"Oh! have you never heard of the Black Friar?

The Spirit of these walls?"—"In truth not I."

"Why Fame—but Fame you know's sometimes a liar—

Tells an odd story, of which by and by:

Whether with time the Spectre has grown shyer,

Or that our Sires had a more gifted eye

For such sights, though the tale is half believed,

The Friar of late has not been oft perceived.