ballads; the words being these:--"The worthy magistrate,
after remarking that the prisoner would find some difficulty
in persuading a jury to believe his tale, committed him to
take his trial at the approaching sessions; and directed the
customary recognisances to be entered into for the pros-e-
cu-tion."

Every time he came to this concluding word, and had
exhausted all possible stress upon it, Quilp burst into a
shriek of laughter, and began again.

"He's dreadfully imprudent," muttered Brass, after he
had listened to two or three repetitions of the chant. "Hor-
ribly imprudent. I wish he was dumb. I wish he was deaf.
I wish he was blind. Hang him," cried Brass, as the chant
began again, "I wish he was dead!"

Giving utterance to these friendly aspirations in behalf
of his client, Mr. Sampson composed his face into its usual
state of smoothness, and waiting until the shriek came
again and was dying away, went up to the wooden house,
and knocked at the door.

"Come in!" cried the dwarf.

"How do you do to-night, sir?" said Sampson, peeping
in. "Ha ha ha! How do you do, sir? Oh dear me, how
very whimsical! Amazingly whimsical to be sure!"

"Come in, you fool!" returned the dwarf, "and don't
stand there shaking your head and showing your teeth.
Come in, you false witness, you perjurer, you suborner of
evidence, come in!"

"He has the richest humour!" cried Brass, shutting the
door behind him; "the most amazing vein of comicality!
But isn't it rather injudicious, sir-----?"

"What?" demanded Quilp, "What, Judas?"

"Judas!" cried Brass. "He has such extraordinary
spirits! His humour is so extremely playful! Judas!
Oh yes--dear me, how very good! Ha ha ha!"

All this time, Sampson was rubbing his hands, and
staring, with ludicrous surprise and dismay, at a great,
goggle-eyed, blunt-nosed figure-head of some old ship,
which was reared up against the wall in a corner near the
stove, looking like a goblin or hideous idol whom the
dwarf worshipped. A mass of timber on its head, carved
into the dim and distant semblance of a cocked hat, to-
gether with a representation of a star on the left breast
and epaulettes on the shoulders, denoted that it was in-
tended for the effigy of some famous admiral; but, without

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