VI.
SONG

" What linen so fine has the bride put on?
What torch is her chamber brightening?
The bride is adrift in a salt-water shift,
And her candles are flashes of lightning.

" Oh! Thady Rann, the Isle of Man
I left and sailed for you;
I am very ill lucked all night to be ducked,
For keeping my promise true!

" Oh! Thady, your bride cannot sleep by your side,
Go to bed to another lady;
I must lie in the dark with a whale or a shark,
Instead of my darling Thady. "

VII.

She paused, for to the rock rushed in
A booming wave above her chin;
Which haply worked her body's good,
For wholesome flows the briny flood,
And if the mouth a pint have caught,
A fine aperient 'tis thought.
Sir Tooleywhagg, who heard the pause,
Was little conscious of the cause;
For now pitch-dark was all the shore,
And much he wished for an encore;
Soon did the ducked recovering fair
In varied strains renew her air;
Renewed it much in hopes to gain
Sir Tooleywhagg O'Shaughnashane;
For when he first put out his head,
Graced with a night-cap dyed in red,
Fire that foreruns the thunderclap
Blazed on him redder than his cap.
'Twas then she marked his face and mien,
Plain through his peep-hole to be seen;
His eagle eye's commanding glance,
His shoulders' broad superb expanse,
His strong uncovered ample chest
That looked like so much brawn undrest;
All that in days of chivalry
Fair ladies wished their knights to be!
She marked and murmured, sighing deep,
While through his hole he crouched to peep,
" If stooping with such charms he's decked,
Gods! what a man when he's erect!
Yea, on a modest maiden's word,
This, this must be the castle's lord. "

VIII.

Well too she marked with anxious eyes
A bucket of capacious size,
Suspended o'er the craggy beach,
And close within the chieftain's reach;
With many a roll of cord to be
Let down at pleasure to the sea;
Which for the castle's use was made
Whene'er it suffered a blockade;
To draw up succours from the strand
When the besieger pressed on land:
And thus her plaint she warbled strong
In all the euphony of song.


SONG CONTINUED
.

" Chieftain! if thou canst at all
For a shipwrecked lady angle,
Clew me up thy castle wall;
Near thee doth a bucket dangle.

" Chieftain! leave me not to drown;
Save a maid without a smicket!
If the bucket come not down,
Soon shall I be doomed to kick it.

" Quick, oh! quick unwind the rope!
If thou answer'st to my hope,
Then on thee when fate is frowning,
May a rope prevent thy drowning! "

IX.

Ye sons of Erin! well 'tis known
Your nature to the sex is prone.
South from Lough Swilly to Tramore,
From Kilcock to Knockealy's shore,
Can ye resist throughout your isle
A woman's tear, a woman's smile!
And when did beauty pour in vain
Her plaint to an O'Shaughnashane?
When did a maid without a rag
Fail to affect a Tooleywhagg?
Harsh creaked the rope in its descent,
And waggling down the bucket went;
With fresh provision to be fraught,
Fresher than ever yet it brought!
It reached the rock; with eager hope
The sea-drenched fair one caught the rope;
She sprang, the bucket's mouth to win,
And, light as gossamer, leapt in!

X.

Gaily the chieftain plied his arms,
Winding his welcome load of charms;
At every twist the dizzied fair
Rose vacillating in the air.
He heard her shriek, soon heard her gasp,
Then caught the trembler in his grasp.
Quick to the couch his prize he bore,
And chafed her shivering limbs all o'er:
Strenuous to make the colour seek
Its wonted course upon her cheek,
So well he ministered his aid,
To comfort and revive the maid,
That ere the skylark plumed his wing,
The maid was quite another thing!