THE
SAILORS GARLAND:
OR THE
TICKET BUYERS Lamentation.
To the Tune of CHEVY CHASE.
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GOD prosper long our noble King,
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His Fleet and Sailors all;
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And grant that they their Pay may have,
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And Pride may have a Fall.
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Where Courage stout and noble Blood
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Within the Heart doth reign,
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There Pity soft for others Woes
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Doth pant in every Vein.
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Our gracious King by Pity moved
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To do his Sailors Right,
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To Parliament did recommend
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Their sad and woful Plight.
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A Usurer in Lothbury,
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A Jew of high Renown,
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Hearing the Sailors would be paid
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Strait hasted up to Town.
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All in his Hall the Clerks amazed
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And Agents frighted sore
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Adieu---cried out For---ty per Cent,
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Adieu---for evermore.
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The Jew he sighed---alack my Head
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And Heart it acheth much!
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But hold, says he,---I've got it now,
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Pray tell me---won't they touch?
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What pay the Navy all---d' you say?
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Sure that can never be,
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For then much greater Men must lose
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Their Trades as well as we.
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A Sanhedrim we straight must call
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Upon a Thing so new:
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Go summon all, Great Shiloch first,
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He's trusty and true blue.
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While yet he spake, lo at the Gate,
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The Head of all the Tribe,
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Shiloch appear'd, the most expert
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At Counsel or at Bribe.
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His Chatter and his Laugh so loud
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Was heard quite to the Door,
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His Belly of enormous Size
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Came strutting in before.
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Soon tawny Shadrach plodded in,
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Whose Face and Wig contend
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Which in their Hue most like shall be
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To Belzeebub the Feind.
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Shadrach from Father circumcis'd
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A Wight descended sure,
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Either from Abraham the Jew,
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Or Ismael the Moor.
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I stopt, quoth he, by Precedent
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The Pinch-gut halfpenny,
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Tho' Tars on short Allowance starv'd,
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And better they than we.
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From Tower-hill with hang-dog look
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Came one would move your Pity,
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What no more Tickets, Sir, said he;
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ruin our trading City.
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Quoth Shiloch with a Grin, my Friends,
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When Ships to Greenland sail,
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They dexterously throw out a Tub
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To fool the mighty Whale.
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Prompt Payment publickly to blame
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May prove a dangerous Scheme,
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Another Project we'll propose
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For to direct the Stream.
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Something be sure must needs be paid,
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Let's give them two Months certain:
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The other four, you Friends shall share
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With me behind the Curtain.
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Their Wages too we must advance
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Some Shillings Augmentation:
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What tho' it Freightage should destroy,
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That only hurts the Nation.
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As toasted Cheese the Mouse allures
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Within the Trap to venture,
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Such Bates as these will surely make
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The heedless Seamen enter.
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When once they're caught, we'll turn 'em o'er
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For ever and for ay,
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They'll then be Voluntiers for Life,
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And we'll divide their Pay.
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Whilst Cent per Cent our Friends can gain
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We are sure of being courted,
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Nor can the Sailors well complain,
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For they will be transported.
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But these their Plots we know [?]
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Will all to nothing bring,
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Then Sailors may throw up [?]
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And cry God [?]
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