112

A GLORIOUS ACTION.

seeing him turn up "Wright's yard," waving his paper to them as he did so, shouting, "Glorious news! I'll be with you directly, boys!" In half-an-hour's time Felix was back again at his cottage, red with heat and exertion, and out of breath with the speed with which he had walked.

"Now then, boys," he began, as soon as he had somewhat recovered himself, "sit you down, bring yourselves to an anchor anywhere. Here's young Brown been and done a glorious action, and his old mother has been crying for joy while I read it-saved his captain's life, rescued him from the enemy almost at the expense of his own.

"It appears his regiment was unexpectedly attacked by an overwhelming force of the enemy, and obliged to retreat, and while so doing the captain was missing; some one had seen him fall ere they began to retreat, but the field was now overrun by a ruthless and vindictive foe. When a halt was called for the night, Brown secretly left the camp and made his way back to where his captain had fallen, to rescue him if not dead, or bury his body if he were. When he reached the place where it was supposed he must have fell, he searched about for some little time before he could find him, but when he did, he was rejoiced to see the captain was still alive, though weak and faint from loss of blood. Carefully lifting him up in his arms, so that he partly rested on one shoulder, he began making his way back to the camp.

INFLUENCE OF HEROIC LIVES. 113

"It was, as you may suppose, slow work, and he was compelled frequently to lay the captain down and rest himself, at the same time observing the utmost caution lest he should be surprised by the enemy. But at the very moment he thought himself safe, he unexpectedly encountered a group of the foe who were on the look-out to capture stragglers. He was immediately surrounded and commanded to yield; however, instead of doing this, he let the captain's body gently slide to the ground, while he laid about him right and left, with his captain's sword, and in such a manner as to astonish the enemy, whom he at length contrived to beat off, although at the expense of several wounds. He then again resumed his journey, but it was not until nearly exhausted that he gained the camp.

"There, boys! what say you to that? Does it not make your hearts glow? It is such deeds as these we love to recite, that boys may learn to sympathise with what is noble and heroic in life and action; and the boy whose heart and imagination are not fired by heroic deeds is not worthy of the name of boy.

"I have great faith in the influence of noble deeds; the lives of brave men are of inestimable value, being powerful agents in fostering noble thought and intention, and in giving additional impulse to those who have already determined to live a brave, manly life. Lives of self-sacrifice, lives devoted to the welfare of others, lives spent in promoting their country's glory,

H

114

PLUTARCH'S LIVES.

or in accomplishing great undertakings, are never told in vain. Boys trace each upward step with eagerness, and often a glow of enthusiasm is kindled, while a yearning desire to accomplish similar achievements takes possession of the soul, and when it does it gives a colour to the early actions and dawning life of the boy, and, apart from the grace of God, does more than almost anything else to keep the nature pure and free from mean, sordid, and base motives.

"Read the lives of great men, boys; make yourselves familiar with noble deeds, and use them as shields to guard heart and brain. The proverb says, 'The deeds of good men live after death,' and so likewise the deeds of great men; indeed, one scarcely likes to separate goodness and courage, for the highest form of courage is goodness.

"Make yourselves familiar with noble lives, then will you become familiar with heroic deeds. When I was a boy I read 'Plutarch' under a hedge, and no book so fired my soul as did the perusal of that; those grand old heathen fellows seemed to pass before me clothed again in their wonted flesh, performed again their matchless deeds, and uttered once more their pungent and heart-stirring words. Did you ever read 'Homer,' the singer of heroic deeds? We are told that Alexander the Great slept with a copy of it under his pillow, so great was his admiration for the blind old poet.

"Soon after I was able to read I fell in with a

SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT.

115

number of volumes of voyages and travels, recording the achievements of the bold mariners of Queen Elizabeth's day-Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher, Raleigh, and many others, who made the world echo with their names and their famous deeds, in that grand old time when our nation was in the glory and splendour of her heroic period.

"How my heart used to thrill as I read of the death of the noble Sir Humphrey Gilbert, and to this hour I can recall the very words in which the narrative is couched: 'On Monday, the 9th of September, in the afternoon the frigate was nearly cast away, oppressed by waves, but at that time recovered, and gave forth signs of joy; the general, sitting abaft with a book in his hand, cried out unto us in the Hinde, so often as we did approach within hearing, "We are as near to heaven by sea as by land," reiterating the same speech, well becoming a soldier resolute in Jesus Christ, as I can testify that he was. The same Monday night, about twelve of the clock, or not long after, the frigate being a-head of us in the Golden Hinde, suddenly her lights were out, whereof as it were in a moment we lost the sight; and withal our watch cried, "The general was cast away!" which was too true.'

"What brave words for a man to utter when death was so near,' We are as near to heaven by sea as by land!' Could only every one realise the full force of those words, it would make many men more heroic than they are.

116

DEATH OF A SEA-LION.

"There was another grand old sea-lion whose dying words are like trumpet-calls, rousing all the energies of our nature to activity-Sir Richard Grenville. He had been fighting his ship all night against overpowering odds, but was at length obliged to surrender, and he himself carried in a dying condition on to the Spanish admiral's vessel; and, as he lay on deck, the captains of the fleet crowded round the expiring hero, who, feeling his end approaching, cried out in Spanish, 'Here die I, Richard Grenville, with a joyful and quiet mind, for that I have ended my life as a true soldier ought to do, that hath fought for his country, Queen, religion, and honour. Wherefore my soul most joyfully departeth out of this body, and shall always leave behind it an everlasting fame of a valiant and true soldier that hath done his duty as he was bound to do.' When he had finished these words, he gave up the ghost with great and stout courage. In such way do heroes die.

"And what a number of heroes our England has produced! What a time it would take merely to run over the names of them alone! You all have read of the death of the noble and generous Sidney on the field of Zutphen, and how, while wounded and burning with thirst, he gave up his cup of water to a dying soldier, saying, here is one needs it more than I. Such deeds and such men make us proud to know and feel that we are Englishmen.

"But there are other heroes than those that have