word of evil sense
Is wholly indefensible.
Go, ribald, get you hence
To your cabin with celerity.
This is the consequence
Of ill-advised asperity

[Exit CAPTAIN, disgraced, followed by
JOSEPHINE

ALL. This is the consequence,
Of ill-advised asperity!
SIR JOSEPH. For I'll teach you all, ere long,
To refrain from language strong
For I haven't any sympathy for ill-bred
taunts!
HEBE. No more have his sisters, nor his cousins,
nor his
aunts.
ALL. For he is an Englishman, etc.

SIR JOSEPH. Now, tell me, my fine fellow--for you are a fine
fellow--
RALPH. Yes, your honour.
SIR JOSEPH. How came your captain so far to forget himself? I
am quite
sure you had given him no cause for annoyance.
RALPH, Please your honour, it was thus-wise. You see I'm only a
topman-
-a mere foremast hand--
SIR JOSEPH. Don't be ashamed of that. Your position as a topman
is a
very exalted one.
RALPH. Well, your honour, love burns as brightly in the
fo'c'sle as it
does on the quarter-deck, and Josephine is the fairest bud that
ever
blossomed upon the tree of a poor fellow's wildest hopes.

Enter JOSEPHINE; she rushes to RALPH'S arms

JOS. Darling! (SIR JOSEPH horrified.)
RALPH. She is the figurehead of my ship of life--the bright
beacon that
guides me into my port of happiness--that the rarest, the purest
gem that
ever sparkled on a poor but worthy fellow's trusting brow!
ALL. Very pretty, very pretty!
SIR JOSEPH. Insolent sailor, you shall repent this outrage.
Seize him!
(Two Marines seize him and handcuff him.)
JOS. Oh, Sir Joseph, spare him, for I love him tenderly.
SIR JOSEPH. Pray, don't. I will teach this presumptuous mariner
to
discipline his affections. Have you such a thing as a dungeon on
board?
ALL. We have!
DICK. They have!
SIR JOSEPH. Then load him with chains and take him there at
once!

OCTETTE

RALPH. Farewell, my own,
Light of my life, farewell!
For crime unknown
I go