Dir gegenüber steht sie da, Glückselige Insel, Herrscherin der Meere, Weh deinem freigebor'nen Volke! Da steht sie, eine wetterschwang're Wolke. Wer hat das hohe Kleinod dir errungen Das zu der Länder Fürstin dich gemacht? Hast du nicht selbst, von stolzen Königen gezwungen, Das grosse Blatt, das deine Könige zu Bürgern Zu Fürsten deine Bürger macht? Der Segel stolze Obermacht Hast du sie nicht von Millionen Würgern Erstritten in der Wasserschlacht? Wem dankst du sie-erröthet Völker dieser Erde- Unglückliche, blick hin auf diese feuerwerfenden Kolossen Sah deines Feindes stolze Löwenflaggen wehen, Und die Armada flog nach allen Winden. THE INVINCIBLE FLEET. She comes, she comes, the proud fleet of the south: the ocean groans under her; she approaches thee with the clanking of chains, a new religion, and a thousand thunderbolts; a floating army of dreaded castles (never did the ocean beholdthe like) called the Invincible; she moves along upon the affrighted waves: the terror which she casts around gave her that proud name. Trembling Neptune carries his burthen with a majestic slow pace. Destruction to the world in her bosom, she draws near, and all tempests are hushed. She stands over against thee, blessed island, sovereign of the seas; it is thee, high-minded Britain, that these galleon armies threaten. Wo to thy freeborn people! Yonder she stands, a cloud pregnant with storms. Who obtained for thee the invaluable prerogative which made thee the first of all countries? Was it not thyself, who, driven to it by haughty kings, didst contrive the wisest of all constitutional laws, that Great Charter which makes thy monarchs citizens, and thy citizens princes? The proud superiority of thy navy, hast thou not conquered it in innumerable sea-fights over millions of warriors? To what dost thou owe that superiority-blush, ye nations of this globeto what, but to thy spirit and thy sword? Unhappy Britain, behold these fire-vomiting colossal ships; see and dread the loss of thy glory. The world looks at thee dismayed, the hearts of all free men beat high, and all good and noble souls lament with sympathy the loss of thy glory. God Almighty looked down, he saw the enemy's proud lions waving, saw thy open grave threatening certain destruction. Is my Albion to perish? he said: is the race of my heroes to be extinct? is the last strong dike against oppression to crumble to pieces? Is the great bulwark against tyrants to be swept from this hemisphere? Never, he exclaimed, never shall this paradise of freedom, this strong palladium of the dignity of man, disappear! God Almighty breathed, and the Armada was dispersed to all the quarters of the winds. 334. Unüberwindlich, adj. unconquerable, invincible. die Flotte, fem. the fleet; die Kriegsflotte, a fleet of men of war; eine Kauffarteiflotte, a fleet of merchantmen. das Weltmeer, s, plur. e, neut. the ocean, literally the worldsea; the gender of two combined substantives is always that of the noun which stands last. wimmern, reg. active and neut. to groan. It must be carefully distinguished from wimmeln, neut. to swarm. der Kettenklang, es, e, masc. again a compound word, the clanking of chains, from die Kette, fem. the chain; and der Klang, masc. the sound of a body which is made to vibrate either by touch or stroke; but more particularly the sound of church-bells. mit Sang und Klang, with singing and the ringing of bells. 335. und einem neuen Gotte, and a new god, in the dative masculine, on account of the prep. mit, with. A new god here means a new religion, in allusion to the Roman Catholic creed, which the Spanish inquisitors wished to introduce again into England by main force. 336. naht sie dir, she approaches thee; the nominative is behind the verb, on account of the adverbial idea which prefaces it. Nuhen, reg. neut. to approach; it is conjugated with seyn in the compound tenses, and generally construed with heran in prose: die Zeit nahet heran, the time is approaching. It is also employed as a refl. verb. Er nahete sich mir, he approached me. Schwimmend, part. act. 66 to of schwimmen, to swim. ein Heer, es, e, plur. Heere, neut. an army, a troop, a multitude, a swarm. furchtbar, adj. formidable, dreadful, dreaded. The syllable bar added to any noun substantive converts it into an adjective. It is derived from the same root as the English verb, bear," to carry, and denotes, 1. producing or performing, as here, furchtbar, what produces fear; kostbar, what causes expense; nutzbar, what yields an example; fruchtbar, fertile, what produces fruit; dienstbar, serviceable, what renders service; dankbar, thankful, what renders thanks. 