Then the Snark pronounced sentence, the Judge being quite

⁠Too nervous to utter a word:

When it rose to its feet, there was silence like night,

⁠And the fall of a pin might be heard.

"Transportation for life" was the sentence it gave,

⁠"And then to be fined forty pound."

The Jury all cheered, though the Judge said he feared

⁠That the phrase was not legally sound.

But their wild exultation was suddenly checked

⁠When the jailer informed them, with tears,

Such a sentence would have not the slightest effect,

⁠As the pig had been dead for some years.