These verses, whether accurately reported or not, certainly seem to belong to another ballad. Whether they are from the first part or the second part, we have no means of assuring ourselves. It is to be observed that in the ballad before us the George Aloe and the Sweepstake are sailing _for_ Safee, and in the other case the George Aloe is coming _from_ the south, from the coast of Barbary, so that the adventure, whatever it was, may have occurred in the homeward voyage; but the circumstance is not decisive.[101] The George Aloe and the Sweepstake, merchantmen, are bound for Safee. The George Aloe anchors, the Sweepstake keeps on, is taken by a French rover, and her crew thrown overboard. The George Aloe hears of this, and sets out to take the Frenchman. Her second shot carries away the enemy’s mainmast; the Frenchmen cry for mercy. The English ask what they did with the crew of the Sweepstake; the Frenchmen confess that they threw them into the sea. Such mercy as you shewed such mercy shall you have, say the English, and deal with the French accordingly. ‘Aboard,’ 6^2, 16^2, I suppose to mean alongside. ‘Amain,’ 7^1, 16^1, is strike (sails) in sign of surrender. The French use the word derived from their own language; the English say, strike. ‘Gallant’ Englishmen in 7^1, after ‘English dogs’ in 6^1, is unlikely courtesy, and is not found in 16^1. ‘The Swepstacke’ is a king’s ship in 1545, and ‘The Sweepstakes’ apparently again in 1666: Historical MSS Commission, 12th Report, Appendix, Part VII, pp. 8, 45. 1 The George Aloe and the Sweepstakes too, With hey, with ho, for and a nony no They were two merchant-men, a sailing for Safee. And along the course of Barbary 2 [The George Aloe to anchor came, But the jolly Sweepstake kept on her way.] 3 They had not sayled leagues two or three Before they spyed a sail upon the sea. 4 ‘O hail, O hail, you lusty gallants, From whence is your good ship, and whither is she bound?’ 5 ‘O we are some merchant-men, sailing for Safee:’ ‘And we be French rebels, a roving on the sea. 6 ‘O hail, O hail, you English dogs, [hail!]’ ‘The[n] come aboard, you French dogs, and strike down your sail!’ 7 ‘Amain, amain, you gallant Englishmen!’ ‘Come, you French swades, and strike down your sails!’ 8 They laid us aboard on the starboard side, And they overthrew us into the sea so wide. 9 When tidings to the George Aloe came That the jolly Sweepstakes by a Frenchman was tane, 10 ‘To top, to top, thou little ship-boy, And see if this French man-of-war thou canst descry.’ 11 ‘A sail, a sail, under your lee, Yea, and another under her bough.’ 12 ‘Weigh anchor, weigh anchor, O jolly boatswain, We will take this Frenchman if we can.’ 13 We had not sailed leagues two or three But we met the French man-of-war upon the sea.