-298 THE SEA. 



" A squall, deep lowering, blots the southern sky, 

 Before whose boisterous breath the waters fly. 

 Its weight the topsails can no more sustain 

 Reef topsails, reef ! the boatswain calls again ! 

 The haliards and top-bow-lines soon are gone ; 

 To clue-lines and reef-tackles next they run : 

 The shivering sails descend ; and now they square 

 The yards, while ready sailors mount in air. 



***** 



" Deep on her side the reeling vessel lies 



' Brail up the mizzen, quick ! ' the master cries, 



' Man the clue-garnets ! let the main-sheet fly ! ' 



The boisterous squall still presses from on high, 



And swift and fatal as the lightning's course 



Thro' the torn main-sail bursts with thundering force." 



And so forth'. The fact is, that most readers of Falconer's poem require his " Dictionary of 

 the Marine " at hand, or some old " salt " to explain the constantly recurring nautical terms. 

 It is not wonderful that so many of our poets have written more or less concerning 

 the sea, few passing over the grand subject entirely, when we consider England's paramount 

 position on and interests in it. A number of them have produced works in which we seem 

 to sniff the briny ocean as we read them, while only a minority have written artificially and 

 without a true feeling for their subject. Much that the Dibdins * indited for the 

 concert-room, the theatre, and to an extent for the sailor himself, is of a trivial nature, 

 dealing largely too largely with grog and sweethearts, and more than occasionally verging 

 on the coarse and indelicate. But among their productions are songs with the true ring, 

 ballads that will never die while our language lasts or Britain " rules the waves/' Among 

 these may fairly be counted Charles Dibdin's " Poor Jack/' " The Greenwich Pensioner " 

 ( lf 'Twas in the good ship Rover"}, "The Sailor's Journal" ("'Twas post-meridian, half-past 

 four"), and, above all, that noble picture of a true sailor, " Tom Bowling" 



" Tom never from his word departed, 



His virtues were so rare ; 

 His friends were many and true-hearted, 



His Poll was kind and fair : 

 And then he 'd sing so blithe and jolly, 



Ah ! many 's the time and oft ; 

 But mirth is turned to melancholy, 



For Tom is gone aloft. 



* The father, Charles Dibdin, and his two sons, one of the latter of whom was the author of the popular 

 ''All's Well." Many popular sea-songs, written by others during the epoch of the Dibdins and later, are, however, 

 very commonly but erroneously placed to their credit. Among those often ascribed to them are the following, 

 really written by the subjoined authors :" The Death of Nelson" (S. J. Arnold), "The Bay of Biscay" (Andrew- 

 Cherry), " Rule, Britannia" (J. Thompson), '-The Saucy Arethusa " (Prince Hoare), " The Storm "(" Cease, rude 

 Boreas": G. A. Stevens), "The Sailor's Consolation" (" One night came on a hurricane" : W. Pitt), " Ye Mariners 

 of England " (Thomas Campbell), "Ye Gentlemen of England" (Martin Parker). The well-known song "William 

 nnd Susan," in the nautical drama "Black-eyed Susan," is in like manner sometimes attributed to Douglas Jerrold, 

 the real author of the ever-verdant play, but the ballad itself was written by Thomas Gay. 



