A maiden fair to see,
The pearl of minstrelsy,
A bud of blushing beauty;
For whom proud nobles sigh,
And with each other vie
To do her menial's duty.
ALL. To do her menial's duty.
A suitor, lowly born,
With hopeless passion torn,
And poor beyond denying,
Has dared for her to pine
At whose exalted shrine
A world of wealth is sighing.
ALL. A world of wealth is sighing.
Unlearned he in aught
Save that which love has taught
(For love had been his tutor);
Oh, pity, pity me--
Our captain's daughter she,
And I that lowly suitor!
ALL. And he that lowly suitor!
BOAT. Ah, my poor lad, you've climbed too high: our 
worthy
captain's child won't have nothin' to say to a poor 
chap like
you. Will she, lads?
ALL. No, no.
DICK. No, no, captains' daughters don't marry foremast
hands.
ALL (recoiling from him). Shame! shame!
BOAT. Dick Deadeye, them sentiments o' yourn are a 
disgrace
to our common natur'.
RALPH. But it's a strange anomaly, that the daughter of 
a
man who hails from the quarter-deck may not love 
another who lays
out on the fore-yard arm. For a man is but a man, 
whether he
hoists his flag at the main-truck or his slacks on the 
main-deck.
DICK. Ah, it's a queer world!
RALPH. Dick Deadeye, I have no desire to press hardly 
on
you, but such a revolutionary sentiment is enough to 
make an
honest sailor shudder.
BOAT. My lads, our gallant captain has come on deck; 
let us
greet him as so brave an officer and so gallant a 
seaman
deserves.