e world's great captains all
Go riding to the tournament--
Cyrus the Great and Hannibal,
Caesar of Rome and Attila,
Lord Charlemagne with his array,
Lord Alisaundre of Macedon--
With flaming lance and habergeon
They passed, and to the rataplan
Of drums gave salutation--
_Virtue is that beseems a Man!_

Had tall Achilles lounged in tent
For aye, and Xanthus neigh'd in stall,
The towers of Troy had ne'er been shent,
Nor stay'd the dance in Priam's hall.
Bend o'er thy book till thou be grey,
Read, mark, perpend, digest, survey--
Instruct thee deep as Solomon--
One only chapter thou shalt con,
One lesson learn, one sentence scan,
One title and one colophon--
_Virtue is that beseems a Man!_

High Virtue's hest is eloquent
With spur and not with martingall:
Sufficeth not thou'rt continent:
BE COURTEOUS, BRAVE, AND LIBERAL.
God fashion'd thee of chosen clay
For service, nor did ever say
"Deny thee this," "Abstain from yon,"
Save to inure thee, thew and bone,
To be confirmed of the clan
That made immortal Marathon--
_Virtue is that beseems a Man!_

ENVOY.

Young Knight, the lists are set to-day:
Hereafter shall be long to pray
In sepulture with hands of stone.
Ride, then! outride the bugle blown
And gaily dinging down the van
Charge with a cheer--Set on! Set on!
_Virtue is that beseems a Man!_

A friend to whom I showed these verses remarked that Mr. Blank was indeed
a person who fed his soul upon negatives; but that I possibly did him some
injustice in charging so much of this to timidity, whereas the scent lay
rather in the gusto with which he judged his fellow-men.

"And, by the way," said he, "is there not some gusto in the scorn with
which you are judging Mr. Blank at this moment?" "Do you remember," I
answered, "how that man, after voting for war the other day, went straight
off to a meeting of the Peace Society and put up a florid appeal to the
Prince of Peace for a time when wars should be no more? Let him be,
however: I do wrong to lose my temper with him. But on this matter of
national timidity I have something to say. . . ."

I have been reading John Holland's two _Discourses of the Navy_, written
in 1638 and 1659, and published the other day by th