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+Project Gutenberg's Briefless Ballads and Legal Lyrics, by James Williams
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Briefless Ballads and Legal Lyrics
+       Second Series
+
+Author: James Williams
+
+Release Date: May 2, 2008 [EBook #25281]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRIEFLESS BALLADS AND LEGAL LYRICS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephen Blundell and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+BRIEFLESS BALLADS
+
+
+
+
+BY THE SAME AUTHOR
+
+
+ SIMPLE STORIES OF LONDON
+   VERSES SUITABLE FOR RECITATION
+     _Crown 8vo, cloth, price 1s. 6d._
+
+
+ ETHANDUNE
+   AND OTHER POEMS
+     _Crown 8vo, cloth, price 2s. 6d._
+
+
+
+
+                   BRIEFLESS BALLADS
+                          AND
+                      LEGAL LYRICS
+
+                     SECOND SERIES
+
+
+                   BY JAMES WILLIAMS
+
+
+ "You will think a lawyer has as little business with
+ poetry as he has with justice. Perhaps so. I have been
+ too partial to both."
+                 --THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK, in _Melincourt_
+
+
+                         LONDON
+                 ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
+                          1895
+
+
+
+
+[_All Rights Reserved_]
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+    Hyphenation has been standardised. Minor typographical errors have
+    been corrected without note. The oe ligature is represented by [oe].
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+(The First Series was published anonymously in 1881, and is now out of
+print. Some of the following pieces have already appeared in
+periodicals.)
+
+                                        PAGE
+ JUSTINIAN AT WINDERMERE                   9
+ A VISION OF LEGAL SHADOWS                15
+ THE SQUIRE'S DAUGHTER                    21
+ HER LETTER IN CHAMBERS                   25
+ LAW AND POETRY                           27
+ SOMEWHERE                                30
+ ROMAN LAW                                34
+ BOLOGNA                                  36
+ A GARDEN PARTY IN THE TEMPLE             37
+ THE SPINNING-HOUSE OF THE FUTURE         41
+ HOW WE FOUND OUR VERDICT                 44
+ A GREEK LIBEL                            47
+ LE TEMPS PASSE                           50
+ LAWN TENNIS IN THE TEMPLE GARDENS        52
+ A BALLADE OF LOST LAW                    53
+ COM[OE]DIA JURIS                         56
+
+ CASES--
+   MYLWARD _v._ WELDON                    59
+   HAMPDEN _v._ WALSH                     61
+   WILLIS _v._ THE BISHOP OF OXFORD       62
+   DASHWOOD _v._ JERMYN                   66
+   _EX PARTE_ JONES                       70
+   FINLAY _v._ CHIRNEY                    71
+   POLLARD _v._ PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPANY      71
+   THE MINNEAPOLIS CASE                   73
+   COMMONWEALTH _v._ MARZYNSKI            77
+
+ TRANSLATIONS--
+   GREEK ANTHOLOGY                        81
+   MARTIAL                                89
+   CINO DA PISTOIA                        92
+   PEDRO LOPEZ DE AYALA                   94
+   PIRON                                  94
+
+
+
+
+    _Interioris amat Templi jam Pegasus aulas
+        Pieria in Medio plenior unda ruit._
+
+
+
+
+Justinian at Windermere
+
+
+    We took a hundredweight of books
+      To Windermere between us,
+    Our dons had blessed our studious looks,
+      Had they by chance but seen us.
+
+    Maine, Blackstone, Sandars, all were there,
+      And Hallam's _Middle Ages_,
+    And Austin with his style so rare,
+      And Poste's enticing pages.
+
+    We started well: the little inn
+      Was deadly dull and quiet,
+    As dull as Mrs. Wood's _East Lynne_,
+      Or as the verse of Wyatt.
+
+    Without distraction thus we read
+      From nine until eleven,
+    Then rowed and sailed until we fed
+      On potted char at seven.
+
+    Two hours of work! We could devote
+      Next day to recreation,
+    Much illness springs, so doctors note,
+      From lack of relaxation.
+
+    Let him read law on summer days,
+      Who has a soul that grovels;
+    Better one tale of Thackeray's
+      Than all Justinian's novels.
+
+    At noon we went upon the lake,
+      We could not stand the slowness
+    Of our lone inn, so dined on steak
+      (They _called_ it steak) at Bowness.
+
+    We wrestled with the steak, when lo!
+      Rose Jack in such a hurry,
+    He saw a girl he used to know
+      In Suffolk or in Surrey.
+
+    What matter which? to think that she
+      Should lure him from his duty!
+    For Jack, I knew, would always be
+      A very slave to beauty.
+
+    And so it proved, alas! for Jack
+      Grew taciturn and thinner,
+    Was out all day alone, and back
+      Too often late for dinner.
