SIR PATRICK SPENS "For I hae brought as much white monie As gane my men and me, 69 And I hae brought a half-fou' o' gude red gowd Out o'er the sea wi' me. “Make ready, make ready, my merry men a'! 66 Our gude ship sails the morn." Now ever alake, my master dear, "I saw the new moon, late yestreen, They hadna sailed a league, a league, A league but barely three, When the lift grew dark, and the wind blew loud, And gurly grew the sea. The ankers brak, and the top-masts lap, It was sic a deadly storm; And the waves cam' o'er the broken ship 'Oh, where will I get a gude sailor, To take my helm in hand, "Oh here am I, a sailor gude, To take the helm in hand, 66 Till ye get up to the tall top-mast: He hadna gane a step, a step, A step but barely ane, When a bout flew out of our goodly ship, And the salt sea it came in. Gae, fetch a web o' the silken claith, Another o' the twine, And wap them into our ship's side, And letna the sea come in." They fetched a web o' the silken claith, Another o' the twine, And they wapped them round that gude ship's side, But still the sea came in. Oh, laith, laith were our gude Scots lords To wet their cork-heeled shoon! But lang ere a' the play was played And mony was the feather-bed The ladyes wrang their fingers white, A' for the sake of their true loves, For them they'll see na mair. SONG Oh, lang, lang may the ladyes sit, And lang, lang may the maidens sit, Oh, forty miles off Aberdour, And there lies gude Sir Patrick Spens, 71 SONG 1 FOR the tender beech and the sapling oak, You may cut down both at a single stroke, But this you must know, that as long as they grow, Whatever change may be, You can never teach either oak or beech To be aught but a greenwood tree. Thomas Love Peacock. 1 Note 9. THE MARINERS OF ENGLAND YE Mariners of England That guard our native seas! Whose flag has braved, a thousand years, The battle and the breeze! Your glorious standard launch again To match another foe: And sweep through the deep, While the stormy winds do blow; And the stormy winds do blow. The spirits of your fathers Shall start from every wave, For the deck it was their field of fame, Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell While the stormy winds do blow; Britannia needs no bulwarks, No towers along the steep; Her march is o'er the mountain waves, Her home is on the deep. With thunders from her native oak She quells the floods below, As they roar on the shore, OLD IRONSIDES When the stormy winds do blow; And the stormy winds do blow. The meteor-flag of England Till danger's troubled night depart Our song and feast shall flow When the storm has ceased to blow; When the fiery fight is heard no more, And the storm has ceased to blow. Thomas Campbell. OLD IRONSIDES1 Ay, tear her tattered ensign down! And burst the cannon's roar; The meteor of the ocean air Shall sweep the clouds no more. Her deck, once red with heroes' blood, When winds were hurrying o'er the flood, 1 Note 10. 73 |