Robin did not pursue the high London road, but struck across the Park;
and his love of fine scenery induced him to pause at the top of
Greenwich Hill, and look around on the richness and beauty of the
prospect. Flowing to the right, the broad and glorious Thames turned its
liquid mirror to the skies, and reflected every passing cloud upon its
translucent bosom. But our noble river had more than clouds to shadow
it;--the treasures of the universe floated for us upon its wave--the
spoils of conquered and humbled nations left their track along its
shores; Spain, France, and either India--the whole world, rendered us
homage and paid us tribute, and proud was our own Father Thames to bear
that homage and that tribute to his favoured city. Well might the great
cupola of St. Paul erect its heavy but majestic head, and peer forth
through the first beams of day upon the rich and blessed river! Robin
felt his heart swell within his bosom when he looked down upon the
waters and the land of which every Englishman is so justly proud. "It is
my own country!" was his emphatic ejaculation, as he gazed on this
picture of English wealth and English cultivation. The little village of
Greenwich, straggling at the foot of the hill, approaching closely to
the palace, and then wandering along the great Dover and London road,
formed a more pleasant object than it does now that it has been
magnified into a great and populous town. Many wooden cottages nested
under the Park walls, and sent their smoke curling through the foliage
of the fine trees that formed a bold, rich back-ground. The palace,
extending its squares and courts along the river's brink, gave an air of
dignity to the whole scene; while the tinkling music of the sheep-bells,
echoing from the heath, lent to it a soft and harmonising effect. On the
river, in the extreme distance, an English vessel was towing up some of
the Spanish prizes which the gallant Blake had forwarded to their future
home: they trailed the water heavily and gloomily, like captives as they
were; and their dismantled and battered aspect afforded ample subject
for discourse to a group of old sailors, who, though not yet possessed
of their Palace-Hospital, found many convenient dwellings in the
village, and added not a little to the picturesque appearance of the
hill, as, congregated in a small party, they handed a rude spy-glass
from one to another, "And told how ships were won."
"Ah!" said one veteran, "I heard old Blake myself say, soon after his
Highness was made the same as a king, and many lubberly scoundrels put
up their backs at it--'Boys,' says he, and, my eyes! how nobly he does
stand upon the deck o' his own ship, the Triumph!--'Boys,' says he, 'it
isn't for us to mind state affairs, but keep foreigners from fooling
us.' D--n it, that's what I call English."