Rob from this hour is an alter'd man; He runs home to his lodgings as fast as he can, Sticks to his trade, Marries Miss Slade, Becomes a Te-totaller--that is the same As Te-totallers now, one in all but the name; Grows fond of Small-beer, which is always a steady sign, Never drinks spirits except as a medicine; Learns to despise Coal-black eyes, Minds pretty girls no more than so many Guys; Has a family, lives to be sixty, and dies! Now, my little boy Ned, Brush off to your bed, Tie your night-cap on safe, or a napkin instead, Or these terrible nights you'll catch cold in your head; And remember my tale, and the moral it teaches, Which you'll find much the same as what Solomon preaches. Don't flirt with young ladies; don't practise soft speeches; Avoid waltzes, quadrilles, pumps, silk nose, and knee-breeches;-- Frequent not grey Ruins,--shun riot and revelry, Hocus Pocus, and Conjuring, and all sorts of devilry;-- Don't meddle with broomsticks,--they're Beelzebub's switches; Of cellars keep clear,--they're the devil's own ditches; And beware of balls, banquettings, brandy, and--witches! Above all! don't run after black eyes!--if you do,-- Depend on't you'll find what I say will come true,-- Old Nick, some fine morning, will "hey after you!" FOOTNOTES: [8] Stephen Ingoldsby, surnamed "The Niggard," second cousin and successor to "The Bad Sir Giles." (Visitation of Kent, 1666.) For an account of his murder by burglars, and their subsequent execution, see Dodsley's "Remarkable Trials," &c. Lond. 1776, vol. ii. p. 264, ex the present volume, Art. "Hand of Glory." * * * * * Strange as the events detailed in the succeeding narrative may appear, they are, I have not the slightest doubt, true to the letter. Whatever impression they may make upon the Reader, that produced by them on the narrator, I can aver, was neither light nor transient. SINGULAR PASSAGE IN THE LIFE OF THE LATE HENRY HARRIS, DOCTOR IN DIVINITY. AS RELATED BY THE REV. JASPER INGOLDSBY, M.A., HIS FRIEND AND EXECUTOR. In order that the extraordinary circumstance which I am about to relate, may meet with the credit it deserves, I think it necessary to premise, that my reverend friend, among whose papers I find it recorded, was, in his lifetime, ever esteemed as a man of good plain understanding, strict veracity, and unimpeached morals,--by no means of a nervous temperament, or one likely to attach undue weight to any occurrence out of the common course of events, merely because his reflections might not, at that moment, afford him a ready solution of its difficulties.