No. IX Scroll of Fame

No. IX [Scroll of Fame]

Cleveland, I look’d upon the scroll of Fame
To see if son of mine was enter’d there;
And to the goddess as I made a prayer
For information, lo! this answer came:—
Her sons have risen at the trumpet’s call, 5
And buckled on their armour for the fight;
Vow’d for their country they would stand or fall—
Their watchword “England, Victory, and Right!”
Full well the foeman knew their martial might:
For when the brave unsheathe the battle-blade 10
For home and its soul-endearing ties,
They feel that they for noble deeds were made,
And learn the recreant, Fear, to despise.

George Markham Tweddell

[This is a thirteen-line sonnet]
From North of England Tractates No. 7
Cleveland Sonnets (1870)