Ralph thought for a moment, and then declaimed (in the key of G):
Proud officer, that haughty lip uncurl! (the Captain uncurled his haughty upper lip as desired)
Vain man, suppress that supercilious sneer! (he suppressed it at once)
For I have dared to love your matchless girl—
A fact well known to all my messmates here!
I, humble, poor, and lowly born,
The meanest in the port division—
The butt of epauletted Scorn—[8]
The mark of quarter-deck derision—
Have dared to raise my wormy eyes