Songs and Verse in the Aubrey/Maturin Series

Page numbers refer to the American editions, Norton paperbacks.

The first quoted line is given.

Phrases in [ ] are the appellation of the song/verse used in the book itself. Sometimes this is a title.

Phrases in ( ) are my nicknames for the song/verse.

Master and Commander:
p. 101 O'er the ship the gallant bosun flies
p. 104 In canvassed berth, profoundly deep in thought (a Mid reclines!)
p. 104 Think not meanly of this humble seat
p. 147 Possibile è la cosa, e naturale/E se Susanna vuol, possibilissima (Figaro)
p. 281 White as the clouds beneath the blaze of noon (her bottom)
p. 289 [The New Mainsail] The mainsail, by the squall so lately rent
p. 289 [Occasional Piece] Oh were it mine with sacred Maro's art (Th'impervious horrors of a leeward shore)
p. 323 And this is law, I will maintain (Vicar of Bray)
p. 324 Oh the wild geese a-flying a-flying a-flying
p. 357-358 [a new song, a song that owed nothing whatever to Mr Mowett's chaste muse] -- old Harte, -- old Harte
p. 394 [a ballad about the Battle of the Nile] We anchored alongside of them like lions bold and free
p. 394 [another favourite naval song] There happened of late a terrible fray (St. James's day)
p. 396 As when enclosing harpooners assail
p. 399 Come cheer up my lads

Post Captain:
p. 14 [the old song] Says Jack, "There is very good news, there is peace both by land and by sea
p. 35 You ladies of lubricity
p. 153 O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint, agricolas
p. 157 Those Spanish dogs would gladly own/Both Gibraltar and Port Mahon
p. 158 [forecastle song they had heard so often at sea] Come all you brave seamen that ploughs on the main (the Litchfield)
p. 202 We'll give you a bit of our mind, old hound: Port admiral, you be damned.
p. 213 We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors (Ladies of Spain)
p. 271 [the catch about the lily-white boys] Three, three the rivals
p. 433 [some lines of Sappho] The moon has set, and the Pleiades

HMS Surprise:
p. 152 Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul
p. 164 Then we upon our globe's last verge shall go
p. 181 Thus to the Eastern wealth through storms we go
p. 184 The seas their wonders might reveal
p. 185 [the unfinished song] Her image shall my days beguile
p. 273 All all of a piece throughout

Mauritius Command:
p. 165 Here I am/riding on a black ram
p. 166 [essentially the same purgation] For mine arse's fault I take this pain

Desolation Island:
p. 273 and p. 274 [a small interlined translation] Before my bed, clear moonlight (Herapath's Chinese poem)

Fortune of War:
p. 82 Our captain was very good to us
p. 220 [some of {Mr Mowett's} verse] While o'er the ship the gallant boatswain flies
p. 232 Flower: is it a flower?
p. 283 Oh, oh, the mourning dove
p. 284 qui ferox bello tamen inter arma

Surgeon's Mate:
p. 57 None but the brave
p. 209 Young men will do't
p. 265 [Heart of Oak] Heart of oak are our ships
p. 286 Sick Earth convulsive groans from shore to shore

Ionian Mission:
p. 35 [Mowett had composed a song] Welcome aboard, welcome aboard
p. 81 Even calamity, by thought refined
p. 81 Oh were it mine with sacred Maro's art (Th'impervious horrors of a leeward shore)
p. 82 [the piece about woe/the piece about not whining] By woe, the soul to daring action swells
p. 85 [a piece about dealing with light airs abaft the beam] With whining postures, now the wanton sails
p. 193 [a disrespectful song the hands had made up] Bugger old Harte, bugger old Harte
p. 227 But on arrival at the fleet's anchorage, there (Mr Rowan's piece about the Buenos Ayres expedition)
p. 270 [part of a poem about the Courageux, Captain Wilkinson, running plumb on to the Anholt reef by night] Dismal was this, many did despair
p. 271 [part of something in the epical line in three cantos about people sailing in these waters or to be more exact somewhat more easterly, off Cape Spado] Now the north, from Afric's burning shore, A troop of porpoises their course explore
p. 271-273 [{continuation of} part of something in the epical line in three cantos about people sailing in these waters or to be more exact somewhat more easterly, off Cape Spado] Tossed on the tide she feels the tempest blow
p. 273 [Pomfret's To his Friend Inclined to Marry] Her person amiable, straight, and free

