A Mirror of Faith :: :: University of Virginia Library

It was Lord Brooke, a rebel bold,
from Warwick took his way,
To burn S. Chad's Cathedral Church
all on S. Chad his day:
The men-at-arms came slow behind,
the horse went on before,
And deadly hate their chief elate
to God's fair Temple bore:

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“If Thou vouchsaf'st, O Lord,” said he,
“to give me Lichfield town,
Then will I burn, as Jehu did,
yon House of Baal down!”

It was the men of Lichfield then,
right gloomy was their cheer!
They looked upon the country round,
the enemy was near:
They looked upon their battlements,—
their battlements were weak;
They looked upon their garrison,
munitions were to seek.
They looked upon their three fair spires,
and thought of God on High:
They looked upon their fathers' tombs,
and vowed for them to die.

It was Sir Richard Dyott,
a gallant knight to see;
“Death may come oft before he comes
in so good cause,” quoth he:
“If for our Holy Fatherhood,
and for our kingly sway,

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Of banners gay, and fair array,
the rebel-captain boasts:
With him there is an arm of flesh,
with us the Lord of Hosts!

It was the Priests that straight arose,
and Litany was sung:
Down Nave, and Aisles, and Transepts fair,
the Miserere rung:
“Spare us, Good Lord! and crush our foe,
and laugh to scorn his rage:
Give not Thy people to rebuke,
nor leave Thine Heritage!
Or since our sins have well deserved
that we be put to shame,
Spare yet the house our fathers reared
so goodly to Thy Name!”

It was the sound of war and siege!
They marshal for attack:
With mattock, basket, pioneer,
and ladder, for the sack:

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Come on both pikemen, men-at-arms,
and heady volunteers:
With rammers, sponge, and touchwood match,
come on the cannoneers:
And out spake Brooke, above the rest,
in midmost of the line:
“We go about Thy work, to-day!
Vouchsafe, O Lord, a sign!”

It was a man both deaf and dumb
was in the central Tower:
Before him lay the silver moat,
beyond, the rebel-power;
He leant his piece upon the wall,
and cunning aim he took,
Where, in his prayer, with visor up,
and eyes towards Heav'n, stood Brooke:
The trigger fell, the flint struck true,
the bullet sped its way;
And that same instant, in the dust
the bold blasphemer lay.

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It was a soldier standing by:
“Now praise,” quoth he, “God's Name,
For half that space, except by grace,
were far beyond our aim.
He asked a sign: a sign he hath!
it entered in the eye,
Wherewith he trusted he should see
God's Church in ruins lie.
He asked a sign: a sign he hath!
and he who would not pray
'Gainst sudden death, by sudden death
is called unshriv'd away.”

It was the good Lieutenant then,—
“Now out upon the foe!
An easy prey is ours to-day,
since rebel Brooke is low.
And by the terror of his fall,
let future ages see
God's Church is still His care, and still
He doeth valiantly!

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And tell how Brooke, sworn enemy
to God's fair Temples, lay
Before Saint Chad's Cathedral church,
all on Saint Chad, his day!

S. Chad, Bishop of Lichfield, had a hermitage about a mile from the present site of the Cathedral, in a place now called Chadstowe, or Stowe. There he is said to have been miraculously supported by a stag, and S. Chad's well is shewn to this day.

These three spires, however, were not then, as they are now, unique among the English Cathedrals.

His name was Dyott: he was a brother of the knight of the same name.

Lord Brooke (a high Calvinist) had always objected to the petition in the Litany against sudden death.