University of Virginia Library

A Sea-man.

Is the Worlds Water-work, and may be said,
(Justly) to have a Swimming in his Head;
With him the Phrase our Country makes so common,
Is true, that Time and Tide, will stay for no man;
For wch he quits the Shore, his Drink & Drabbing,
To be confin'd or coffin'd in his Cabbin:
He knows the Winds, wth all their various Courses,
Nominally, as Plow-men do their Horses;
But cannot so command them: he is one
So dayly us'd to Inundation,
On whose tann'd Face so many Waves are hurl'd,
That nothing but the Burning of the World,
Could make him fear the latter Day, though he
Has but slow Faith, Fire should consume the Sea:
His steerage at the Helm, makes him appear,
Not very much unlike a Conjurer:
And all those Waves, & Windes, that act their part,
About him, Spirits conjur'd by his Art:
What is a Thief's Despair, becomes his Hope;
One's Faith, and to 'thers Fear, lies in the Rope:
The term of Freshman is a great derision
Unto the Trade, for He, and his Provision
Are pickled both alike, which (with their peason)
Renders them Creatures never out of Season:
Pitch, Tarr, with heart of Oak, are the three chief
And naval Articles, of his Belief:
But nothing can beget a greater quarrell
Than Leaks, or Sparks, too near the powder barrel:
For though without these Elements he dies,
They are his strongest, nearest Enemies,
The Dangers of the Deep rather appear
A Merriment, than Object of his Fear:
And when his Piscatory humor flows,
The mightiest Whales are but his Play-fellows:
Sharks are his best Familiars, but (the more
His grief) his pretty Whiting Mop's on shore:
Onely a good Faith cures him, which makes her
A Votresse to her absent Mariner:
And though the Shore injoy the sacred Shrines
Of Bacchus, still he's troubled with the Signes
Of Taurus, Leo, Cancer, Capricorn,
And some such Constellations, that adorn
The scituation of the Zodiack,
Nay, he's acquainted with the jolly Pack
Of all the Planets, but 'twill hardly be,
That Venus should seem sociable at Sea;
Though it is Native to her; unlesse he
Transport light VVares to Lisbon Nunnery;
Or carry cold meat to the Men that draw
Feminine hunger in Virginia,
Barbadoes, or Bermudas, where the Lasses
(VVhich here in England were but broken Glasses)
Are cemented for VVives, and put ith' Fashion
Of Honest VVomen, in a new Plantation:
His Climbing shews him proud, though the World sees,
He raises all his Fortunes by Degrees;
Without much disproportion, we may vie,
His Sea-trade, with the Plowmans Husbandry;
A Ship's the Plow, a Rudder is the Tail,
A Stem the Plow-Share, Horses VVinde & Sail:
One cuts the VVaves, the other Grasse & Thistles:
The Boatswain & the Plowman, use their Whistles:
The Ocean doth contain both Hills and Dales;
High Seas are Mountains, & calm VVaters Vales:
In all particulars, they are partakers,
One furrows Leagues, the other turns up Acres:
The Rocks are Hedges, and the Fishes be
More numerous (in multiplicity)
Than Beasts are on the Shore; Nor doth the Sand
And Sea, prove lesse preservative than Land:
The Husbandman (by Heavens good advice)
Distributes Grain, the Sea-man Merchandice.
(At the same rate of Counsel) and 'twere good
Astrologie by both were understood;
When one hath Reap'd, and tother Peril past,
Both dance, about the May-pole, and the Mast:
London's the Barn, where casting off their Armors:
(Just) at the Custom-house, he findes the Farmers;
And least the subtle Searchers should deceive him;
'Till all the Goods are brought a shore, we'l leave em.