When apprised of this flaw, You never yet saw Such an awfully marked elongation of jaw As in Shylock, who cried, "Plesh ma heart! ish dat law?”— Off went his three hats, And he looked as the cats Do, whenever a mouse has escaped from their claw. -"Ish't the law?'-why the thing won't admit of a queryNo doubt of the fact, Only look at the Act; Acto quinto, cap: tertio, Dogi FalieriNay, if, rather than cut, you'd relinquish the debt, The Law, Master Shy, has a hold on you yet. See Foscari's Statutes at large'-'If a Stranger A Citizen's life shall, with malice, endanger, The whole of his property, little or great, Shall go, on conviction, one half to the State, And one to the person pursued by his hate; And, not to create Any further debate, The Doge, if he pleases, may cut off his pate.' So down on your marrowbones, Jew, and ask mercy! Defendant and Plaintiff are now wisy wersy." old-clothes men; So bid John and Mary To mind and be wary, And never let one of them come down the That thou shouldst dread at night to tread "It was in bluff King Harry's days-and Monks and Friars were then, You know, dear Uncle Ingoldsby, a sort of Clergymen. They'd coarse stuff gowns, and shaven crowns -no shirts, and no cravats, long, narrow, vaulted passage, paved with flagstones, And a cord was placed about their waist vulgarly known by the name of the 'Dark Entry.' Its eastern extremity communicates with the cloisters, crypt, and, by a private staircase, with the interior of the cathedral. On the west it opens into the 'Green Court, forming a communication between it and the portion of the 'Precinct' called the 'Oaks'."-A Walk round Canterbury, etc. [Scene-A back parlor in Mr. John Ingoldsby's house in the Precinct.-A blazing fire.-Mine Uncle is seated in a high-backed easy chair, twirling his thumbs, and contemplating his list shoe.-Little Tom, the "King's Scholar," on a stool opposite.-Mrs. John Ingoldsby at the table, busily employed in manufacturing a cabbage-rose (cauliflower?) in many-col ored worsteds.-Mine Uncle's meditations are in terrupted by the French clock on the mantle-piece. He prologizeth with vivacity.] "Hark! listen, Mrs. Ingoldsby-the clock is striking nine. Give Master Tom another cake, and half a glass of wine, they had no shovel hats! The Canon's house it stood without;-he "Three weeks are gone and over-full three kept good cheer within; Unto the best he prest each guest with free and jovial look, And Ellen Bean ruled his cuisine,-he called her Nelly Cook.' weeks and a day Yet still within the Canon's house doth dwell that Lady gay; On capons fine they daily dine, rich cates and sauces rare, And they quaff good store of Bordeaux wine, -so dainty is their fare. The Canon kissed her ruby lip,-he had a-She merry eye; But Nelly Cook askew did look,-it came in to her mind They were a little less than 'kin,' and rather more than kind.' bought some nasty doctor's-stuff, and she put it in a pie! "The livid spot is on his breast, the spot is on his back; His portly form, no longer warm with life, is swoln and black! The livid spot is on her cheek, it's on her neck of snow, But I've been told that moan and groan, and fearful wail and shriek, Came from beneath that paving-stone for nearly half a week; For three long days and three long nights came forth those sounds of fear; Then all was o'er-they never more fell on the listening ear. "A hundred years have gone and pass'd since last Nell Cook was seen, And the Prior sighs, and sadly cries, Well-When, worn by use, that stone got loose, and here's a pretty Go!' "All at the silent hour of night a bell is heard to toll, A knell is rung, a requiem's sung as for a sinful soul; And there's a grave within the Nave-it's dark, and deep, and wide And they bury there a Lady fair, and a Canon by her side! they went and told the Dean.Says the Dean, says he, 'My Masons three, now haste and fix it tight!' And the Masons three peeped down to see, and they saw a fearsome sight. "Beneath that heavy paving-stone a shocking hole they found; It was not more than twelve feet deep and barely twelve feet round. -A fleshless, sapless skeleton lay in that hor- | But some 'get shot' and some get drowned,' rid well! and some 'get' broken necks; "Those Masons three who set her free fell first! It is averred That two were hanged on Tyburn tree for murdering of the third: Charles Story, too, his friend who slew, had ne'er, if truth they tell, Been gibbeted on Chatham Downs had they not met with Nell! "Then send me not, mine Uncle dear, oh! send me not, I pray, Back through that Entry dark to-night, but round some other way! I will not be a truant boy, but good, and mind my book, For Heaven forefend that ever I foregather with Nell Cook !" |