“Honored Father and Mother—Thes lines comes with my Deuty to you. Hoping They will find you in as good Health as they Leave me at this Time. Blessed be God for so Great a Massey—Honored Father and Mother.”
In a log labeled “From London Toward Cadiz, Spain, in the good ship Vaughan, Benj. Davis, Master, 1767,” Francis Boardman became mightily busy with his quill and the season being spring, he began to scrawl poetry between the leaves which were covered with such dry entries as “Modt. Gales and fair weather. Set the jibb. Bent topmast stay sail.” One of these pages of verse begins in this fashion:
“One Morning, one Morning in May,
The fields were adorning with Costlay Array.
I Chanced for To hear as I walked By a Grove
A Shepyard Laymenting for the Loss of his Love.”
But the most moving and ambitious relic of the poetic taste of this long vanished Yankee seaman is a ballad preserved in the same log of the Vaughan. Its spelling is as filled with fresh surprises as its sentiment is profoundly tragic. It runs as follows:
| 1 | “In Gosport[8] of Late there a Damsil Did Dwell, |
| for Wit and for Beuty Did she maney Exsel. | |
| 2 | A Young man he Corted hir to be his Dear |
| And By his Trade was a Ship Carpentir. | |
| 3 | he ses “My Dear Molly if you will agrea |
| And Will then Conscent for to Marey me | |
| 4 | Your Love it will Eas me of Sorro and Care |
| If you will But Marey a ship Carpentir.” | |
| 5 | With blushes mor Charming then Roses in June, |
| She ans’red (“) Sweet William for to Wed I am to young. | |
| 6 | Young Men thay are fickle and so Very Vain, |
| If a Maid she is Kind thay will quickly Disdane. | |
| 7 | the Most Beutyfullyst Woman that ever was Born, |
| When a man has insnared hir, hir Beuty he scorns. (”) | |
| 8 | (He) (“) O, My Dear Molly, what Makes you Say so? |
| Thi Beuty is the Haven to wich I will go. | |
| 9 | If you Will consent for the Church for to Stear |
| there I will Cast anchor and stay with my Dear. | |
| 10 | I ne’re Shall be Cloyedd with the Charms of thy Love, |
| this Love is as True as the tru Turtle Dove. | |
| 11 | All that I do Crave is to marey my Dear |
| And arter we are maried no Dangers we will fear. (”) | |
| 12 | (She) “The Life of a Virgen, Sweet William, I Prize |
| for marrying Brings Trouble and sorro Like-wise. (”) | |
| 13 | But all was in Vane tho His Sute she did Denie, |
| yet he did Purswade hir for Love to Comeply. | |
| 14 | And by his Cunneng hir Hart Did Betray |
| and with Too lude Desire he led hir Astray. | |
| 15 | This Past on a while and at Length you will hear, |
| the King wanted Sailors and to Sea he must Stear. | |
| 16 | This Greved the fare Damsil allmost to the Hart |
| To think of Hir True Love so soon she must Part. | |
| 17 | She ses (“) my Dear Will as you go to sea |
| Remember the Vows that you made unto me. (”) | |
| 18 | With the Kindest Expresens he to hir Did Say |
| (“) I will marey my Molly air I go away. | |
| 19 | That means to-morrow to me you will Come. |
| then we will be maried and our Love Carried on. (”) | |
| 20 | With the Kindest Embraces they Parted that Nite |
| She went for to meet him next Morning by Lite. | |
| 21 | he ses (“) my Dear Charmer, you must go with me |
| Before we are married a friend for to see. (”) | |
| 22 | he Led hir thru Groves and Valleys so deep |
| That this fare Damsil Began for to Weep. | |
| 23 | She ses (“) My Dear William, you Lead me Astray |
| on Purpos my innocent Life to be BeTray. (”) | |
| 24 | (He) (“) Those are true Words and none can you save, (”) |
| for all this hole Nite I have Been digging your grave.” | |
| 25 | A Spade Standing By and a Grave thare she See, |
| (She) (“) O, Must this Grave Be a Bride Bed to Me? (”) |
A bill of lading of the time of Philip English, dated 1716