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Lines to Mr. Hodgson. Written on Board the Lisbon Packet

  1. 1HUZZA! Hodgson , we are going,
  2. 2Our embargo's off at last;
  3. 3Favourable breezes blowing
  4. 4Bend the canvas o'er the mast.
  5. 5From aloft the signal's streaming,
  6. 6Hark! the farewell gun is fired;
  7. 7Women screeching, tars blaspheming,
  8. 8Tell us that our time's expired.
  9. 9Here's a rascal
  10. 10Come to task all,
  11. 11Prying from the Custom-house;
  12. 12Trunks unpacking
  13. 13Cases cracking,
  14. 14Not a corner for a mouse
  15. 15Scapes unsearched amid the racket,
  16. 16Ere we sail on board the Packet.
  1. 17Now our boatmen quit their mooring,
  2. 18And all hands must ply the oar;
  3. 19Baggage from the quay is lowering,
  4. 20We're impatient, push from shore.
  5. 21"Have a care! that case holds liquor--
  6. 22Stop the boat--I'm sick--oh Lord!"
  7. 23"Sick, Ma'am, damme, you'll be sicker,
  8. 24Ere you've been an hour on board."
  9. 25Thus are screaming
  10. 26Men and women,
  11. 27Gemmen, ladies, servants, Jacks;
  12. 28Here entangling,
  13. 29All are wrangling,
  14. 30Stuck together close as wax.--
  15. 31Such the general noise and racket,
  16. 32Ere we reach the Lisbon Packet.
  1. 33Now we've reached her, lo! the Captain,
  2. 34Gallant Kidd, commands the crew;
  3. 35Passengers their berths are clapt in,
  4. 36Some to grumble, some to spew.
  5. 37"Hey day! call you that a cabin?
  6. 38Why't is hardly three feet square!
  7. 39Not enough to stow Queen Mab in--
  8. 40Who the deuce can harbour there?"
  9. 41"Who, sir? plenty--
  10. 42Nobles twenty
  11. 43Did at once my vessel fill."--
  12. 44"Did they? Jesus,
  13. 45How you squeeze us!
  14. 46Would to God they did so still!
  15. 47Then I'd 'scape the heat and racket
  16. 48Of the good ship, Lisbon Packet."
  1. 49Fletcher! Murray! Bob! where are you?
  2. 50Stretched along the deck like logs--
  3. 51Bear a hand, you jolly tar, you!
  4. 52Here's a rope's end for the dogs.
  5. 53Hobhouse muttering fearful curses,
  6. 54As the hatchway down he rolls,
  7. 55Now his breakfast, now his verses,
  8. 56Vomits forth--and damns our souls.
  9. 57"Here's a stanza
  10. 58On Braganza--
  11. 59Help!"--"A couplet?"--"No, a cup
  12. 60Of warm water--"
  13. 61"What's the matter?"
  14. 62"Zounds! my liver's coming up;
  15. 63I shall not survive the racket
  16. 64Of this brutal Lisbon Packet."
  1. 65Now at length we're off for Turkey,
  2. 66Lord knows when we shall come back!
  3. 67Breezes foul and tempests murky
  4. 68May unship us in a crack.
  5. 69But, since Life at most a jest is,
  6. 70As philosophers allow,
  7. 71Still to laugh by far the best is,
  8. 72Then laugh on--as I do now.
  9. 73Laugh at all things,
  10. 74Great and small things,
  11. 75Sick or well, at sea or shore;
  12. 76While we're quaffing,
  13. 77Let's have laughing--
  14. 78Who the devil cares for more?--
  15. 79Some good wine! and who would lack it,
  16. 80Ev'n on board the Lisbon Packet?