"Jack Ketch" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... kind to the wretch, Who marries for money or fashion or folly; He'd better accept of the noose of Jack Ketch Than such a "help-meet;" or at once marry Dolly The cook, or with Bridget, the maid of the broom; With one he'd be sure to get coffee and meat, And never hear whining of nothing to eat, And 't other would make up his bed and his room; And if he was blest with a child now and then, ...
— Nothing to Eat • Horatio Alger [supposed]
... "chief of the eagle and cactus." These captains were military chiefs of the phratries, and also magistrates charged with the duty of maintaining order and enforcing the decrees of the council in their respective quarters. The "chief of the eagle and cactus" was chief executioner,—Jack Ketch. He was not eligible for the office of "chief-of-men;" the three other phratry-captains were eligible. Then there was a member of the priesthood entitled "man of the dark house." This person, with the three eligible captains, ...
— The Discovery of America Vol. 1 (of 2) - with some account of Ancient America and the Spanish Conquest • John Fiske
... day, by chance met Jack Ketch, and jocosely asked him whether he could tell him the difference between their trades. "That I can," said Jack, "the only difference is utility—you till, ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 494. • Various
... thou know of Love or feeling?—Wretch! Begone!" she cried, with kindling eyes—"and do My bidding!" Baba vanished, for to stretch His own remonstrance further he well knew Might end in acting as his own "Jack Ketch;" And though he wished extremely to get through This awkward business without harm to others, He still preferred his own ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 6 • Lord Byron
... if I had come upon him with a direct proposal, 'Sir, will you dine in company with Jack Wilkes?' he would have flown into a passion, and would probably have answered, 'Dine with Jack Wilkes, Sir! I'd as soon dine with Jack Ketch[191].' I therefore, while we were sitting quietly, by ourselves at his house in an evening, took occasion to open my plan thus:—'Mr. Dilly, Sir, sends his respectful compliments to you, and would be happy if you would do him the honour to dine with him on Wednesday next along with me, as I ...
— Life Of Johnson, Vol. 3 • Boswell, Edited by Birkbeck Hill
... and his low collars and absurd neck;—those follies are all over now, aren't they? We love each other for good now, don't we? Yes, for ever; and Glycera may go to Bath, and Telephus take his cervicem roseam to Jack Ketch, n'est-ce pas? ...
— The Virginians • William Makepeace Thackeray
... should gain my point. I was persuaded that if I had come upon him with a direct proposal, "Sir, will you dine in company with Jack Wilkes?" he would have flown into a passion, and would probably have answered, "Dine with Jack Wilkes, sir! I'd as soon dine with Jack Ketch." I therefore, while we were sitting quietly by ourselves at his house in an evening, took occasion ...
— The Best of the World's Classics, Vol. V (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland III • Various
... But Jack Ketch comes at last; Punch's frolics are past, There is no one his cause to befriend; His nonsense and fun Are all, alas, done; He has come ...
— The National Nursery Book - With 120 illustrations • Unknown
... very virtuous life; that he had possessed himself, by forgery, of trust-moneys which he was doubly bound to respect; and that he had been hanged for his offense, in the year eighteen hundred and twenty-four, when the gallows was still set up for other crimes than murder, and when Jack Ketch was in fashion as one of the hard-working reformers of ...
— The Queen of Hearts • Wilkie Collins
... out for him, yet, there is still a vast difference betwixt the slovenly butchering of a man, and the fineness of a stroke that separates the head from the body, and leaves it standing in its place. A man may be capable, as Jack Ketch's wife said of his servant, of a plain piece of work, a bare hanging; but to make a malefactor die sweetly, was only belonging ...
— A Voyage to the Moon • George Tucker |
