The Bellman serves grog to the Snark crew, an illustration by JVL in Lewis Carroll's
The Hunting of the Snark, Artists' Choice Editions, 2006.
The Text:
31
But
the danger was past--they had landed at last,
With their boxes, portmanteaus, and bags:
Yet at first sight the crew were not pleased
with the view,
Which consisted to chasms and crags.
32
The
Bellman perceived that their spirits were low,
And repeated in musical tone
Some jokes he had kept for a season of woe--
But the crew would do nothing but groan.
33
He
served out some grog with a liberal hand,
And bade them sit down on the beach:
And they could not but own that their Captain
looked grand,
As he stood and delivered his speech.
34
"Friends,
Romans, and countrymen, lend me your ears!"
(They were all of them fond of quotations:
So they drank to his health, and they gave him
three cheers,
While he served out additional rations).
35
"We
have sailed many months, we have sailed many weeks,
(Four weeks to the month you may mark),
But never as yet ('tis your Captain who
speaks)
Have we caught the least glimpse of a Snark!
36
"We
have sailed many weeks, we have sailed many days,
(Seven days to the week I allow),
But a Snark, on the which we might lovingly
gaze,
We have never beheld till now!
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