For thee, who, mindful of the debtor’s doom, Dost in these lines their hapless state relate; If chance by writ or capias hither come, Some kindred spirit may inquire thy fate. Haply, some hoary bailiff here may say, “Oft have we watch’d him at the peep of dawn, But, damn him, still he slipped from us away, And when we thought we had him, he was gone. “Where Drury Lane erects its well-known head, And Covent Garden lifts its domes on high, Morning and noon and night we found him fled, Most snugly poring on us passing by. “On Sundays, ever smiling as in scorn, Passing our houses, he would boldly rove; We gave his case up as of one forlorn, And for his person pined in hopeless love. “One morn we track’d him near th’ accustom’d spot Along the Strand, and by his favourite she―― Another came; yet still we caught him not, But on the third, we nabb’d a youth,――’twas he. “The next, with warrant due, we brought our man, Snug to the Bench, here all the way from town, Approach and read the warrant (if you can), You may a copy get for half-a-crown.” THE WARRANT. Here rests his head, in “seventeen” and one, A youth to fortune and to fame well-known. But tradesmen trusted and began to dun, And Mister Sheriff marked him for his own. Great were his spendings, he naught put on shelf,―― To send a recompense law did not fail: He gave his cred’tors, all he had――himself He gain’d from them (all he abhorred) a gaol! No further seek his doings to disclose, Or draw his follies from this dull abode, (Here he’ll at all events three months repose), Th’ Insolvent Act may open then a road. This Parody was published anonymously in a little work, entitled, “_Prison Thoughts_,” by a Collegian. London, John Lowndes, 1821. It was afterwards reprinted in “_Doings in London_, or Day and Night Scenes in the Metropolis,” by George Smeeton, which was published about 1828. In this it is said that the above Parody of Gray’s Elegy was written by a favourite dramatist, but it does not give his name. ――――:o:―――― Another parody, with a somewhat similar title, was published, in quarto, in 1790, of which the following is an exact reprint, omitting an advertisement, a list of subscribers, a dedication to Sir Martin Stapylton Bart, and some rather tedious footnotes:―― AN ELEGY. _In Imitation of Gray._ Written in THE KING’S BENCH PRISON. BY A MINOR. Printed for the Author; and sold by R. Lea, Greek Street, MDCCXC. ―――― The surly crier rings his nightly knell, The willing guest departs his weary way, And hears with joy the lonely Prison-bell, Nor wishes with his wretched friend to stay.