2. Capability to act or to be acted upon: brennbar, combustible, what can burn; denkbar, credible, what may be supposed or thought; streitbar, able-bodied, capable of fighting; essbar, that may be eaten; trinkbar, potable, that may be drunk; brauchbar, that may be put to use; sichtbar, visible, that may be seen; fühlbar, sensible, that may be felt. 3. Resemblance: scheinbar, specious, having the appearance of truth; wunderbar, wonderful, being like a wonder; mannbar, said of a male youth having a man-like appearance, but, said of a young female, it belongs to the second class, and means marriageable; offenbar, revealed, evident, made open, as it were, like an open thing. Many of these adjectives may be converted into negative ones, by having the syllable un prefixed to them, as unfruchtbar, undankbar, unbrauchbar, &c. and both these negative and affirmative adjectives in bar may be again converted into fresh substantives, by the addition of the syllable keit, which are all of the feminine gender: die Fruchbarkeit, die Dankbarkeit, die Brauchbarkeit, &c. eine Citadelle, fem. a garrison, a castle; it is properly a French word. The German word is eine Festung. Schiller, Goethe, and Wieland, have still many French words in their writings, which occasionally disfigure them. The very first noun in the next line is again French or Latin. Der Ozean, es, pl. die Ozeane, the ocean. We have das Meer, and das Weltmeer, which Schiller himself uses in the second line of this poem. ihres gleichen, like it, viz. like the fleet; gleich, adj. like, equal, gives the indeclinable dergleichen and desgleichen, the like; and by the same analogy we say meines gleichen, deines gleichen, ihres gleichen, &c. my equal or equals, thy equal or equals, their equal or equals, &c.; a fellow-creature is ein Mitmensch. Hence we may render the idea, all men are my fellow-creatures, but not all of them are my equals, by Alle Menschen sind meine Mitmenschen, aber nicht alle sind meines gleichen. 337. nennen, to name, to call, is an irr. act. verb; ich nenne, ich nannte, ich habe genannt. 338. zieht sie einher, she moves along, from the sep. irr. comp. verb, einherziehen, to move along; einher generally denotes a strutting, a walking with dignity, in a proud manner; and ziehen is to move, sec. 61. die Welle, pl. en, fem. a wave, a billow; Woge, fem. is a great wave. Das Meer schlägt Wellen, the sea rises in waves. 339. Den stolzen Namen weiht der Schrecken, terror consecrates the proud name. The distinct accusative of the article masculine makes such inversions familiar even in prose, and the government of the verb being before, throws the nominative behind the verb. Weihen, reg. act. verb, to consecrate, to dedicate, to devote. um sich, round about her: see sections 36, 234, 276. Speien, irr. neut. verb, to vomit, to spit; ich speie, ich spie, ich habe gespien. Blut speien, to spit blood. der Schritt, es, e, pl. die Schritte, masc. the step, pace, stride. Schritt halten, to keep pace; Schritt für Schritt, step by step. 340. trägt, carries, from tragen, irr. act. verb, to carry, to bear, to support; ich trage, du trägst, er trägt; ich trug; ich habe getragen. This verb is of great importance; it serves to form many idiomatic expressions, as auf den Händen tragen, to be uncommonly fond of, to shew the kindest attention to a person. In the sense of bearing, putting up with, Ramler says, addressing our Saviour :— "Zu deiner Ehre will ich alle Plagen, Schmach und Verfolgung, ohne Murren tragen." To thy glory I will bear all ills, disgrace, and persecution, without grumbling. die last, pl. en, fem. the load, the burthen, the charge. Ein Schiff von hundert und funfzig Lasten, a ship of three hundred tons burthen. Eine Last zur See ist Vier tausend Pfund schwer oder zwei Englische Tonnen, a last of shipped goods is four thousand pounds weight, or two English tons. der Untergang, es, e, masc. ruin, destruction, fall; der Weltuntergang, the de struction of the world; der Sonnenuntergang, sunset, 341. die Mitte, fem. the middle; in der Mitte, in the midst; in ihrer Mitte, in the midst of her, meaning the fleet, die Flotte, which is fem. ruhen, reg. neut. verb, to rest, from die Ruhe, sec. 329. 342. gegenüber, prep. governs the dative, over against, opposite. 343. glücksel'ge is a contraction for glückselige, the fem. of the adj. glückselig, blessed, blissful, happy. It denotes the highest degree of moral happiness, whilst glücklich, lucky, fortunate, denotes only worldly happiness. die Insel, pl. Inseln (from the Latin, insula,) fem. the island. Navigators and poets generally prefer the German word Eiland, which is pronounced exactly like the English island; it is of the neuter gender, and has two plurals, die Eilande; or die Eiländer; the same as Land, sec. 145. 344. die Herrscherin, fem. the mistress, the female sovereign; der Herrscher, s, masc. the ruler, the sovereign. We have already observed that the syllable in added to a noun expressive of a dignity, rank, or profession, converts it into the appellation of a female holding such a rank, or of the wife of a man of such a dignity or profession. Der König, the king; die Königin, the queen. 345. Diese Gallionenheere: the poet calls them " Galleon armies" because the Spanish Armada was equipped with the immense sums which Philip drew from Peru and Mexico, and which were transmitted in Spanish men-ofwar called Galleons. 346. das Volk, es, e, pl. die Völker, neut. a people, a nation. das Fussvolk, infantry; das Schiffsvolk, a ship's crew. But Volk often denotes the multitude, in contrast with the upper classes of a nation. Hence we say die Volkssprache, the popular language. Luther calls the tumultuous city, mentioned in the prophet Isaiah, xxii. 2, ein Stadt voll Volks. We have the word Nation, fem. which denotes a people living under the same laws and government; but as it is of foreign origin it is now little used; and instead of Nationalität, fem. nationality, and national, adj., the words Volkthum, neut. and Volkthümlich, adj. have been introduced within the present century. 347. das Kleinod, es, e, pl. die Kleinode, neut. a jewel, an ornament made of, or set with, precious stones. But here it means the prize, as in 1 Corinthians, ix. 24. H |