So "Stand and deliver!" will not _quite_ do
In the year eighteen hundred and ninety-two;
And if you are caught on the Queen's highway,
With a something for which you've omitted to pay,
No use to try putting in--under your breath--
The plea of the custom of Hounslow-Heath!

Thanks to the _Times_ and to Justice NORTH!
The highway--of-News--may be clearer henceforth
Of robber daring and footpad sly.
To stop a coach, or to fake a cly,
Boldly to lift or astutely sneak,
Will expose a prig to the bobby's tweak,
And he shall not shelter himself beneath
The plea of the custom of Hounslow Heath.

_Autolycus_ now must buy his wares,
And not with his neighbours go (_gratis_) shares.
"Thou shalt not steal--not even brains,"
Says Justice NORTH, and his rule remains.
Thanks to the Justice, thanks to the _Times_!
Plain new definitions of ancient crimes
Are needful now when robbers unsheath
The old plea of the custom of Hounslow Heath!

* * * * *

OUR SAL VOLATILE; OR, A WRIGGLER SARPINT OF OLD NILE.