WILLIAM ROBERT HICKS, OF BODMIN. 
63 
the hand, saying, " How are you, Captain Blank 1 I am delighted 
to see you." He was received with a cold, astonished stare, Captain 
Blank by no means partaking in the warmth of feeling exhibited 
by Wight wick. On which Wight wick said, " Captain Blank, my 
name is Wight wick." Captain Blank looked at him with great 
deliberation, and slowly answered, "I never heard of ee !" 
When the British Association was at Plymouth in 1841, Hicks 
was at a large party at Mr. Thomas Woollcombe's, of Devonport, 
and there I heard some of his best stories, and his well-known song, 
descriptive of a Cornish wrestler who was pressed by a press- 
gang into H. M. Service when at a wrestling match at Cremyll 
passage. It is a widely-known Devonshire song, but Hicks's 
version was the best, and he sang it to perfection with his fiddle 
accompaniment. 
SONG. 
Come listen, father, and mother, and all, 
And zister Nan, I pray, 
And I '11 tell 'ee a passel o' strange things 
Now I 've a come home from saa ; 
I '11 tell 'ee a passel o' strange things, 
About the wind and the tide, 
The compass caird, as you've a heerd, 
And lots o' queer things beside. 
Ri-too-ral-oo, ri-too-ral-oo, &c. 
"When I went up to Plymouth town, 
Along with a great man a ostling, 
I went over to Cremyl passage 
For to have a turn to wrastling. 
Leatheren breeches, they was the prize, 
Never the worse for wear. 
Dick Symons and me drawed two vails apiece, 
And the blind man 1 come in for a share. 
Ri-too-ral-oo, ri-too-ral-oo, &c. 
Just as the double play begun, 
And the glock had knacked down zix, 
Up come a passel of ugly chaps 
With lots of zwords and sticks ; 
They aboosed Dick Symons, and darned his eyes, 
And called un all zorts o' names. 
" Darn 'ee !" says I. " Dick Symons," says I, 
" They Ve a parfectly spiled the games." 
Ri-too-ral-oo, ri-too-ral-oo, &c. 
1 A famous blind wrestler. 
