St. 5.3. "Y how! taylia!" is "Yeo ho! talley." I have heard "Talley and belay," which came from the merchant service: and the following quotations are from the Century Dictionary: "When they hale aft the Sheate of Maine or fore sailes, they say Tallee aft the Sheate." MS. Harleian, 6286 (Halliwell). "And while the lee clew-garnet's lowered away, Taut aft the sheet they tally and belay." Falconer. St. 8. I. "What howe! no nere! is "What ho! no higher!" of modern time; but "Near! or "Too near ! instead of "No higher! survived but was regarded as old-fashioned. "Cover the boorde" may be "Lay the cloth." If so, it is interesting to know that tablecloths were in use afloat so long ago. till my time; St. 10. 2. St. 14. 3. "Allas! myne hede woll cleve on thre!" This line shows that the sensations during sea-sickness were the same as they are now. One has often heard a sea-sick person say "My head is splitting." a common precursor of actual nausea. It is The last stanza shows that in a crowded passenger vessel some of the passengers had to sleep in the hold. Thus they were near the pump and near the bilgewater which in most wooden ships is offensive, and, when refuse was allowed to be thrown into the hold, as some authorities say it used to be in old days, the stink must have been nearly unendurable.' [C. A. G. B.] 2. Thomas Wright's Festive Songs (Percy Society, vol. xxiii). From Common Conditions, a comedy published about 1570. "If it were not for the structure of the stanza, which indicates technical skill not to be looked for in nautical folk songs, this might be taken as a real sea song of the Fore-bitter class. Perhaps it is a fragment of one, [C. A. G. B.] amended by a shore-going editor.' 3, 4, 5. Hall., pp. 14-17, 79. 3 and 4 are from MS. Sloane 2497, fol. 47, in the British Museum, 5 from a private MS. A note at the end of 3, 'Sur Richard Grinfilldes, farewell,' seems to refer the poem to Grenville's voyage of discovery in 1585. The transcription is illiterate and the text bears traces of a Scotch origin. The present text contains a few alterations, for the sake of the rhyme or the sense: in 3 Hall. has, in l. 2 'whinges of hie desarte', in l. 10 'steadfoot', in l. 17 'alicke', in l. 18 'whom fortune sicke', in l. 26 ‘trishe', in l. 28 'slishe', and in 1. 29 'that': but 1. 30 does not seem to make sense as it stands, and 1. 13 wants 'dwell' or some such word for the rhyme; in the last stanza 'bine' and 'foylde' need emendation. In 4 Hall. has in l. 2 'seaes', and in l. 34 'hast'. 'These are of a much higher class than genuine sailors' songs. Probably by the same author. The classical mythology in no. 5 proves its shore origin.' [C. A. G. B.] 6. From John Hinton's Deuteromelia, 1609. Printed in Chap., R. B., &c. 'An interesting fragment showing the jealousy between the war navy and the merchant service. It was probably written by some one in or connected with the latter.' [C. A. G. B.] 7. Rawl. 157; also in D. B. ii. 174. For other versions of this ballad, which may have been written by Martin Parker, cf. no. 11, R. B. vi. 431, 796, 797; Chap. 778. 'Founded on a genuine Fore-bitter, if not a Forebitter but little altered. In singing songs of this kind when there was no chorus, the last line of each stanza was made to serve as one.' [C. A. G. B.] 8. D. B. i. 37. "You bargain with men for six months, This most likely refers to the practice of paying seamen by the lunar month, there being not much difference in the number of days (148) in six lunar months and that (151) in five calendar months, January to May inclusive. Till a very late date the crews of short voyage steamers were victualled for a lunar month only, though serving for a full calendar month. The song is founded on a genuine sailor's song; and seems to be but little altered.' [C. A. G. B.] II. Child, 289. Six versions of the ballad are there collated; this is from a broadside printed by Birt, and is copied from Ash. 41. Cf. no. 7. 