Like Neptune with a leprosy,— With quaking sails the little boat Then, rushing down the nether slope, Look, how a horse, made mad with fear, So now the headlong headstrong boat, And straight presents her reeling flank The gusty wind assaults the sail; Her ballast lies a-lee! The sheet's to windward taut and stiff, O! the Lively - where is she? Her capsized keel is in the foam, The wild gull, sailing overhead, The ensuing wave, with horrid foam, The jolly boatman's drowning scream A SAILOR'S APOLOGY FOR BOW-LEGS. THERE's some is born with their straight legs by natur And set, you see, like Bacchus, with their pegs I've got myself a sort of bow to larboard, And this is what it was that warped my legs. "T was all along of Poll, as I may say, That fouled my cable when I ought to slip; But on the tenth of May, When I gets under weigh, Down there in Hartfordshire, to join my ship, Get under sail, The only one there was to make the trip. Well I gives chase, But as she run Two knots to one, There warn't no use in keeping on the race! Well casting round about, what next to try on, And how to spin, I spies an ensign with a Bloody Lion, And bears away to leeward for the inn, And fetches up before the coach-horse stable : And so I just makes free to cut a brown 'un's cable. But riding is n't in a seaman's natur And gets a kind of sort of a land-waiter Under the she-mare's keel, And off I goes, and leaves the inn a-starn. My eyes! how she did pitch ! And would n't keep her own to go in no line, And was n't she trimendous slack in stays! We had n't run a knot—or much beyond There I am! all a-back! So I looks forward for her bridle-gears, The leather parts, And goes away right over by the ears! What could a fellow do, Whose legs, like mine, you know, were in the bilboes But trim myself upright for bringing-to, And square his yard-arms, and brace up his elbows, Just while his craft was taking in her water? The chase had gained a mile Ahead, and still the she-mare stood a-drinking: Now, all the while Her body did n't take of course to shrinking. And yet the tackle held, Till both my legs began to bend like winkin. My eyes! but she took in enough to founder! And her tarnation hull a-growing rounder! Well, thereoff Hartford Ness, We lay both lashed and water-logged together, yarn. So I gets off, and lands upon the road, If I get on another, I'll be blowed! And that's the way, you see, my legs got bowed! THE BACHELOR'S DREAM. My pipe is lit, my grog is mixed, She looked so fair, she sang so well, I could but woo and she was won; Myself in blue, the bride in white, The ring was placed, the deed was done! Away we went in chaise-and-four, As fast as grinning boys could flog – What d' ye think of that, my cat? What d'ye think of that, my dog? What loving tête-à-têtes to come! But tête-à-têtes must still defer! When Susan came to live with me, Her mother came to live with her! With sister Belle she could n't part, But all my ties had leave to jogWhat d'ye think of that, my cat? What d'ye think of that, my dog? The mother brought a pretty PollA monkey too, what work he made! The sister introduced a beauMy Susan brought a favorite maid. She had a tabby of her own,A snappish mongrel christened Gog,What d' ye think of that, my cat? What d'ye think of that, my dog? The monkey bit the parrot screamed, All day the sister strummed and sung; The petted maid was such a scold! My Susan learned to use her tongue; Her mother had such wretched health, She sate and croaked like any frogWhat d'ye think of that, my cat? What d'ye think of that, my dog? |