Lines to Mr. Hodgson. Written on Board the Lisbon Packet.

HUZZA! Hodgson, we are going,Our embargo's off at last;Favourable breezes blowingBend the canvas o'er the mast.From aloft the signal's streaming,5Hark! the farewell gun is fired;Women screeching, tars blaspheming,Tell us that our time's expired.Here's a rascalCome to task all,10Prying from the Custom-house;Trunks unpackingCases cracking,Not a corner for a mouseScapes unsearched amid the racket,15Ere we sail on board the Packet.

Now our boatmen quit their mooring,And all hands must ply the oar;Baggage from the quay is lowering,We're impatient, push from shore.20"Have a care! that case holds liquor--Stop the boat--I'm sick--oh Lord!""Sick, Ma'am, damme, you'll be sicker,Ere you've been an hour on board."Thus are screaming25Men and women,Gemmen, ladies, servants, Jacks;Here entangling,All are wrangling,Stuck together close as wax.--30Such the general noise and racket,Ere we reach the Lisbon Packet.

Now we've reached her, lo! the Captain,Gallant Kidd, commands the crew;Passengers their berths are clapt in,35Some to grumble, some to spew."Hey day! call you that a cabin?Why't is hardly three feet square!Not enough to stow Queen Mab in--Who the deuce can harbour there?"40"Who, sir? plenty--Nobles twentyDid at once my vessel fill."--"Did they? Jesus,How you squeeze us!45Would to God they did so still!Then I'd 'scape the heat and racketOf the good ship, Lisbon Packet."

Fletcher! Murray! Bob! where are you?Stretched along the deck like logs--50Bear a hand, you jolly tar, you!Here's a rope's end for the dogs.Hobhouse muttering fearful curses,As the hatchway down he rolls,Now his breakfast, now his verses,55Vomits forth--and damns our souls."Here's a stanzaOn Braganza--Help!"--"A couplet?"--"No, a cupOf warm water--"60"What's the matter?""Zounds! my liver's coming up;I shall not survive the racketOf this brutal Lisbon Packet."

Now at length we're off for Turkey,65Lord knows when we shall come back!Breezes foul and tempests murkyMay unship us in a crack.But, since Life at most a jest is,As philosophers allow,70Still to laugh by far the best is,Then laugh on--as I do now.Laugh at all things,Great and small things,Sick or well, at sea or shore;75While we're quaffing,Let's have laughing--Who the devil cares for more?--Some good wine! and who would lack it,Ev'n on board the Lisbon Packet?80