6 This song was a favourite on the forecastle till well within my recollection. The air was a poor one.' [C. A. G. B.] 14. D. B. ii. 168, cf. R. B. vi. 431 ff.; Chap. 291. It is interesting to compare this ballad with nos. 7 and 38. It is altered from Martin Parker's original song, circ. 1635. 15. Hall., p. 131. In commemoration of Sir Edward Hawke's splendid defeat of the French off Belleisle on Nov. 20, 1759. The author seems to have been the actor, John Wignell, whose poems were pub lished in 1762. 16. Hall., p. 135. There is some reason for think ing that it was sung in Charles Shadwell's Fair Quaker of Deal in 1714. It 17. From Davidson's Poetical Rhapsody, 1602. was written for the Gray's Inn Masque (Gesta Graiorum) in 1594. 18. From a slip-song in the possession of Prof. C. H. Firth. I. D. S. i. 1.7 'deep'. 'A term used in estimating the fathoms intermediate to those indicated by marks on the 20-fathom sounding-line. Formerly also "dip"." Oxford Dictionary. ""Dip" was mere mispronunciation and was used within my recollection by people who never spelled the word in any way but "deep". [C. A. G. B.] 20. 'Introduced to the forecastle from the shore and rather a favourite, most likely because of its rousing chorus.' [C. A. G. B.] 22. D. S. ii. 23, 24. From Songs of the Seaports, collected by Rev. F. Iliffe, London, 1861. 25. D. S. i. 26. D. S. iii. 27. D. S. i.; Hall., p. 141. In Kitchiner's Loyal Songs of England it is stated that this song was sung by Mr. Gawdry in a pantomime called Robinson Crusoe produced at Drury Lane in 1781, which, according to Biographia Dramatica (1812), 'is said to have been contrived by Mr. Sheridan, whose powers, if it really be his performance, do not seem adapted to the production of such kinds of entertainments.' 'This was a favourite on the forecastle and is probably a genuine sailors' song. It kept its popularity till recent years.' [C. A. G. B.] 28. Durfey's Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy, 1719; Hall., p. 96. In 1. 2 'the Coach wasan apartment near the stern of a man of war, usually occupied by the captain'. Oxford Dictionary. In stanza 2, 1. 3a-trip' means 'hoisted from the cap, sheeted home, and ready for trimming'. Smyth, quoted 6 in Oxford Dictionary. St. 3, 1. 5 Shall be drubb'd at the Geers'. Tackle for hoisting and lowering the lower yards. 1672 NARBOROUGH Jrnl. 9 Sept., Captain Fowles comander of his Mastie Ann was dismissed from his comande for beatinge one Mr Murfeild comander of a collier at the Jers. 1712 W. ROGERS Voy. 34 He was lash'd to the Main-Geers and drub'd. 1725 DE FOE Voy. round World (1840) 87, I caused him to be brought to the gears, with a halter about his neck, and be soundly whipped.' Oxford Dictionary. 1. 4 'the Logg' was an apparatus for ascertaining the rate of a ship's motion, consisting of a thin quadrant of wood, loaded so as to float upright in the water, and fastened to a line wound on a reel'. Oxford Dictionary. In stanza 4, 1. 3 To lye a Try (Sea-Phrase) is where the wind blows so hard, that the ship cannot maintain or bear out the mainsail, and they make her lie a Try under the misen-sail only'. Bailey's Dictionary. "This looks like an attempt to copy a genuine sailors' song.' [C. A. G. B.] 30. 'This was brought off from the shore; but never got quite acclimatized afloat.' [C. A. G. B.] 31. Probably of all C. Dibdin's songs the greatest favourite among sailors.' [C. A. G. B.] 32. Notes and Queries, ser. 7, xi. 411. 35. 'I have heard this song on the forecastle: but it never became common there.' [C. A. G. B.] 36. A song certain not to have been popular with forecastle audiences.' [C. A. G. B.] 37. D. S. v. 40. For various versions of 'Sir Patrick Spens' cf. Child, 48. |