The Bab Ballads, vol 2 | Page 8

offered him, of course,?A rare and curious "old master."
I offered to procure him weeds--?Wines fit for one in his position--?But, though an ass in all his deeds,?He'd learnt the meaning of "commission."
He called me "thief" the other day,?And daily from his door he thrusts me;?Much more of this, and soon I may?Begin to think that BROWN mistrusts me.
So deaf to all sound Reason's rule?This poor uneducated clown is,?You canNOT fancy what a fool?Poor rich uneducated BROWN is.
Sir Macklin
Of all the youths I ever saw?None were so wicked, vain, or silly,?So lost to shame and Sabbath law,?As worldly TOM, and BOB, and BILLY.
For every Sabbath day they walked?(Such was their gay and thoughtless natur)?In parks or gardens, where they talked?From three to six, or even later.
SIR MACKLIN was a priest severe?In conduct and in conversation,?It did a sinner good to hear?Him deal in ratiocination.
He could in every action show?Some sin, and nobody could doubt him.?He argued high, he argued low,?He also argued round about him.
He wept to think each thoughtless youth?Contained of wickedness a skinful,?And burnt to teach the awful truth,?That walking out on Sunday's sinful.
"Oh, youths," said he, "I grieve to find?The course of life you've been and hit on--?Sit down," said he, "and never mind?The pennies for the chairs you sit on.
"My opening head is 'Kensington,'?How walking there the sinner hardens,?Which when I have enlarged upon,?I go to 'Secondly'--its 'Gardens.'
"My 'Thirdly' comprehendeth 'Hyde,'?Of Secresy the guilts and shameses;?My 'Fourthly'--'Park'--its verdure wide--?My 'Fifthly' comprehends 'St. James's.'
"That matter settled, I shall reach?The 'Sixthly' in my solemn tether,?And show that what is true of each,?Is also true of all, together.
"Then I shall demonstrate to you,?According to the rules of WHATELY,?That what is true of all, is true?Of each, considered separately."
In lavish stream his accents flow,?TOM, BOB, and BILLY dare not flout him;?He argued high, he argued low,?He also argued round about him.
"Ha, ha!" he said, "you loathe your ways,?You writhe at these my words of warning,?In agony your hands you raise."?(And so they did, for they were yawning.)
To "Twenty-firstly" on they go,?The lads do not attempt to scout him;?He argued high, he argued low,?He also argued round about him.
"Ho, ho!" he cries, "you bow your crests--?My eloquence has set you weeping;?In shame you bend upon your breasts!"?(And so they did, for they were sleeping.)
He proved them this--he proved them that--?This good but wearisome ascetic;?He jumped and thumped upon his hat,?He was so very energetic.
His Bishop at this moment chanced?To pass, and found the road encumbered;?He noticed how the Churchman danced,?And how his congregation slumbered.
The hundred and eleventh head?The priest completed of his stricture;?"Oh, bosh!" the worthy Bishop said,?And walked him off as in the picture.
The Yarn Of The "Nancy Bell"
'Twas on the shores that round our coast?From Deal to Ramsgate span,?That I found alone on a piece of stone?An elderly naval man.
His hair was weedy, his beard was long,?And weedy and long was he,?And I heard this wight on the shore recite,?In a singular minor key:
"Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold,?And the mate of the Nancy brig,?And a bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite,?And the crew of the captain's gig."
And he shook his fists and he tore his hair,?Till I really felt afraid,?For I couldn't help thinking the man had been drinking,?And so I simply said:
"Oh, elderly man, it's little I know?Of the duties of men of the sea,?And I'll eat my hand if I understand?However you can be
"At once a cook, and a captain bold,?And the mate of the Nancy brig,?And a bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite,?And the crew of the captain's gig."
Then he gave a hitch to his trousers, which?Is a trick all seamen larn,?And having got rid of a thumping quid,?He spun this painful yarn:
"'Twas in the good ship Nancy Bell?That we sailed to the Indian Sea,?And there on a reef we come to grief,?Which has often occurred to me.
"And pretty nigh all the crew was drowned?(There was seventy-seven o' soul),?And only ten of the Nancy's men?Said 'Here!' to the muster-roll.
"There was me and the cook and the captain bold,?And the mate of the Nancy brig,?And the bo'sun tight, and a midshipmite,?And the crew of the captain's gig.
"For a month we'd neither wittles nor drink,?Till a-hungry we did feel,?So we drawed a lot, and, accordin' shot?The captain for our meal.
"The next lot fell to the Nancy's mate,?And a delicate dish he made;?Then our appetite with the midshipmite?We seven survivors stayed.
"And then we murdered the bo'sun tight,?And he much resembled pig;?Then we wittled free, did the cook and me,?On the crew of the captain's gig.
"Then only the cook and me was left,?And the delicate question, 'Which?Of us two goes to the kettle?' arose,?And we argued it out as sich.
"For I loved that cook as a brother, I did,?And the cook he worshipped me;?But we'd both be blowed if