ON THE COAST OF AEEAN 149 



length of body, his general handiness and rea- 

 diness, his habit of broadening his base and 

 hitching his trousers, are all characteristics so 

 distinctively nautical, that although Art has 

 claimed him for uses of her own, it is clear that 

 Nature intended him for the sea. To hear him 

 * shiver his timbers ' and call for a * belaying- 

 pin ' was something famous ; but if you had 

 listened to his singing, with mock heroics, of 

 Dibdin's ' Drop of the creature,' you would not 

 soon forget it : 



Then over life's ocean I'll jog, 



Let the storm or the Spaniards come on, 

 So but sea-room I get and a skin full of grog, 



I fear neither devil nor Don, 

 For I'm the man that's spract and daft, 

 In my station amidships, or fore, or aft, 



I can pull away, cast off, belay, 



Aloft, alow, avast, yo ho ! 

 And hand reef and steer, 

 Know each halliard and jeer, 



And of duty every rig ; 

 But my joy and delight is on Saturday night 



A drop of the creature to swig. 



After lunch the fun became furious. In 



