-he showered his letters and rhymes,--
With bullets he peppered old Sherborne's hillside,
With ballads and articles worried the Press,--
The more he was sneer'd at, the stronger he tried,
And would not be satisfied short of Success.

"And now is his Fancy the front of the van,
And England an archer, as in the past years,
And stout middle age carries arms like a man,
And all the young fellows are smart Volunteers:
And Herbert, and Elcho, and Spencer, and Hay,
And Mildmay, and all the best names in the land
On a national scale achieve grandly to-day
What Wydeawake schemed with his brave little band!

"Then cheers for the Queen! for the Club! and the Corps!
For Grantley, and Evelyn, and Sidmouth, and all;
With Franklin, and Mangles, and six dozen more,
The first to spring forth at Britannia's call!
And long may we live with all peaceably here--
For olive, not laurel, is Glory's true wreath--
But if the wolf comes, he had better keep clear
Of a Club of crack shots upon Surrey Blackheath!"

_July 1860._

And the third is a small record of our Easter Monday's Review, 1864,
alluding to the present universality of the Rifle Movement contrasted
with its originally small beginnings on the same spot.

_Surrey Blackheath._

"Surrey Blackheath! old scene of beginnings
Humble enough some dozen years back,
Gather to-day's rich harvest of winnings,
Sprung of that sowing in Memory's track;
Reap your revenges in honour and pleasure;--
Thousands of riflemen arm'd to the teeth--
Crowds by ten thousands, in holiday leisure,
Throng the wild beauties of Surrey Blackheath!

"We were the first our rifles to shoulder,
First to wake England (though voted a bore);
First in this nation who roused her, and told her
She must go arm'd to be safe, as of yore!
Those were the days before corps and their drilling,
When the true patriot was check'd with a snub,--
So, on Blackheath, devotedly willing,
Stood your first riflemen--Albury Club!

"Yes, we stood _here_, in spite of their coldness,
Duty's first marksmen--whate'er should betide,--
Conquering Success--the sure fruit of boldness--
World-witnessed now by this field-day of pride!
And though they laugh'd at Tom Wydeawake's fancies,
Olives and laurels combine in his wreath