+
+    What could I do? His walks and rows
+      All led to one conclusion;
+    I could not read; our work, heaven knows,
+      Was nothing but confusion.
+
+    Like Jack I went about alone,
+      Saw Wordsworth's writing-table,
+    And made the higher by a stone
+      The "man" upon Great Gable.
+
+    At last there came a sudden pause
+      To all his wanderings _solus_,
+    He learned what writers on the laws
+      Of Rome had meant by _dolus_.
+
+    The Suffolk (was it Surrey?) flirt
+      Without a pang threw over
+    Poor Jack and all his works like dirt,
+      And caught a richer lover.
+
+    We read one morning more to say
+      We had not been quite idle,
+    And then to end the arduous day
+      Enjoyed a swim in Rydal.
+
+    Next day the hundredweight of books
+      Was packed once more in cases,
+    We left the lakes and hills and brooks
+      And southward turned our faces.
+
+    Three months, and then the Oxford Schools;
+      Our unbelieving college
+    Saw better than ourselves what fools
+      Pretend sometimes to knowledge.
+
+    Curst questions! Jack did only one,
+      He gave as his opinion
+    That of the Roman jurists none
+      Had lived before Justinian.
+
+    I answered two, but all I did
+      Was lacking in discretion,
+    I reckoned guardianship amid
+      The _vitia_ of possession.
+
+    My second shot was wider still,
+      I held that _commodata_
+    Could not attest a praetor's will
+      Because of _culpa lata_.
+
+    We waited fruitlessly that night,
+      There came no blue _testamur_,[A]
+    Nor was Jack's heavy heart made light
+      By that sweet word _Amamur_.
+
+[A] Since the above was written, the _testamur_, like many other
+institutions dear to the old order of Oxford men, has been superseded.
+
+
+
+
+A Vision of Legal Shadows
+
+
+    A case at chambers left for my opinion
+      Had taxed my brain until the noon of night,
+    I read old law, and loathed the long dominion
+                    Of fiction over right.
+
+    I had consulted Coke and Cruise and Chitty,
+      The works where ancient learning reigns supreme,
+    Until exhausted nature, moved with pity,
+                    Sent me a bookman's dream.
+
+    Six figures, all gigantic as Gargantua,
+      Floated before my eyes, and all the six
+    Were shades like those that once the bard of Mantua
+                    Saw by the shore of Styx.
+
+    The first was one with countenance imperious,
+      His toga dim with centuries of dust;
+    "My name," quoth he, "is Aulus and Agerius,[B]
+                    My voice is hoarse with rust.
+
+    "Yet once I played my part in law proceedings,
+      And writers wrote of one they never saw,
+    I gave their point to formulae and pleadings,
+                    I lived but in the law."
+
+    The second had a countenance perfidious;
+      What wonder? Praetors launched their formulae
+    In vain against Numerius Negidius,
+                    And not a whit cared he.
+
+    With voice of high contempt he greeted Aulus;
+      "In interdicts thou wast mine enemy,
+    Once passed no day that students did not call us
+                    As parties, me and thee.
+
+    "On paper I was plaintiff or defendant,
+      On paper thou wast evermore the same;
+    We lived apart, a life that was transcendant,
+                    For it was but a name.
+
+    "I hate thee, Aulus, hate thee," low he muttered,
+      "It was by thee that I was always tricked,
+    My unsubstantial bread I ate unbuttered
+                    In dread of interdict.
+
+    "And yet 'twas but the sentiment I hated:
+      Like thee I ne'er was drunk e'en _vi_ or _clam_,[C]
+    With wine that was no wine my thirst was sated.
+                    Like thee I was a sham."
+
+    Two country hinds in 'broidered smocks next followed,
+      Each trundled him a cart-wheel by the spokes,
+    Oblivion now their names hath well-nigh swallowed,
+                    For they were Stiles and Nokes.
+
+    They spake no word, for speech to them was grievous,
+      With bovine eyes they supplicated me;
+    "We wot not what ye will, but prithee leave us,
+                    Unlettered folk are we."
+
+    "Go," said I, "simple ones, and break your fallows,
+      Crush autumn apples in the cider press,
+    Law, gaffer Stiles, thy humble name still hallows,
+                    Contracted to J. S."
+
+    Another pair of later time succeeded,
+      With buckles on their shoes and silken hose,
+    A garb that told it was to them who heeded
+                    John Doe's and Richard Roe's.
+
+    "Ah me! I was a casual ejector,[D]
+      In the brave days of old," I heard one say;
+    "I knew Elizabeth, the Lord Protector
+                    I spake with yesterday."
+
+    To whom in contradiction snarled the other,
+      "There was no living blood our veins to fill.
