--For proofs, having made, as he farther alleges, stir, An entry was found in the old Parish Register, The which at his instance the excellent Vicar ex- tracted: viz. "Caliban, base son of Sycorax." --He had rather, by half, Have found Prospero's "Staff;" But 'twas useless to dig, for the want of a pick or axe.-- Colonel Pasley, however, 'tis everywhere said, Now he's blown up the old Royal George at Spithead, And the great cliff at Dover, of which we've all read, Takes his whole apparatus, and goes out to look And see if he can't try and blow up "the Book." --Gentle Reader, farewell!--If I add one more line, "He'll be, in all likelihood, blowing up _mine_!" FOOTNOTES: [18] See page 209. The Ingoldsby Legends. * * * * * _SECOND SERIES_ The Ingoldsby Legends. SECOND SERIES. TO RICHARD BENTLEY, ESQ. MY DEAR SIR, You tell me that "a generous and enlightened Public" has given a favourable reception to those extracts from our family papers, which, at your suggestion, were laid before it some two years since;--and you hint, with all possible delicacy, that a second volume might not be altogether unacceptable at a period of the year when "auld warld stories" are more especially in request.--With all my heart,--the old oak chest is not yet empty; in addition to which, I have recently laid my hand upon a long MS. correspondence of my great-uncle, Sir Peregrine Ingoldsby, a cadet of the family, who somehow contrived to attract the notice of George the Second, and received from his "honour-giving hand" the _accolade_ of knighthood. To this last-named source I am indebted for several of the accompanying histories, while my inestimable friend Simpkinson has bent all the powers of his mighty mind to the task. From Father John's stores I have drawn largely. Our "Honourable" friend Sucklethumbkin--by the way, he has been beating our covers lately, when he shot a woodcock, and one of the Governor's pointers--gives a graphic account of the Operatic "row" in which he was heretofore so conspicuous; while even Mrs. Barney Maguire (_née Mademoiselle Pauline_), whose horror of Mrs. Botherby's cap has no jot diminished, furnishes me with the opening Legend of the series from the _historiettes_ of her own _belle France_.