Neck-verse (Psalm li. 1)

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.” This verse was so called because it was the trial-verse of those who claimed benefit of clergy; and if they could read it, the ordinary of Newgate said, “Legit ut clerĭcus,” and the convict saved his neck, being only burnt in the hand and set at liberty.

“If a clerk had been taken

For stealing of bacon,

For burglary, murder, or rape.

If he could but rehearse

(Well prompt) his neck-verse,

He never could fail to escape.”

British Apollo (1710).

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.