overed, and taken away by the
gamekeeper of the gentleman to whom the ground belonged. All the excuses
the poacher could make proved ineffectual in appeasing the resentment of
the justice and his wife at being thus disconcerted. Measures were taken
to detect the delinquent in the exercise of his illicit occupation; he
was committed to safe custody, and his wife, with five bantlings, was
passed to her husband's settlement in a different part of the country.

A stout squat fellow, rattling with chains, had just taken up the ball of
accusation, when Sir Launcelot was startled with the appearance of a
woman, whose looks and equipage indicated the most piteous distress. She
seemed to be turned of the middle age, was of a lofty carriage, tall,
thin, weather-beaten, and wretchedly attired; her eyes were inflamed with
weeping, and her looks displayed that wildness and peculiarity which
denote distraction. Advancing to Sir Launcelot, she fell upon her knees,
and, clasping her hands together, uttered the following rhapsody in the
most vehement tone of affliction:--

"Thrice potent, generous, and august emperor; here let my knees cleave to
the earth, until thou shalt do me justice on that inhuman caitiff Gobble.
Let him disgorge my substance which he hath devoured; let him restore to
my widowed arms my child, my boy, the delight of my eyes, the prop of my
life, the staff of my sustenance, whom he hath torn from my embrace,
stolen, betrayed, sent into captivity, and murdered! Behold these
bleeding wounds upon his lovely breast! see how they mangle his lifeless
corse! Horror! give me my child, barbarians! his head shall lie upon his
Suky's bosom--she will embalm him with her tears. Ha! plunge him in the
deep!--shall my boy then float in a watery tomb? Justice, most mighty
emperor! justice upon the villain who hath ruined us all! May Heaven's
dreadful vengeance overtake him! may the keen storm of adversity strip
him of all his leaves and fruit! may peace forsake his mind, and rest be
banished from his pillow, so that all his days shall be filled with
reproach and sorrow, and all his nights be haunted with horror and
remorse! may he be stung by jealousy without cause, and maddened by
revenge without the means of execution! may all his offspring be blighted
and consumed, like the mildewed ears of corn, except one that shall grow
up to curse his old age, and bring his hoary head with sorrow to the
grave, as he himself has prove