The stormy winds do blow
THE MERMAID—B
[_]
a. Chappell's Popular Music of the Olden Time, p. 742.
b. The same, p. 743, one stanza and the burden, contributed
by Mr Charles Sloman, in 1840. c. Notes and Queries, 6th
Series, VII, 276, communicated from memory by Mr Thomas
Bayne, Helensburgh, N. B., stanzas 1, 6.
1
One Friday morn when we set sail,
Not very far from land,
We there did espy a fair pretty maid
With a comb and a glass in her hand, her hand, her hand,
With a comb and a glass in her hand.
While the raging seas did roar,
And the stormy winds did blow,
While we jolly sailor-boys were up into the top,
And the land-lubbers lying down below, below, below,
And the land-lubbers lying down below.
2
Then up starts the captain of our gallant ship,
And a brave young man was he:
‘I've a wife and a child in fair Bristol town,
But a widow I fear she will be.’
For the raging seas, etc.
3
Then up starts the mate of our gallant ship,
And a bold young man was he:
‘Oh! I have a wife in fair Portsmouth town,
But a widow I fear she will be.’
For the raging seas, etc.
4
Then up starts the cook of our gallant ship,
And a gruff old soul was he:
‘Oh! I have a wife in fair Plymouth town,
But a widow I fear she will be.’
5
And then up spoke the little cabin-boy,
And a pretty little boy was he;
‘Oh! I am more grievd for my daddy and my mammy
Than you for your wives all three.’
6
Then three times round went our gallant ship,
And three times round went she;
For the want of a life-boat they all went down,
And she sank to the bottom of the sea.
