POEMS OLD AND NEW
P. 69,1. 25. Wombat: an animal like a small bear.
1. 26. Ratel: a nocturnal animal allied to the badger.
P. 72,1. 21. Pellucid : very clear^
P. 74,1. 29. Succous : succulent, juicy.
P- 75: 1- 3- Baulked: disappointed, hindered.
P. 78, 1. 24. Demur : to hesitate, object.
P. 81,1. 20. Wormwood: a bitter plant, bitterness.
P. 83,1. 17. Antidote : a counteracting medicine.
A Runnable Stag.
John Davidson (1857-1909), born in Renfrewshire, was
for some time a schoolmaster, and later a journalist in
London. His volumes of poetry, " Fleet Street
Eclogues " (1893, 1896), " Ballads and Songs " (1894),
" New Ballads " (1897), " Last Ballads " (1899), and
his series of " Testaments," not sufficiently known,
display high and daring imaginative power. He was
drowned at Penzance.
P. 83, 1. 28. Harboured: tracked to its refuge.
Coomb : deep valley.
1. 29. Feathered: a hunting term for " put the hounds
direct on the trail."
P. 84, 1. 3. Brow, bay and tray: the first, second, and
third antlers.
1. 7. Brocket: a stag in his second year.
1. 12. Beamed and tined: the two main horns are called
the beams, and the branches from them are called tines.
1. 14. Tufted: beat.
1. 26. Tufter : beater. In stag-hunting, hounds trained
to drive the stag out of cover.
Hawke.
Sir Henry Newbolt (b. 1862), educated at Clifton
College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, was
called to the Bar in 1887 and became editor of
" The Monthly Review." His poetry, which deals
almost entirely with war by land and sea, is full of
energy and catching rhythms. No poet has better ex-
pressed the spiritual ideals of the English public school.
In 1759, during the Seven Years' War with France,
Admiral Hawke gained a decisive victory over the
French fleet in Quiberon Bay. The action took place
during a storm and on a very rocky and dangerous
shore. This naval victory, the most important since
the Armada, averted a threatened invasion of England.
P. 86,1. 21. Twenty of the line : i.e. battleships.
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