Nelson's Day

HERE'S to the health of Nelson! Hurrah and three times three!
Glory to him who gave us back our birthright of the Sea!

He gave us back the wide wide Sea, and bade us rule the wave,
And how did we pay him back, dear boys, for that great gift he gave?

Just as his life was ebbing ("Twas in
Trafalgar's bay)
He craved one little thing from us for whom he fell that day;
For in that hour of glorious death his last thoughts landward ran,
Since, alas and alas, my Christian friends, he wasn't a moral man!

'Take care of Lady Hamilton! ' the dying hero cried, —
'Twas all he asked from Englishmen for whom he fought and died;
'Now I have bought you with my blood the
Sea and all thereon,
Take care of her I love,' he said, 'when am dead and gone!"

His health, the health of Nelson! health to the good, the brave!
But still we're moral men, dear boys, with moral souls to save . . .
We suffered her he loved to starve, to fill a pauper's grave, —
That's how we paid him back, dear boys, for the great gift he gave!

Honour to Nelson's memory! his health with three times three!
If we are freemen 'twas his gift— he gave us back the Sea,—
Crow, west to east! but while we shout his name from wave to wave,
Think how we paid our Hero back for the great gift he gave!