THE SENTENCE ON THE THIEF. (10)

[Itinerarium Paradisi: De Matrim. Serm. xi.]

A NOTABLE thief of Rotterdam,
The worry of all the city,

Was taken at last, and made doubly fast
In the prison, with scanty pity.

Excitement arose to boiling point,
And folk would take no denial,
But were all agreed, to have indeed,
In the market-place the trial.

The magistrates said, 'It may terror strike
In the guilty, and embolden
The innocent; so be content,

It shall be publicly holden.'

The day arrived, and the mighty crowd
Their way to the market fought,

For the people all, both great and small,
Rejoiced that the thief was caught.

The judge was seated in scarlet cloak,
The officers quelled disorder;

Lawyers were there, with preoccupied air,
And the clerk, and the recorder.

Witnesses came, were questioned and heard,

And the culprit felt with fear,

And a pallid face, that his ugly case
Was made uncommonly clear.

And when the moment of sentence came,
The judge to the people turned:
'Some have had life by this felon's knife
Taken, and some have had burned

'Their houses, and all have something lost, Or suffered from him some way;

So I direct that you shall elect

The penalty he shall pay.'

'Death!' they cried, 'is what we decide,'

Yelling in ecstasy ;

But how carried out, the turbulent rout

In no way could agree.

Said one man, 'Let him suspended be
As a warning from the steeple ;'
But another said, 'Let us cut off his head,
In the presence of the people.'

Said another, "There is a sweeter sport,
The breaking upon the wheel.'

Said another man, 'There's a better plan,
The chopping to bits with steel.'

Said another: 'I've heard in good old times
That culprits were stewed in oil.'

Said

one, 'He shall bake;' and one, 'At the stake

He shall roast;' said another, 'Boil.'

Then slowly arose from his seat the judge,

And said, 'If you can't agree,

Then lend me your ear, and you shall hear
A suggestion made by me.

'What sort of pain would you give the man

Continuous, or soon past?'

Then shouted all, both great and small,

'Long, long, sir, may it last!'

'Would you rack his body and heart and mind,

Or only rack him in part?'

They shouted all, both great and small : 'Body and mind and heart!'

'Would you make him pray for a quick release, Or close his life with a blow?

Should he greatly desire Purgat❜ry fire,
As relief from present woe?'

They shouted all, both great and small:

'Protract a tormented life!'

Said the Judge, 'Very well: to the criminal I here make over my wife.

'I could wish my enemy nothing worse

Than a course of matrimonie

With that creature so grim in visage and limb Who has fastened herself on me.

'Shall this be the sentence I proclaim?'

The criminal gave a groan.

'Shall the woman be, who worries me,

The culprit's worry alone?'

The people all, both great and small,
Shouted: 'We so decide!'

Said the Judge, 'For thee I feel pity:
Criminal! claim thy bride.

'Happier far had death been thine,
And now to have yielded breath,
Than saddled to be with a ghoulish She
Through a lingering, living death.'