Of these fantastic rhymes, Richard Harris Barham, has given us the finest examples in the language, in his celebrated “Ingoldsby Legends.” In the legend “Look at the Clock,” we have this:—

“Having once gained the summit, and managed to cross it, he

Rolls down the side with uncommon velocity.”

This from “The Ghost”:—

“And, being of a temper somewhat warm,

Would now and then seize upon small occasion,

A stick or stool, or anything that round did lie,

And baste her lord and master most confoundedly.”

In the “Tragedy” we have one even more whimsical and comical:—

“The poor little Page, too, himself got no quarter, but