+    Both you and I were nought but shadows, brother,
+                    And we are shadows still."
+
+    Room for a lady, room, as at Megiddo
+      The hosts made way for passage of the king,
+    For from the darkness crept there forth a widow
+                    In weeds and wedding ring.
+
+    "I am the widow, I, whereof the singers
+      Of Scotland sang, their cruel words so smote
+    My tender heart, that ofttimes itched my fingers
+                    To take them by the throat.
+
+    "He scoffed at me, dour bachelor of Glasgow,[E]
+      If I existed not for him, the knave,
+    'Twas all his fault who let some bonnie lass go
+                    Unwedded to her grave."
+
+[B] Aulus Agerius and Numerius Negidius are names continually occurring
+in the Roman institutional writers as typical names of parties to legal
+process, corresponding very much to the John Stiles and John Nokes of
+the older English law-books, and the Amr and Zaid of Mohammedan law.
+John Stiles was frequently contracted to J. S.
+
+[C] _Vi_ and _clam_ were part of the form of the interdict, which was a
+mode of procedure by which the praetor settled the right of possession of
+landed property.
+
+[D] The casual ejector was John Doe, who was, like Richard Roe, an
+entirely imaginary person, of much importance in the old action of
+ejectment abolished in 1852.
+
+[E] The allusion is to the "Advocates' Widows Fund," subscribed to by
+all members of the Scottish bar, married or unmarried. The non-existent
+widow of the unmarried advocate has been a frequent subject of legal
+verse. See "The Bachelor's Dream," by John Rankine, (_Journal of
+Jurisprudence_, vol. xxii. p. 155), "My Widow," by David Crichton (_id._
+vol. xxiv. p. 51).
+
+
+
+
+The Squire's Daughter
+
+
+    We crawled about the nursery
+      In tenderest years in tether,
+    At six we waded in the sea
+      And caught our colds together.
+
+    At ten we practised playing at
+      A kind of heathen cricket,
+    A croquet mallet was the bat,
+      The Squire's old hat the wicket.
+
+    At twelve, the cricket waxing slow,
+      With home-made bow and arrow
+    We took to shooting--once I know
+      I all but hit a sparrow.
+
+    She took birds' nests from easy trees,
+      I climbed the oaks and ashes,
+    'Twas deadly work for hands and knees,
+      Deplorable for sashes.
+
+    At hide and seek one summer day
+      We played in merry laughter,
+    'Twas then she hid her heart away,
+      I never found it after.
+
+    So time slipped by until my call,
+      For out of the professions
+    I chose the Bar as best of all,
+      And joined the Loamshire Sessions.
+
+    The reason for it was that there
+      Her father, short and pursy,
+    Doled out scant justice in the chair
+      And even scanter mercy.
+
+    As Holofernes lost his head
+      To Judith of Bethulia,
+    So I fell victim, but instead
+      Of Judith it was Julia.
+
+    My speech left juries in the dark,
+      Of Julia I was thinking,
+    And once I heard a coarse remark
+      About a fellow drinking.
+
+    I practised verse in leisure time
+      Both in and out of season,
+    It was indubitably rhyme,
+      Occasionally reason.
+
+    I lacked the cheek to tell my woes,
+      Had not concealment fed on
+    My damask cheek, but left my nose
+      With twice its share of red on?
+
+    Too horrible was this suspense,
+      At last, in desperation
+    I went to Loamshire on pretence
+      Of death of a relation.
+
+    The Squire was beaming; "Julia's gone
+      To London for a visit,
+    But with a wedding coming on
+      That's not surprising, is it?
+
+    "Old friends like you will think, no doubt,
+      That she is young to marry,
+    But ever since she first came out,
+      She's been engaged to Harry."
+
+
+
+
+Her Letter in Chambers
+
+
+    I sat by the fire and watched it blaze,
+      And dreamed that she wrote me a letter,
+    And for that dream to the end of my days
+      To Fancy I owe myself debtor.
+
+    Next day there came the postman's knock,
+      The morning was bright and sunny,
+    And showed me a sheaf of circulars, stock
+      Attempts to get hold of my money.
+
+    'Mid correspondence of this dull kind
+      A dainty notelet lay hidden,
+    It seemed as though it had half a mind
+      To consider itself forbidden.
+
+    The writing was like herself, complete,
+      With a touch of her queenly bearing,
+    So Venus wrote when she ordered in Crete
+      Her doves to take her an airing.
+
+    Inside it was just as promising,
+      'Twas a pressing invitation
+    To dine at her house to-morrow, and bring
+      My book for her approbation.
+
+    For I have published, be it confessed,
+      A little volume of verses,
+    And in the volume whatever is best
+      The praise of herself rehearses.
