ADMIRAL VERNON'S VICTORY AT PORTOBELLO (1740).
_To the Tune of, "Come and Listen to my Ditty."_
+Source.+--Original broadside of 1740 in the British Museum.
[This ballad, by the Opposition poet and pamphleteer Richard Glover, implies that Walpole would willingly have let Vernon and his fleet perish in 1740 as Hosier and his fleet had perished in 1726.]
As, near _Porto-Bello_ lying, On the Gently swelling Flood, At Midnight, with Streamers flying, Our triumphant Navy rode, There, while _Vernon_ sate all Glorious From the _Spaniards_ late Defeat, And his Crew with Shouts victorious Drank Success to England's Fleet;
On a sudden, shrilly sounding, Hideous Yells and Shrieks were heard; Then, each Heart with fear confounding, A sad Troop of Ghosts appear'd; All in dreary Hammocks shrouded, Which for winding Sheets they wore; And with Looks by Sorrow clouded, Frowning on that hostile Shore.
On them gleam'd the Moon's wan Lustre, When the Shade of _Hosier_ brave His Pale Bands was seen to muster, Rising from their wat'ry Grave; O'er the glimmering Wave he hy'd him, Where the _Burford_[16] rear'd her Sail, With three thousand Ghosts beside him, And in Groans did _Vernon_ hail.
"Heed, oh heed our fatal Story! "I am _Hosier's_ injur'd Ghost; "You, who now have purchas'd Glory "At this Place, where I was lost; "Tho' in _Porto-Bello's_ ruin "You now triumph, free from fears, "When you think on our undoing, "You will mix your Joy with Tears,
"See these mournful Spectres sweeping, "Ghastly, o'er this hated wave, "Whose wan Cheeks are stain'd with _weeping_, "These were English Captains brave; "Mark those Numbers pale and horrid, "Who were once my Sailors bold; "Lo, each hangs his drooping forehead, "While his dismal Fate is told.
"I by twenty Sail attended, "Did this _Spanish_ Town affright, "Nothing then its wealth defended, "But my Orders not to fight; "Oh that in this rolling Ocean "I had cast them with disdain, "And obey'd my heart's warm motion "To reduce the Pride of _Spain_.
"For resistance I could fear none. "But with twenty Ships had done, "What thou, brave and happy _Vernon_, "Hast achiev'd with Six alone. "Then the Bastimentos never "Had our foul Dishonour seen, "Nor the Sea the sad Receiver "Of this gallant train had been.