Part I EXPLOITS OFF SOUTH AMERICA

"Meekly content and tamely stay-at-home The sea-birds seemed that piped across the waves; And Drake, bemused, leaned smiling to his friend Doughty and said, 'Is it not strange to know When we return, yon speckled herring-gulls Will still be wheeling, dipping, flashing there? We shall not find a fairer land afar Than those thyme-scented hills we leave behind! Soon the young lambs will bleat across the combes, And breezes will bring puffs of hawthorn scent Down Devon lanes; over the purple moors Lav'rocks will carol; and on the village greens Around the maypole, while the moon hangs low, The boys and girls of England merrily swing In country footing through the flowery dance.'"