The more the tail was pulled _back_,
the more the ram cat tried to go _forward_; at length, when he had, as
he conceived, made his possession quite secure, main force convinced him
to the contrary, and that if he kept his hold he must lose his tail. So,
he was dragged backward to the proctor's loins, grappling at every pull,
and bringing away here and there strips of the proctor's skin, to prove
the pertinacity of his defence.
When the ram cat had got down to the loins he was once more placed at
the shoulders, and again _carded_ the proctor (_toties quoties_)
according to his sentence.
* * * * *
WALKING GALLOWS.
(_From Sir Jonah Barrington's Sketches._)
Among the extraordinary characters that turned up in the fatal
"ninety-eight," there were few more extraordinary than Lieutenant H----,
then denominated the "walking gallows;"--and such he certainly was,
literally and practically.
Lieutenant H---- was an officer of the line on half pay. His brother was
one of the solicitors to the Crown--a quiet, tremulous, _vino deditus_
sort of man, and a leading Orangeman;--his widow who afterwards married
and survived a learned doctor, was a clever, positive, good-looking
Englishwoman, and, I think, fixed the doctor's avowed _creed_: as to his
genuine _faith_, that was of little consequence.
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