" I hate quoting from
these masterpieces, if only for the very selfish reason that my poor
setting cannot afford to show up brilliants. None the less, cost
what it may, let me transcribe that one noble piece of impassioned
prose--
"O England! long, long may it be ere the sun of thy glory sink
beneath the wave of darkness! Though gloomy and portentous
clouds are now gathering rapidly around thee, still, still
may it please the Almighty to disperse them, and to grant thee
a futurity longer in duration and still brighter in renown
than thy past! Or, if thy doom be at hand, may that doom be
a noble one, and worthy of her who has been styled the Old
Queen of the waters! May thou sink, if thou dost sink, amidst
blood and flame, with a mighty noise, causing more than one
nation to participate in thy downfall! Of all fates, may it
please the Lord to preserve thee from a disgraceful and a
slow decay; becoming, ere extinct, a scorn and a mockery for
those self-same foes who now, though they envy and abhor thee,
still fear thee, nay even against their will, honour and
respect thee.... Remove from thee the false prophets, who
have seen vanity and divined lies; who have daubed thy wall
with untempered mortar, that it may fall; who see visions
of peace where there is no peace; who have strengthened the
hands of the wicked, and made the heart of the righteous sad.
Oh, do this, and fear not the result, for either shall
thy end be a majestic and an enviable one; or God shall
perpetuate thy reign upon the waters, thou Old Queen!"
Or take the fight with the Flaming Tinman.
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