We read of in the Almanack.

Blows rattle’d on him thick as hail;

Making him rue the day that he was born;—

Sir Thomas plied his cudgel like a flail,

And thrash’d as if he had been thrashing corn.

At length, a thump,—(painful the facts, alas!

Truth urges us Historians to relate!)—

Took Friar John so smart athwart the pate,

It acted like a perfect coup de grace.

Whether it was a random shot,