Treason's Harbour:
p. 131 [Mr Rowan's piece about Sir Michael Seymour's action] I do declare/Such a hard engagement has not been known for many a year
p. 132 [the piece about the dying dolphin] The sailors now, to give the ship relief
p. 133 [Ladies of Spain] Farewell and adieu to you fine Spanish ladies
p. 293 [Nelson at Copenhagen] With their thundering and roaring, rattling and roaring
p. 294 [a piece composed by a Scotch gentleman on currant jelly] Long ere the cups were filled, I'd eager rise

Far Side of the World:
p. 54 We'll give you a bit of our mind, old hound/Port-admiral, you be damned
p. 132 Come it late or come it soon
p. 140 She plies her course yet, nor her winged speed (Homer)
p. 165 [The British Tars] Come all you thoughtless young men, a warning take by me
p. 193 But sea-room, an the brine and cloudy billows kiss the moon, I care not
p. 246 Come it late or come it soon
p. 280 ... behold the threaden sails
p. 281 [a piece of Mr Rowan's] Awful the grinding noise of keel and heel
p. 282 [a curious Malay form of verse] The peepul-tree grows on the edge of the forest
p. 282 Stern daughter of the voice of God! O duty!
p. 291 Away my boys, away my boys, 'tis time for us to go
p. 326 Heave and ho; rumblelow
p. 403 Down the white hills dissolving torrents pour (Darwin)
p. 404 [Darwin's Origin of Society] "Behold!" he cries. "Earth! Ocean! Air above!" (sex to sex the willing world unite)

Reverse of the Medal:
p. 21 [the couplet] In vain may heroes fight and patriots rave
p. 21 [how {the couplet} goes on] Blest paper credit! last and best supply!
p. 102 When virtue spooms before a prosperous gale (Dryden)
p. 108 Omnia perdidimus, tantummodo vita relicta est (Ovid)
p. 141 Why should a foolish marriage vow
p. 152 [the couplet] In vain may heroes fight and patriots rave
p. 152 [how {the couplet} goes on] Blest paper credit! last and best supply!
p. 263 A beaten wife and a cuckold swain

Letter of Marque:
p. 12 [the shanty] Walk her round and round she goes/Way oh, way oh
p. 62 [Mr Mowett's new piece] Swift o'er the deep with winged speed they flew
p. 78 Let the sick assemble here
p. 163 Walk her round and walk her round, way oh, walk her round (the shanty)
p. 206 The ermine robe, the golden crown (ballad in honour of Captain Aubrey)

Thirteen Gun Salute:
p. 13 False, foolish, old, ill-natured and ill-bred (Dryden)
p. 28 Heisa, heisa (the Orkneymen's song)
p. 35 [that outlandish song] Heisa, heisa (the Orkneymen's song)
p. 36 Afore the wind, afore the wind
p. 65 Yeo heave ho, round the capstan go
p. 66 We'll heave him up from down below
p. 141 Wind-gall at morn/Fine weather all gone
p. 167 When the bells justle in the tower
p. 313 And when that last and dreadful hour

Truelove/Clarissa Oakes:
p. 94-95 [the sonnet that begins Th'expense of spirit] All this the world well knows, but none knows well
p. 194 So long as we may, let us enjoy this breath
p. 200 Sic erimus cuncti postquam nos auferet Orcus

Wine-Dark Sea:
p. 14 Farewell and adieu to you fine Spanish ladies (Ladies of Spain)
p. 14 As I walked out one midsummer's morning, for to view the fields and the flowers so gay
p. 196 [one of {Jack's} very few pieces of classical learning] First Solon, who made the Athenian laws

Commodore:
p. 10 [a verse of Horace] Singula de nobis anni praedantur euntes
p. 10 The years in passing rob us of our delight (Stephen's translation of Horace)
p. 27 [a song far in the background] Wherever I roam I long and I long and I long for my home
p. 214 Beware and take care of the Bight of Benin
p. 259 Come cheer up my lads, 'tis to glory we steer

Yellow Admiral:
p. 204 Rem facias, rem (Horace)
p. 204 Get place and wealth, if possible, with grace (Mr. Pope's translation of Horace)
p. 234-235 I do love a jolly sailor

Blue at the Mizzen:
p. 195 Jockey of Norfolk be not so bold