5
I ſhould’rd my cudgel and bundle again,
my figure being one of the oddeſt;
I did not weel ken the right soad frae the wrang,
but held to the road that was broadeſt,
Till at length I arrived at Donaghadee,
and to my ſurpriſe laid me cloſe on the ſea,
I wiſh’d for the wings of a ſwallow to flee;
what a tight bird was Lawrie O’Broom, ſir.
They hoisd me on board of a fight little ſmack,
anongſt a parcel of jovial gay fellows;
I rous’d up my heart, and I ſung Paddy Whack,
As we ſteer’d o’er the turbulent billows.
Till at length I got ſea-ſick, was ready to die,
and the meat in my belly was ſpung’d quite dry;
Whilſt I lay beſmear’d like a pig in a ftye;
for a doctor cried Lawrie O’Broom, ſir.
I bounc’d upon deck to view Ireland once more,
which was a dangerous risſ of my neck, ſir,
I ran up the maſt ladder to view Hibernia’s ſhore,
and then I was far above deck, ſir
When I found that old Ireland was out of any view,
I was forc’d to come down by the captain and crew,
I thought on my wife, my loom, and my ſow,
but far diſtant was Lawrie O’Broom, ſir
At four in the morning we came to Stranraer,
when the people were all ſaſt a deep, ſir,
The ſtreets I rambled all up and down,
Till a ſentry I chanc’d for to meet, ſir.
He aſk’d me my name, trade, and place of abode,
I told him I was a weaver juſt travelling the road,
And the name that my father had on me beftow’d,
I told him was Lawrie O’Broom, ſir,
