"Charge, Chester, charge! on, Stanley, on!"

Were the last words of Marmion.

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Marmion. Canto vi. Stanza 32.

O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellions hell,

If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones,

To flaming youth let virtue be as wax,

And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame

When the compulsive ardour gives the charge,

Since frost itself as actively doth burn,

And reason panders will.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act iii. Sc. 4.

Who so shall telle a tale after a man,

He moste reherse, as neighe as ever he can,

Everich word, if it be in his charge,

All speke he never so rudely and so large;

Or elles he moste tellen his tale untrewe,

Or feinen thinges, or finden wordes newe.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400): Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 733.

And raw in fields the rude militia swarms,

Mouths without hands; maintain'd at vast expense,

In peace a charge, in war a weak defence;

Stout once a month they march, a blustering band,

And ever but in times of need at hand.

John Dryden (1631-1701): Cymon and Iphigenia. Line 400.

The charge is prepar'd, the lawyers are met,

The judges all ranged,—a terrible show!

John Gay (1688-1732): The Beggar's Opera. Act iii. Sc. 2.

A charge to keep I have,

A God to glorify;

A never dying soul to save,

And fit it for the sky.

Charles Wesley: Christian Fidelity.

The combat deepens. On, ye brave,

Who rush to glory or the grave!

Wave, Munich! all thy banners wave,

And charge with all thy chivalry!

Thomas Campbell (1777-1844): Hohenlinden.