Far off 'till distant realms he gangs,
But I'se be true, as he ha' been;
And when ilk lass around him thrangs,
He'll think on Annie's faithful een.

Our wealthy laird I met yestreen;
With gowd in hand he tempted me,
He prais'd my brow, and rowan een,
And made a brag of what he'd gie.

But though my Jockey's far away,
Blaw'd up and down the awsome main,
I'se keep my heart anither day,
Syne Jockey may return again.

Nae mair, fause Jamie, sing nae mair,
And fairly cast your pipe away;
Thy Jockey wad be trubled sair,
To see his frien' his lo'e betray.

Yer sangs, and a' yer verse is vain,
While Jockey's notes do faithful flow;
To him my heart shall true remain,
I'se keep it for my constant Jo.

Blaw saft, ye gales, round Jockey's head;
And gar the waves be cawm and still
His hameward sails with breezes speed,
And dinna a' my pleasures spill.

Though full o'erlang will be his stay,
Yet then he'll braw in siller shine.
I'se keep my heart anither day,
Syne Jockey will again be mine.

XCIX

I'd think on thee, my Love

IN storms when clouds obscure the sky,
And thunders roll, and lightnings fly,
In midst of all these dire alarms,

I think, my Sally, on thy charms;
The troubled main,

The wind and rain,
My ardent passion prove;
Lash'd to the helm,
Should seas o'erwhelm,

I'd think on thee, my Love.

When rocks appear on every side,
And art is vain the ship to guide,
In varied shapes when death appears,
The thoughts of thee my bosom cheers.

The troubled main, &c.

But should the gracious pow'rs be kind,
Dispel the gloom and still the wind,
And waft me to thy arms once more,
Safe to my long-lost native shore;
No more the main

I tempt again,

But tender joys improve;

I then with thee

Should happy be,

And think on nought but love.

C

'0, Falmouth is a fine town'

O, FALMOUTH is a fine town with ships in the bay,
And I wish from my heart it's there I was to-day;
I wish from my heart I was far away from here,
Sitting in my parlour and talking to my dear.

For it's home, dearie, home-it's home I want to be,
Our topsails are hoisted, and we'll away to sea;
O, the oak and the ash and the bonnie birken tree
They're all growing green in the old countrie.

In Baltimore a-walking a lady I did meet

With her babe on her arm, as she came down the street ; And I thought how I sailed, and the cradle standing

ready

For the pretty little babe that has never seen its daddy.
And it's home, dearie, home, &c.

O, if it be a lass, she shall wear a golden ring;
And if it be a lad, he shall fight for his king:
With his dirk and his hat and his little jacket blue
He shall walk the quarter-deck as his daddie used to do.
And it's home, dearie, home, &c.

O, there's a wind a-blowing, a-blowing from the west,
And that of all the winds is the one I like the best,
For it blows at our backs, and it shakes our pennon free,
And it soon will blow us home to the old countrie.

For it's home, dearie, home-it's home I want to be,
Our topsails are hoisted, and we'll away to sea;
O, the oak and the ash and the bonnie birken tree
They're all growing green in the old countrie.
W. E. HENLEY.

NOTES

Ash. J. Ashton's Real Sailor-Songs. (London. 1891.) Reference

=

to numbers.

Hall. J. O. Halliwell's Early Naval Ballads. (Percy Society. 1841.) Ref. to pages.

R. B. Roxburghe Ballads. (Ballad Society.) Ref. to volumes

B. B.

and pages.

Bagford Ballads. (Ballad Society.) Ref. to volumes and

Rawl. Rawlinson's Ballads in Bodleian. Ref. to volume and

number.

W. Wood's Ballads in Bodleian. Ref. to Shelf-mark.

D. S.

Douce's Collection of English Songs in Bodleian. (5 vols.) Chap. Chappell's Popular Music of the Olden Time. (London. 1855-7.) Ref. to pages.

Child-Prof. F. J. Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads. (5 vols.) Ref. to numbers.

L.-W. H. Logan's Pedlar's Pack of Ballads and Songs. (Edinburgh. 1869.) Ref. to pages.

N.B.-The following list of sources is not intended to be complete. In most cases only the source from which the present version has been taken is given. The notes signed C. A. G. B. are kindly contributed by Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge.

1. From a MS. in the library at Trinity College, Cambridge. It is printed in Early English Text Society, 25, 1867; Ash. (preface), and Hall., p. 1. Cf. Sir Henry Ellis's Original Letters, 2nd series, vol. i. p. 110, for a letter requesting a licence on behalf of the Earl of Oxford to carry pilgrims to Compostella in the Jesus of Orwelle'. The exportation of pilgrims to the shrine of St. James (whose body was discovered in 797) was a regular trade; in 1434 a licence to carry no less than 2,433 pilgrims was granted by Henry VI. Cf. Borrow's Bible in Spain, ch. 27. 'War-take' in st. 10. I has

baffled all editors. It might mean war-tackle, some apparatus outside the vessel: but this is not probable, and any alternative explanation is purely conjectural. Febyll cell' in st. 16. 4 is a slightly-built cabin such as was sometimes hastily constructed by the ship's carpenter down to the very last days of wooden ships.

'If the spelling of parts of this song were changed to present forms, and allowance made for altered or provincial pronunciation in a few words, it would appear surprisingly modern. The song is most likely the composition of a sailor on board what was certainly a merchant vessel ("then cometh our owner like a lord"), and one of its subjects-for it portrays seamen's life as well-is that which always was, and perhaps still is, a matter of unfailing interest and amusement to sailors-viz. the miseries of landsmen afloat in rough weather. The only thing that can give rise to doubt as to the calling of the author is its regular and rather artificial versification-four-lined stanzas of which the first three lines all rhyme and the fourth rhymes with the corresponding line in the next stanza. This may

possibly be the result of editing.

Some of the phrases are especially interesting and are still extant.' [C. A. G. B.]

'St. 4. I.

"Howe! hissa!" would now be "Ho! hissa!" still used on board sailing merchant vessels instead of the inconveniently longer "Ho! hoist away! Hisser is French for hoist; and a form of it is found in most Romance languages.

St. 4. 2.

"What ho! mate," was in common use

till very lately and, perhaps, still is.

"thou stondyst to ny, Thy felow may nat

hale the by," in modern spelling would be

"thou standest too nigh (near), Thy neighbour cannot haul beside thee," thou art too close to him to give him room to haul.