Sink me the ship, Master Gunner - sink her, split her in twain! Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands of Spain!"

XII.

And the gunner said "Ay, ay," but the seamen made reply: "We have children, we have wives,

And the Lord hath spared our lives.

:

We will make the Spaniard promise, if we yield, to let us go;
We shall live to fight again and to strike another blow."
And the lion there lay dying, and they yielded to the foe.

XIII.

And the stately Spanish men to their flagship bore him then, Where they laid him by the mast, old Sir Richard caught at last, And they praised him to his face with their courtly foreign grace; But he rose upon their decks, and he cried:

"I have fought for Queen and Faith like a valiant man and true; I have only done my duty as a man is bound to do: With a joyful spirit I Sir Richard Grenville die!"

And he fell upon their decks, and he died.

XIV.

And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant and true,
And had holden the power and glory of Spain so cheap
That he dared her with one little ship and his English few;
Was he devil or man? He was devil for aught they knew,
But they sank his body with honor down into the deep,
And they manned the " Revenge" with a swarthier alien crew,
And away she sailed with her loss and longed for her own;
When a wind from the lands they had ruined awoke from sleep,
And the water began to heave and the weather to moan,
And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew,

And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake grew,
Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their masts and their
flags,

And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot-shattered navy of

Spain,

And the little "Revenge" herself went down by the island crags To be lost evermore in the main.

PHILASTER.

BY BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

[BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER: Two famous Elizabethan dramatists who were so closely associated in their lives and labors that their names have become indissolubly united. They lived in the same house not far from the Globe Theater on the Bankside, sharing all things in common, and from 1606 until 1616 wrote in combination a large number of dramas, the most notable being "The Maid's Tragedy," ‚""Philaster," "A King and No King," "The Knight of the Burning Pestle," "Cupid's Revenge." Beaumont and Fletcher were very popular with their contemporaries, and Dryden informs us that in his time their plays were performed oftener than those of Shakespeare.

Francis Beaumont was born at Grace-Dieu, Leicestershire, in 1584, the son of a judge of Common Pleas. At twelve he entered Oxford, and in 1600 was admitted a member of Lincoln's Inn, but does not seem to have pursued his legal studies. He made the acquaintance of Ben Jonson at the Mermaid Tavern, and wrote commendatory verses to some of his dramas. He died at the early age of thirty-two, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

John Fletcher was born at Rye, Sussex, December, 1579. He was for some time a student of Bennet College (now Corpus), Cambridge, where he acquired a reputation for classical erudition. From that time until his meeting with Beaumont in 1606 nothing definite is known of his life. He died of the plague in London, August, 1625, and was buried in the Church of St. Savior's. Besides the plays above mentioned Fletcher wrote with Massinger, Rowley, and others, "The Knight of Malta," "Thierry and Theodoret," "The Spanish Curate," "The Fair Maid of the Inn," "The Two Noble Kinsmen" (in which Shakespeare probably had a share). He was sole author of "The Faithful Shepherdess"; "The Humorous Lieutenant," and "Rule a Wife and have a Wife."]

Oh, that I had been nourished in these woods
With milk of goats and acorns, and not known
The right of crowns nor the dissembling trains
Of women's looks; but digged myself a cave,
Where I, my fire, my cattle, and my bed,
Might have been shut together in one shed;
And then had taken me some mountain girl,

Beaten with winds, chaste as the hardened rocks

Whereon she dwells, that might have strewed my bed
With leaves and reeds, and with the skins of beasts,
Our neighbors, and have borne at her big breasts
My large coarse issue! This had been a life
Free from vexation.

Bellario

Oh, wicked men !

Enter BELLARIO.

An innocent may walk safe among beasts;

Nothing assaults me here. [Aside] See, my grieved lord Sits as his soul were searching out a way

To leave his body! - Pardon me, that must

Break thy last commandment; for I must speak:

You that are grieved can pity; hear, my lord! Philaster

Is there a creature yet so miserable,

That I can pity?

Bellario

Oh, my noble lord,

View my strange fortune, and bestow on me,
According to your bounty (if my service
Can merit nothing), so much as may serve
To keep that little piece I hold of life
From cold and hunger!

Philaster

Is it thou? begone!

Go, sell those misbeseeming clothes thou wear'st,
And feed thyself with them.

Bellario

Alas, my lord, I can get nothing for them!

The silly country people think 'tis treason
To touch such gay things.

Philaster

Now, by my life, this is

Unkindly done, to vex me with thy sight.

Thou'rt fallen again to thy dissembling trade:
How shouldst thou think to cozen me again?

Remains there yet a plague untried for me?

Even so thou wept'st, and looked'st, and spok'st when first I took thee up:

Curse on the time! If thy commanding tears

Can work on any

I'll not betray it.

other, use thy art;

Which way wilt thou take?

That I may shun thee, for thine eyes are poison

To mine, and I am loath to grow in rage:
This way, or that way?

Bellario

Any will serve; but I will choose to have

That path in chase that leads unto my grave.

[Exeunt severally.

Enter on one side DION, and on the other two Woodmen. Dion

This is the strangest sudden chance! You, Woodmen!

First Woodman My Lord Dion?

Dion

Saw you a lady come this way on a sable horse studded with stars of white?

Second Woodman

Was she not young and tall? Dion - Yes. Rode she to the wood or to the plain? Second Woodman - Faith, my lord, we saw none.

[Exeunt Woodmen.

Dion-Let him seek his daughter himself. She cannot stray about a little, but the whole court must be in arms.

Cleremont There's already a thousand fatherless tales amongst us. Some say, her horse ran away with her; some, a wolf pursued her; others, it was a plot to kill her, and that armed men were seen in the wood: but, questionless, she rode away willingly.

King

Enter KING, THRASILINE, and Attendants.

Where is she?

Cleremont

Sir, I cannot tell.

King

How's that?

Answer me so again!

Cleremont

Sir, shall I lie?

King

Yes, lie and damn, rather than tell me that.

I say again, where is she? Mutter not!

Sir, speak you; where is she?

Speak that again so boldly, and, by Heaven,
It is thy last! - You, fellows, answer me;

Where is she? Mark me, all; I am your King:
I wish to see my daughter; show her me;

I do command you all, as you are subjects,

To show her me! What! am I not your King?
If ay, then am I not to be obeyed?

Yes, if you command things possible and honest.

King

Things possible and honest! Hear me, thou,

Thou traitor, that dar'st confine thy King to things
Possible and honest! show her me,

Or, let me perish, if I cover not

All Sicily with blood!

Dion

Indeed I cannot,

Unless you tell me where she is.

King

You have betrayed me; you have let me lose
The jewel of my life. Go, bring her to me,
And set her here before me: 'tis the King
Will have it so; whose breath can still the winds,
Uncloud the sun, charm down the swelling sea,
And stop the floods of heaven. Speak, can it not?
Dion -

No.

King

No! cannot the breath of kings do this?
Dion -

No; nor smell sweet itself, if once the lungs
Be but corrupted.

Alas! what are we kings!

Why do you, gods, place us above the rest,
To be served, flattered, and adored, till we
Believe we hold within our hands your thunder,
And when we come to try the power we have,
There's not a leaf shakes at our threatenings?

I have sinned, 'tis true, and here stand to be punished

Yet would not thus be punished: let me choose

My way, and lay it on!

Dion [aside]-He articles with the gods. Would somebody would draw bonds for the performance of covenants betwixt them!

King

Enter PHARAMOND, GALATEA, and MEGRA.

What, is she found?

Pharamond

No; we have ta'en her horse;