before?"
Quoth the Peeler, "'Tis the lawr!"
"Shall I be with felons banded, by the 'beak' be reprimanded,
And with infamy be branded?—thou art versed in prison
lore—
Say not, Robert, that my bread will 'ere be earned upon the
tread-mill,
That a filthy prison bed will echo to my fevered snore—
Ever echo to the music of my wild unearthly snore!"
Quoth the Peeler, "'Tis the lawr!"