In vain did St. Dunstan exclaim, "_Vade retro_ _Strongbeerum!--discede a Lay-fratre Petro!_"-- Queer Latin, you'll say, That præfix of "_Lay_," And _Strongbeerum_!--I own they'd have call'd me a blockhead if At school I had ventured to use such a Vocative; 'Tis a barbarous word, and to me it's a query If you'll find it in Patrick, Morell, or Moreri; But, the fact is, the Saint was uncommonly flurried, And apt to be loose in his Latin when hurried; The Brown-stout, however, obeys to the letter, Quite as well as if talk'd to, in Latin much better, By a grave Cambridge Johnian, Or graver Oxonian, Whose language, we all know, is quite Ciceronian. It retires from the corpse, which is left high and dry; But, in vain do they snuff and hot towels apply, And other means used by the faculty try. When once a man's dead There's no more to be said; Peter's "Beer with an _e_" was his "Bier with an _i_!!" Moral. By way of a moral, permit me to pop in The following maxims:--Beware of eaves-dropping!-- Don't make use of language that isn't well scann'd!-- Don't meddle with matters you don't understand!-- Above all, what I'd wish to impress on both sexes Is,--Keep clear of Broomsticks, Old Nick, and three XXXs. L'Envoye. In Goldsmith's Hall there's a handsome glass-case, And in it a stone figure, found on the place, When, thinking the old Hall no longer a pleasant one, They pull'd it all down, and erected the present one. If you look, you'll perceive that this stone figure twists A thing like a broomstick in one of its fists. It's so injured by time, you can't make out a feature; But it is not St. Dunstan,--so doubtless it's Peter. * * * * * Gengulphus, or, as he is usually styled in this country, "Jingo," was perhaps more in the mouths of the "general" than any other Saint, on occasions of adjuration (see note, page 145). Mr. Simpkinson from Bath had kindly transmitted me a portion of a primitive ballad, which has escaped the researches of Ritson and Ellis, but is yet replete with beauties of no common order. I am happy to say that, since these Legends first appeared, I have recovered the whole of it.--_Vide infra._ "A Franklyn's dogge leped over a style, And hys name was littel Byngo. B wyth a Y--Y wyth an N,-- N wyth a G--G wyth an O,-- They call'd hym littel Byngo! Thys Franklyn, Syrs, he brewed goode ayle, And he called it Rare goode Styngo! S, T, Y, N, G, O! He call'd it Rare goode Styngo! Nowe is notte thys a prettie song? I thinke it is bye Jyngo! J wythe a Y--N, G, O-- I sweare yt is by Jyngo!" * * * * * FOOTNOTES: [9] St. Jingo, or Gengo (Gengulphus), sometimes styled "The Living Jingo," from the great tenaciousness of vitality exhibited by his severed members. See his Legend, as recorded hereafter in the present volume. [10]