And he gave to the rich,
And he shook hands with a Scotchman,
For he was not afraid of the itch.
In the edition of Southey’s works, collected by himself, Vol. III., the “Devil’s Walk,” is included, with a rather lengthy “Advertisement,” in which Southey states that, although the poem was the joint composition of Coleridge and himself, it had been claimed for Professor Porson. “Professor Porson,” he says, “never had any part in these verses as a writer, and it is for the first time that he now appears in them as the subject of two or three stanzas written some few years ago, when the fabricated story of his having composed them … was revived.” The stanzas in question are more explicit than complimentary to Porson, or to any other claimant of the authorship. This edition of the poem contains a somewhat detailed account of the manner in which Southey and Coleridge composed it between them—
“While the one was shaving
Would he the song begin;
And the other when he heard it at breakfast,
In ready accord join in,” &c.
In 1830 an Edition of The Devil’s Walk, was published in London, with numerous illustrations by Robert Cruikshank with a memoir of Porson by H. W. Montagu, and long and somewhat superfluous foot notes.
Following close upon this were two inferior imitations, both illustrated by Robert Cruikshank, “The Devil’s Visit; a poem, with notes by a Barrister,” London, W. Kidd 1830, and “The Real Devil’s Walk, NOT by Professor Porson,” London W. Kidd, 1831.