TO THE HESITATING PURCHASER
 If sailor tales to sailor tunes, |
| Storm and adventure, heat and cold, |
| If schooners, islands, and maroons, |
| And buccaneers, and buried gold, |
| And all the old romance, retold |
| Exactly in the ancient way, |
| Can please, as me they pleased of old, |
| The wiser youngsters of today: |
—So be it, and fall on! If not, If studious youth no longer crave, His ancient appetites forgot, Kingston, or Ballantyne the brave, Or Cooper of the wood and wave: So be it, also! And may I And all my pirates share the grave Where these and their creations lie!
