"Raleigh!" said Elizabeth, after a moment's recollection, "have we not heard of your service in Ireland?" "I have been so fortunate as to do some service there, madam," replied Raleigh; "scarce, however, of conse5 quence sufficient to reach your Grace's ears." "They hear farther than you think of," said the queen, graciously, "and I have heard of a youth who defended a ford in Shannon against a whole band of Irish rebels, until the stream ran purple with their blood and 10 his own." "Some blood I may have lost," said the youth, looking down, "but it was where my best is due, and that is in your Majesty's service." The queen paused, and then said hastily, "You are 15 very young to have fought so well and to speak so well. So hark ye, Master Raleigh, see thou fail not to wear thy muddy cloak till our pleasure be farther known. And here," she added, giving him a jewel of gold in the form of a chessman, "I give thee this to wear at the collar." Raleigh, to whom nature had taught those courtly arts which many scarce acquire from long experience, knelt, and, as he took from her hand the jewel, kissed the fingers which gave it. 20 - WALTER SCOTT: Kenilworth. wherry, small boat; agility, ease, activity; embarrassment, confusion; liegeman, subject, one owing obedience; Devonshire, county in England. Can Is there not something amusing in Blount's amazement? you picture the scene when Walter is taken to the queen's boat? Notice how all his speech and actions add to the favor with which the queen already regards him. Give as briefly as possible the conversation between Walter and the queen.. What qualities does he show (1) by his pretty speeches to the queen, (2) by his replies to her questions touching his services as a soldier? The things which seem strange to you in dress, manners, and speech are due to the time in which this story is laid. You will have to imagine yourself living three hundred years ago. Perhaps you have seen some pictures of Elizabethan days which will help you to imagine the scenes. Spelling. Reverence, agility, gallant, warders, coxcomb, embarrassment. Composition. Read very carefully the conversation between Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth on pages 231-233. Imagine that Raleigh has returned to his friend Blount, and is telling him what occurred at the interview. Use direct quotations, and, in writing Blount's share in the conversation, think, from what you have learned of him in the earlier part of the story, what remarks he would be likely to make. Do not try to repeat every remark. You may have your books open to consult as you write. 47 LITTLE GIFFEN OUT of the focal and foremost fire, 5 "Take him and welcome!" the surgeons said; "Little the doctor can help the dead!" So we took him; and brought him where And we laid him down on a wholesome bed- And we watched the war with the bated breath, And didn't. Nay, more! in death's despite Words of gloom from the war one day; A tear, his first, as he bade good-by, "I'll write, if spared." But none of Giffen. There was news of a fight, He did not write! I sometimes fancy that, were I king Of the princely knights of the Golden Ring, For Little Giffen of Tennessee. focal, concentrated; dire, terrible; gangrene, dangerous diseased condition of the flesh, resulting from a wound; Lazarus, beggar covered with sores-spoken of in the Bible-Luke xvi. 20; bated, weakened; despite, defiance; knights of the Golden Ring, an imaginary body of brave men, each of whom had vowed to perform some deed of bravery or chivalry; legend, old story. What idea do you get of Little Giffen in the first line? Quote another line in stanza 1 that gives you the same idea. Who is telling this story? What is the condition of the boy at the beginning of the poem? What does the surgeon think of him? What was the main thing that enabled the boy to live? Quote lines that show this. What news made him hurry to the field again? In what indirect way are we told of his death on the battlefield? Go through the poem and collect all the lines that help you to form an opinion of the young Confederate soldier. What do you think of him? What does the teller of the story think of him? Whom does he compare him with in the last stanza? Tell the story of Little Giffen. What do you consider the best thing in the poem? What use of figurative language do you see? Notice the short, quick way in which the story is told. Is it less pathetic on this account? Notice the accents in each line, and the arrangement of rhymes. Spelling. Hospital, torture, legend, despite, skeleton, dire. 5 Word Study. Can you discover in specter the meaning that you learned in the word spectacle? From what was it derived? Composition: for the boys. Write the letter referred to in stanza 4 as you imagine Little Giffen wrote it to his mother at home in Tennessee. Try to imagine what kind of a letter such a boy would write. Do you suppose he told how brave he had been or how terribly he had suffered? About whom did he think most? About what was he most anxious? How did he speak of the kind friends who had nursed him? For the girls. - Write to Little Giffen's mother a letter such as you imagine might have been written by the kind southern lady at whose house the boy had been cared for. What things do you think she would be likely to tell the mother about her boy? How would she try to comfort her? It is probable that Little Giffen was too ill at first to tell where his mother lived, so the letter was not written until he was recovering. 48 THE BIVOUAC OF THE DEAD FEBRUARY 22, 23, 1847 [This poem was written to commemorate the bringing home of the bodies of the Kentucky soldiers who fell at Buena Vista, and their burial at Frankfort at the cost of the state. Among the dead was the son of Henry Clay.] THE muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo; No more on life's parade shall meet |