BALLAD. (I was, d'ye see, a waterman)

I was, d'ye see, a waterman, As tight and spruce as any, 'Twixt Richmond town And Horsley down I earn'd an honest penny:

None could of fortune's favours brag More than could lucky I, My cot was snug, well fill'd my cag, My grunter in the sty. With wherry tight And bosom light I cheerfully did row, And, to complete this princely life, Sure never man had friend and wife Like my Poll and my partner Joe.

I roll'd in joys like these awhile, Folks far and near caress'd me, Till, woe is me, So lubberly The press-gang came and press'd me:

How could I all these pleasures leave? How with my wherry part? I never so took on to grieve, It wrung my very heart. But when on board They gave the word To foreign parts to go, I rued the moment I was born, That ever I should thus be torn From my Poll and my partner Joe.

I did my duty manfully, While on the billows rolling, And night or day Could find my way Blindfold to the main-top bowling:

Thus all the dangers of the main, Quicksands, and gales of wind, I brav'd, in hopes to taste again The joys I left behind: In climes afar, The hottest war, Pour'd broadsides on the foe, In hopes these perils to relate, As by my side attentive sate, My Poll and my partner Joe.

At last it pleas'd his majesty To give peace to the nation, And honest hearts, From foreign parts, Came home for consolation:

Like lightning—for I felt new life, Now safe from all alarms— I rush'd, and found my friend and wife Lock'd in each others arms! Yet fancy not I bore my lot Tame, like a lubder:—No, For seeing I was finely trick'd, Plump to the devil I fairly kick'd My Poll and my partner Joe.