A Cambridge wag who was skilled in the science of electricity, as well
as in the art of _ticking_, having got in pretty deep with his tailor,
who was continually _dunning_ him for payment, resolved to give snip
"_a settler_," as he said, the next time he mounted his stairs. He
accordingly _charged_ his electrifying machine much deeper than usual,
and knowing pretty well the time of snip's approach, watched his
coming to the foot of the stairs where he _kept_, and ere he could
reach the door, fixed the _conductor_ to the _brass handle_. The
tailor having long in vain sought occasion to catch him with his
_outer_ door not _sported_, was so delighted at finding it so, that,
resolving not to lose time, he seized the handle of the _inner_ door,
so temptingly exposed to view, determining to introduce himself to his
creditor _sans ceremonie_. No sooner, however, did his fingers come in
contact with it than the _shock_ followed, so violent, that it stunned
him for an instant: but recovering himself, he bolted as though
followed, as the poet says, by "ten thousand devils," never again to
return.
* * * * *