornish voice can ring The Vyvyan cry, “Our Church and King!” Shall the grey tower in ruin stand When the heart thrills within the hand, And beauty’s lip to youth hath given The vow on earth that links for heaven? Shall no glad peal from church-tower grey Cheer the young maiden’s homeward way? No! while the Cornish voice can ring, And Vyvyan cry, “Our Church and King!” Shall the grey tower in ruins spread? And must the furrow hold the dead Without the toll of passing knell, Without the stolèd priest to tell Of Christ the first-fruits of the dead, To wake our brother from his bed?[36] No! while the Cornish voice can ring, And Vyvyan cry, “Our Church and King!”