Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project

Verses in Vogue with the Vulgar

A Sweet country life; together with the Sailor's farewell

“A Country Life” is part of a long tradition of English lyrics praising rustic country life over the fashions and recreations of the city. The version printed in Daniel Belknap’s Middlesex Songster includes all of the verses, but in a different order (verses 1, 5, 4, 2, 3, and 6) and often with different words. Both versions have two sections, the main lyric in which the narrator speaks directly to the listener and a middle section describing the tryst of Jemmy and Nancy. The song may have traveled through oral tradition to reach these two prints. The text appeared in three songsters between 1800 and 1815 (R. Keller, Early American Songsters).

“The Sailor’s Farewell” is described in a broadside of the same title, The Sailor’s Farewell.

Additional Metadata

Date

1810-1814

Place of Publication

Boston.

Publisher

Coverly, Nathaniel, 1775?-1824, printer.

Subjects

Country life in literature
Love
Sailors
Nature
Farewells

First Line

Sweet country life is delightsome and charming.
Topsail shivers in the wind.

Identifiers

BIB ID: 286714
OCLC Control No.: (OCoLC)ocm78397232
OCLC Control No.: (OCoLC)ocn191468928
Ford, W.C. Thomas ballads, 258
AAS General Catalog URL: http://catalog.mwa.org/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=286714
View larger image

Physical Dimensions

28 x 21 cm.

Transcriptions

View transcription using TEI
Download TEI XML

Citation

“A Sweet country life; together with the Sailor's farewell,” Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project, accessed October 22, 2026, https://collections.americanantiquarian.org/thomasballads/items/show/232.