Malo, but the reports to the French Admiralty at the time were looked up and the facts established. Browning"s only alteration is that Herve Riel"s holiday to see his wife, "La Belle Aurore," was to last, not a day only, but his lifetime."
"Herve Riel" was written at Le Croisic, the home of the hero. It is a small fishing village near the mouth of the Loire.
I
On the sea and at the Hogue, sixteen hundred ninety-two, Did the English fight the French--woe to France!
And, the thirty-first of May, helter-skelter thro" the blue, Like a crowd of frightened porpoises a shoal of sharks pursue, Came crowding ship on ship to St. Malo on the Rance, With the English fleet in view.
II
"Twas the squadron that escaped, with the victor in full chase; First and foremost of the drove, in his great ship, Damfreville: Close on him fled, great and small, Twenty-two good ships in all; And they signaled to the place, "Help the winners of a race!
Get us guidance, give us harbor, take us quick--or, quicker still, Here"s the English can and will!"
III
Then the pilots of the place put out brisk and leapt on board; "Why, what hope or chance have ships like these to pa.s.s?" laughed they: "Rocks to starboard, rocks to port, all the pa.s.sage 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, Not a ship will leave the bay!
IV
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 Shove ash.o.r.e, then blow up, burn the vessels on the beach!
France must undergo her fate.
V
Give the word!" But no such word Was ever spoke or heard; For up stood, for out stepped, for in struck amid all these-- A captain? A lieutenant? A mate--first, second, third?
No such man of mark, and meet With his betters to compete!
But a simple Breton sailor pressed by Tourville for the fleet, A poor coasting-pilot he, Herve Riel the Croisickese.
VI
And, "What mockery or malice have we here?" cries Herve Riel: "Are you mad, you Malouins? Are you cowards, fools, or rogues?
Talk to me of rocks and shoals, me who took the soundings, tell On my fingers every bank, every shallow, every swell "Twixt the offing here and Greve, where the river disembogues?
Are you bought by English gold? Is it love the lying"s for?
Morn and eve, night and day, Have I piloted your bay, Entered free and anch.o.r.ed fast at the foot of Solidor.
Burn the fleet and ruin France? That were worse than fifty Hogues!
Sirs, they know I speak the truth! Sirs, believe me there"s a way!
Only let me lead the line, Have the biggest ship to steer, Get this _Formidable_ clear, Make the others follow mine, And I lead them, most and least, by a pa.s.sage I know well, Right to Solidor past Greve, And there lay them safe and sound; And if one ship misbehave, Keel so much as grate the ground, Why, I"ve nothing but my life--here"s my head!" cries Herve Riel.
VII
Not a minute more to wait.
"Steer us in, then, small and great!
Take the helm, lead the line, save the squadron!" cried its chief.
Captains, give the sailor place!
He is Admiral in brief.
Still the north wind, by G.o.d"s grace!
See the n.o.ble fellow"s face As the big ship, with a bound, Clears the entry like a hound, Keeps the pa.s.sage as its inch of way were the wide sea"s profound!
See, safe thro" shoal and rock, How they follow in a flock, Not a ship that misbehaves, not a keel that grates the ground, Not a spar that comes to grief!
The peril, see, is past, All are harbored, to the last, And just as Herve Riel hollas "Anchor!"--sure as fate Up the English come, too late!
VIII
So, the storm subsides to calm: They see the green trees wave On the heights o"erlooking Greve.
Hearts that bled are stanched with balm, "Just our rapture to enhance, Let the English rake the bay, Gnash their teeth and glare askance As they cannonade away!
"Neath rampired Solidor pleasant riding on the Rance!"
How hope succeeds despair on each captain"s countenance!
Out burst all with one accord, "This is Paradise for h.e.l.l!
Let France, let France"s King, Thank the man that did the thing!"
What a shout, and all one word, "Herve Riel!"
As he stepped in front once more, Not a symptom of surprise In the frank blue Breton eyes, Just the same man as before.
IX
Then said Damfreville, "My friend, I must speak out at the end, Though I find the speaking hard.
Praise is deeper than the lips; You have saved the King his ships, You must name your own reward.
Faith our sun was near eclipse!
Demand whate"er you will, France remains your debtor still.
Ask to heart"s content and have! or my name"s not Damfreville."
X
Then a beam of fun outbroke On the bearded mouth that spoke, As the honest heart laughed through Those frank eyes of Breton blue: "Since I needs must say my say, Since on board the duty"s done, And from Malo Roads to Croisic Point, what is it but a run?-- Since "tis ask and have, I may-- Since the others go ash.o.r.e-- Come! A good whole holiday!
Leave to go, and see my wife, whom I call the Belle Aurore!"
That he asked and that he got--nothing more.
XI
Name and deed alike are lost: Not a pillar nor a post In his Croisic keeps alive the feat as it befell; Not a head in white and black On a single fishing smack, In memory of the man but for whom had gone to wrack All that France saved from the fight whence England bore the bell.
Go to Paris: rank on rank Search the heroes flung pell-mell On the Louvre, face and flank!
You shall look long enough ere you come to Herve Riel.
So, for better and for worse, Herve Riel, accept my verse!
In my verse, Herve Riel, do thou once more Save the squadron, honor France, love thy wife the Bell Aurore!
Your imagination can no more follow the flight of the _Formidable_, steered by Herve Riel, with the French fleet close following her guidance and "the English at her heels" past the rocks and shoals of Greve to safe harbor at Solidor, and remain creatively unsensitive to the pulse of progressive action, than could the actual rescue of his country"s squadron leave unmoved toward the "man who did the deed" the heart of her Captain Damfreville.
And when your imagination has not only carried you through such adventure, but stimulated _my_ imagination to like activity, there is no limit to be set to the development which may result for us both.
Suggestive a.n.a.lysis can be of little help at this point, the work must be done in the cla.s.s-room under direction.
To such stimulating exercise in the vocal interpretation of these poems of action, I leave you and your imagination. I shall hope to find difficulty in recognizing either of you at our next meeting. Like Mr.
Rhoades"s[11] pupil when he emerged from the Ninth book of _Paradise Lost_, you ought to have "outgrown all your present intellectual clothes" in the study of these stories in verse.