.

." The historic present, as my Latin grammar used to call it, is our favourite tense: and if you insist that, not being a hundred years old, I cannot speak as an eye-witness of this historic scene, my answer must be Browning's,--"All I can say is--I saw it!"] "Gentlemen!" began the Major.
We might not all be officers, like the Mevagissey Artillery, but in the Troy Gallants we were all gentlemen.
"Gentlemen!"-- the Major waved an arm seaward--"yonder lies your enemy.

Behind you"-- he pointed up the harbour to the town-- "England relies on your protection.

Shall the Corsican tyrant lay his lascivious hands upon her ancient liberties, her reformed and Protestant religion, her respectable Sovereign and his Consort, her mansions, her humble cottages, and those members of the opposite sex whose charms reward, and, in rewarding, refine us?
Or shall we meet his flat-bottomed boats with a united front, a stern 'Thus far and no farther,' and send them home with their tails between their legs?
That, gentlemen, is the alternative.

Which will you choose ?" Here the Major paused, and finding that he expected an answer, we turned our eyes with one consent upon Gunner Sobey, the readiest man in the company.
"The latter!" said Gunner Sobey, with precision; whereat we gave three cheers.