I was born in the city of Sydney,
And I was an apprentice bound,
And many’s the good old time I’ve had
In that dear old Southern town.
The apprentice fell in with a dark lady–indeed “she came tripping right into his way.” It was an unfortunate encounter. He became her “darling flash boy.” He could readily put the case against her when, as receiver of stolen goods, he had served some years in jail; and then, like the author of George Barnwell, he addressed apprentices on the subject:
So all young men take a warning and
Beware of that black velvet tie.
But yet, and here was the charm of the ballad, and the token of his entanglement by Neæra’s hair, ever and anon came the burden
For her eyes they shone like the diamonds,
I thought her a Queen of the land,