outlawed by the British in 1829. ELIZA COOK
A mainly self-educated poet of working-class origins, Cook (1818?1889) published her first collection of verse when she was seventeen; many of her poems, such as 'The Englishman' (1851), were widely popular. Beginning in 1849, Cook edited her own periodical, Eliza Cook's Journal, which proved a great success with her middle- class audience. Poor health forced her to discontinue publication of the journal in 1854, and in later life she produced far fewer poems than in her prolific youth.
The Englishman
There's a land that bears a world-known name, Though it is but a little spot; I say 'tis first on the scroll of fame, And who shall aver it is not. 5 Of the deathless ones who shine and live In arms, in arts, or song, The brightest the whole wide world can give To that little land belong. 'Tis the star of earth, deny it who can, io The island home of an Englishman.
There's a flag that waves o'er every sea, No matter when or where; And to treat that flag as aught but the free Is more than the strongest dare. 15 For the lion spirits that tread the deck Have carried the palm1 of the brave; And that flag may sink with a shot-torn wreck, But never float over a slave. Its honour is stainless, deny it who can, 20 And this is the flag of an Englishman.
There's a heart that leaps with burning glow, The wronged and the weak to defend; And strikes as soon for a trampled foe
1. Palm branch, symbol of victory. 'Lion spirits': the lion is the national emblem of Britain.
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As it does for a soul-bound friend. 25 It nurtures a deep and honest love, The passions of faith and pride, And yearns with the fondness of a dove To the light of its own fireside. 'Tis a rich rough gem, deny it who can, 30 And this is the heart of an Englishman.
The Briton may traverse the pole or the zone And boldly claim his right; For he calls such a vast domain his own, That the sun never sets on his might. 35 Let the haughty stranger seek to know The place of his home and birth; And a flush will pour from cheek to brow While he tells his native earth. For a glorious charter,' deny it who can, privilege40 Is breathed in the words 'I'm an Englishman.'
1851
CHARLES MACKAY
A successful journalist and poet, Mackay (1814?1889) also served for several years as the editor of the Illustrated London News. In the song collection The Emigrants, issued as a musical supplement to that periodical and frequently reprinted, Mackay focuses on emigration from Britain to Canada, a colony that had achieved self- governing status by the 1850s. During that decade, on average more than three hundred thousand people a year left the British Isles; these emigrants, large numbers of whom were fleeing poverty, hunger, and political upheaval in Ireland and Scotland, headed overwhelmingly to the United States and Canada.
From The Emigrants A Series of Songs for a Musical Entertainment
II. CHEER, BOYS! CHEER! I Cheer, boys! cheer! no more of idle sorrow, Courage, true hearts, shall bear us on our way! Hope points before, and shows the bright to-morrow, Let us forget the darkness of to-day! So farewell, England! Much as we may love thee, We'll dry the tears that we have shed before; Why should we weep to sail in search of fortune? So farewell, England! farewell evermore! Cheer, boys! cheer! for England, mother England! io Cheer, boys! cheer! the willing strong right hand, Cheer, boys! cheer! there's work for honest labour? Cheer, boys! cheer!?in the new and happy land!
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MACKAY: THE EMIGRANTS / 1617
II Cheer, boys! cheer! the steady breeze is blowing, To float us freely o'er the ocean's breast; The world shall follow in the track we're going, The star of empire glitters in the west. 5 Here we had toil and little to reward it, But there shall plenty smile upon our pain, And ours shall be the mountain and the forest, And boundless prairies ripe with golden grain. Cheer, boys! cheer! for England, mother England! io Cheer, boys! cheer! united heart and hand!? Cheer, boys! cheer! there's wealth for honest labour? Cheer, boys! cheer!?in the new and happy land!
III. FAR, FAR UPON THE SEA. I Far, far upon the sea, The good ship speeding free, Upon the deck we gather young and old; And view the flapping sail, 5 Spreading out before the gale, Full and round without a wrinkle or a fold: Or watch the waves that glide By the stately vessel's side, And the wild sea-birds that follow through the air. io Or we gather in a ring, And with cheerful voices sing,
'Oh! gaily goes the ship when the wind hlows fair.'
II Far, far upon the sea, With the sunshine on our lee,? sheltered side
We talk of pleasant days when we were young, And remember, though we roam, 5 The sweet melodies of home ?
The songs of happy childhood which we sung. And though we quit her shore, To return to it no more,
Sound the glories that Britannia yet shall bear; io That 'Britons rule the waves,' 'And never shall be slaves.'1
'Oh! gaily goes the ship when the wind hlows fair.'
ill Far, far upon the sea, Whate'er our country be, The thought of it shall cheer us as we go. And Scotland's sons shall join, 5 In the song of 'Auld lang Syne,'2 With voice by memory soften'd, clear and low,
1. Allusion to the refrain of 'Rule, Britannia' 2. Long ago (Scots); the title of a famous Scottish (1740), a song with words by James Thomson and song whose lyrics were composed or given standard music by Thomas Arne. form in 1 796 by Robert Burns.
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