Xvii

Right and left did he dash helter-skelter In agonized search of a shelter. No purlieu so blocked and no alley So blind as allowed him to rally His spirits and see--nothing hampered His steps if he trudged and not scampered Up here and down there in a city That 's all ups and downs, more the pity For folks who would outrun the constable. At last he stopped short at the one stable And sure place of refuge that 's offered Humanity. Lately was coffered A corpse in its sepulchre, situate By St. John's Observance. "Habituate Thyself to the strangest of bedfellows, And, kicked by the live, kiss the dead fellows!" So Misery counselled the craven. At once he crept safely to haven Through a hole left unbricked in the structure. Ay, Misery, in have you tucked your Poor client and left him conterminous With--pah!--the thing fetid and verminous! (I gladly would spare you the detail, But History writes what I retail.)