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Thomas Hood - Faithless Sally Brown
Work rating: Medium

Young Ben he was a nice young man,
      A carpenter by trade;
    And he fell in love with Sally Brown,
      That was a lady`s maid.

     But as they fetch`d a walk one day,
      They met a press-gang crew;
    And Sally she did faint away,
      Whilst Ben he was brought to.

     The Boatswain swore with wicked words,
     Enough to shock a saint,
   That though she did seem in a fit,
     `Twas nothing but a feint.

    "Come, girl," said he, "hold up your head,
     He`ll be as good as me;
   For when your swain is in our boat,
     A boatswain he will be."

    So when they`d made their game of her,
     And taken off her elf,
   She roused, and found she only was
     A coming to herself.

    "And is he gone, and is he gone?"
     She cried, and wept outright:
   "Then I will to the water side,
     And see him out of sight."

    A waterman came up to her,—
     "Now, young woman," said he,
   "If you weep on so, you will make
     Eye-water in the sea."

    "Alas! they`ve taken my beau Ben
     To sail with old Benbow;"
   And her woe began to run afresh,
     As if she`d said Gee woe!

    Says he, "They`ve only taken him
     To the Tender ship, you see";
   "The Tender-ship," cried Sally Brown
     "What a hard-ship that must be!"

    "O! would I were a mermaid now,
     For then I`d follow him;
   But Oh!—I`m not a fish-woman,
     And so I cannot swim.

    "Alas! I was not born beneath
     The virgin and the scales,
   So I must curse my cruel stars,
     And walk about in Wales."

    Now Ben had sail`d to many a place
     That`s underneath the world;
   But in two years the ship came home,
     And all her sails were furl`d.

    But when he call`d on Sally Brown,
     To see how she went on,
   He found she`d got another Ben,
     Whose Christian-name was John.

    "O Sally Brown, O Sally Brown,
     How could you serve me so?
   I`ve met with many a breeze before,
     But never such a blow":

    Then reading on his `bacco box
     He heaved a bitter sigh,
   And then began to eye his pipe,
     And then to pipe his eye.

    And then he tried to sing "All`s Well,"
     But could not though he tried;
   His head was turn`d, and so he chew`d
     His pigtail till he died.

    His death, which happen`d in his berth,
     At forty-odd befell:
   They went and told the sexton, and
     The sexton toll`d the bell.
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