"The princess, choked with wickedness; her soul in sin has fled; To part such dear and faithful loves God's holy might for bade!" The ballad of The Ship Catharine is one of the best known and most popular among the folk-songs of Portugal. Various attempts have been made by Almeida Garrett, Braga, and others to attach it to some historical event, but without satisfactory success, and, indeed, its character is such that it is apparent that it belongs rather to the order of indefinite romance. The incidents in regard to the drawing of the lots to see who shall be eaten, and the ascent of the sailor to look for land, are to be found in the folk-songs of various maritime nations. One of them has been found in Brittany and has been preserved by M. Luzel in the Gwerzion Breiz-Izel. It relates that a vessel, which had been voyaging for twenty-seven years upon the high seas, naturally fell short of provisions, and the crew were compelled to think of eating each other: "And when they had drawn for the short straw, it was the master of the vessel to whom it fell--Great God, is it possible that my sailors will eat me?" "Little page, little page, you who are quick and nimble--go to the top of the main mast to find out where we are." "And he mounted singing, and descended weeping--I have been to the top of the main mast and have not seen any land." "Go again to the top of the main mast to find out where we are--It will be for the last time." "He mounted weeping, and he descended singing --I believe that we are restored to land--I have seen the tower of Babylon," etc. A ballad, The Little Midshipman, in the popular songs of Provence, is very similar in incident and language to The Ship Catharine, with a change in the localities, the midshipman seeing Toulon and Marseilles instead of the coasts of Portugal and Spain. In later French folk-song the ballad has become a burlesque after the fashion of Malbrook, and is known as Il était un Petit Navire. This in its turn was developed in the after-dinner song of Thackeray, "There were three sailors of Bristol city," and is an instance of the persistence of folk-song, even though changed in form and purpose. The supernatural element in The Ship Catharine is rare in Portuguese popular poetry. THE SHIP CATHARINE. The Catharine was a gallant ship, On which a wonder did befall I'll tell the story as it happ'd, If you will listen one and all. The ship had ploughed the long, salt seas, Until a year and day had gone. Their stores of food were eaten out, And beef and biscuit they had none. They tried to soak a shoe to eat, Its skin so hard they could not gnaw. For who should serve his mates for food, In turns the deadly lot they draw. The shortest straw the captain drew. I wot it caused him bitter pain: "Little sailor, climb the top-mast,