Now each honest man in Shields—I mean both North and South, Sir,
Delighting in occasions to expand their eyes and mouth, Sir:
And fond of seeing marv’lous sights, ne’er stay’d to get his beard off;
But ran to view the monster, its arrival, when he heard of.
Oh! who could think of shaving when inform’d by the barber,
That a terrible Sea Monster had got into the harbour.
Each wife pursu’d her husband, and every child its mother,
Lads and lasses helter skelter, scamper’d after one another;
Shopkeepers and mechanics too, forsook their daily labours,
And ran to gape and stare among their gaping staring neighbours.