A certain Captain Bover was particularly energetic in pressing men, of whom a sailor and his lass thus sing: ‘Where hes ti’ been, maw canny hinny, Where hes ti’ been, maw winsome man? Aw’ve been ti’ the norrard, Cruising back and forrard, Aw’ve been ti’ the norrard, Cruising sair and lang, Aw’ve been ti’ the norrard, cruising back and forrard, But daurna come ashore for Bover and his gang.’ (L. Smith, _Music of the Waters_, 1888, p. 112.) When the war ended the press-gang lost its very real terrors, though their memory long survived in tradition. It became a subject for sentimental or burlesque treatment, as in _Oh Cruel!_ and the _Answer_ to that song. Its special function in the sentimental ballads printed during the first half of the nineteenth century was to prevent the course of true love from running smooth: ‘This jolly young sailor, as true is reported, Had been but a very few weeks on the shore But as he and his love together was walking, By a large press he from her was tore.’ A villainous rival invariably availed himself of its assistance: ‘A friendly voice young William hailed; A ruffian gang the youth assailed; ’Twas done by cursed gold. The tender for the offing stood, The cutter skimmed the yielding flood, They hatched him in the hold.’ (_Young William._) It afforded opportunities for the more romantic forms of the sentimental ballad, in which the maid disguised herself as a sailor in order to accompany her lover when he was pressed to sea. There are several seventeenth and eighteenth century ballads about disguised women who served as sailors, and there are some genuine instances. One of them, Hannah Snell, became celebrated, and about 1750 attracted crowds to hear her sing a song describing her adventures (p. 200). In the street ballads of the early nineteenth century the theme is a perpetual favourite. Other ballads of the same period celebrated the courage or dexterity with which the maiden contrived to obtain her lover’s release. The most celebrated example of this class of ballad is _Billy Taylor_, which is a parody on an earlier romantic ballad entitled sometimes _William Taylor_, sometimes _The Female Lieutenant_ (pp. 326-27). Another example is _Cawsand Bay_ (p. 328), which is a late imitation of an older ballad called either _The Valiant Maid_ or _The Undaunted Lieutenant_. Impressment ceased about 1835, though not formally abolished, and its cessation seems to have been somehow connected in the popular mind with King William IV. His sympathy with sailors was the theme of several street songs. _The King and the Sailor_ celebrates his affability; _Duke William’s Frolic_ narrates how he had learned to sympathise with the sufferings of sailors by being himself impressed. Both are reprinted in John Ashton’s _Modern Street Ballads_, pp. 228, 232.