POEMS OLD AND NEW
Then the pilots of the place put out brisk and leapt
on board ;
" Why, what hope or chance have ships like these
to pass ? " laughed they :
" Rocks to starboard, rocks to port, all the passage
scarred and scored,
Shall the Formidable here with her twelve and eighty
guns
Think to make the river-mouth by the single
narrow way,
Trust to enter where 'tis ticklish for a craft of twenty
tons,
And with flow at full beside ?
Now, 'tis slackest ebb of tide.
Reach the mooring ? Rather say,
While rock stands or water runs, 10
Not a ship will leave the bay ! "
Then was called a council straight.
Brief and bitter the debate :
" Here's the English at our-heels ; would you have
them take in tow
All that's left us of the fleet, linked together stern and
bow,
For a prize to Plymouth Sound ?
Better run the ships aground ! "
(Ended Damfreville his speech).
Not a minute more to wait !
" Let the Captains all and each 20
Shove ashore, then blow up, burn the vessels on
the beach !
France must undergo her fate.
Give the word ! " But no such word
Was ever spoke or heard ;
For up stood, for out stepped, for in struck amid
all these
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