+
+    I sit by the fire, and again I dream
+      A happier dream than ever,
+    I see her beautiful eyes soft gleam
+      As she murmurs, "How lovely--how clever!"
+
+    Her criticism may be commonplace,
+      But who can be angry after
+    Now sweet with pity he marks her face,
+      Now bright with impulsive laughter?
+
+
+
+
+Law and Poetry
+
+
+    In days of old did law and rime
+      A common pathway follow,
+    For Themis in the mythic time
+      Was sister of Apollo.
+
+    The Hindu statutes tripped in feet
+      As daintily as Dryads,
+    And law in Wales to be complete
+      Was versified in triads.
+
+    The wise Alfonso of Castile
+      Composed his code in metre
+    Thereby to make its flavour feel
+      A little bit the sweeter.
+
+    But law and rime were found to be
+      A trifle inconsistent,
+    And now in statutes poetry
+      Is wholly non-existent.
+
+    Still here and there some advocate
+      Before his fellows know it
+    Has had bestowed on him by fate
+      The laurel of the poet.
+
+    Let him who has been honoured so,
+      In truth a _rara avis_,
+    Find precedents in Cicero
+      And our Chief Justice Davis;
+
+    And more than all in Cino; he,
+      So plaintive a narrator
+    Of fair Selvaggia's cruelty,
+      Won fame as a glossator.
+
+    Let him remember Thomas More
+      And Scott and Alciatus,
+    And Grotius with an ample store
+      Of most divine afflatus.
+
+    But let him, if his bread and cheese
+      Depend on his profession,
+    Bethink him that the art of these
+      Was not their sole possession.
+
+    The stream that flows from Helicon
+      Is scarcely a Pactolus,
+    A richer prize is theirs who con
+      Dull treatises on _dolus_.
+
+    'Tis well that some bold spirits dare
+      To cut themselves asunder
+    From bonds of law like old Moliere,
+      While lawyers gaze in wonder.
+
+    The world had been a poorer place
+      Had Goethe lived by pleading
+    Or Tasso won a hopeless case
+      With Ariosto leading.
+
+
+
+
+Somewhere
+
+
+    Somewhere in a distant star,
+    Cities of Cocaigne there are,
+    Paradises of the Bar.
+
+    Somewhere 'neath another sun
+    Counsel cease to see the fun
+    Lurking in a judge's pun.
+
+    Somewhere courts are fair to see,
+    Beauty joins utility,
+    Ushers answer courteously.
+
+    Somewhere there are bailiwicks
+    Which for dock defences fix
+    Nothing under three-five-six.
+
+    Somewhere rises struggle sore
+    For revisorships no more,
+    Every shire has half a score.
+
+    Somewhere educated thought
+    Scientifically taught
+    Cross-examines as it ought.
+
+    Somewhere judgments are obeyed,
+    Executions are not stayed,
+    Fees are almost always paid.
+
+    Somewhere County Councils press
+    Banquets on the circuit mess,
+    Fleshpots in the wilderness.
+
+    Somewhere at Assizes grow
+    Prosecutions row on row,
+    Every man has six or so.
+
+    Somewhere, eager but for right,
+    Court and counsel cease to cite
+    Pointless cases recondite.
+
+    Somewhere headnotes give the ground
+    Whereupon the judges found
+    Judgments generally sound.
+
+    Somewhere juries use their sense,
+    Basing on the evidence
+    Verdicts of intelligence.
+
+    Somewhere rich embroideries
+    Woven cunningly of lies
+    Part in twain at truth's clear eyes.
+
+    Somewhere justice grows from wrong,
+    Till the right that suffered long
+    Sings at last its triumph song.
+
+    Somewhere--even in a place
+    Peopled by a perfect race--
+    One side holds a losing case.
+
+    Somewhere since the world began
+    Heaven hath made an honest man,
+    Somewhere in Aldebaran.
+
+
+
+
+Roman Law
+
+
+    I am a "coach" in Roman law by fate,
+      But Nature must have meant me for a poet,
+    And while I struggle with a rule or date,
+      Poetic thoughts intrude before I know it.
+
+    The changing sunshine on the summer sea
+      Drives forth the law of _cessio bonorum_,
+    _Peculium castrense_ speaks to me
+      Of Horace and his _Dulce et decorum_.
+
+    I see the matine bee among the flowers
+      Instead of _testamentum militare_,
+    And wander far away from agent's powers
+      To picture me again some Maud or Mary.
+
+    In truth there is no sequence in the thought,
+      Why should the title _De Societate_
+    Suggest, not trading partners, as it ought,
+      But visions of my last night's valse with Katie?
+
+    But worse than this, when I have done my task,
+      Stern law again asserts her domination,
+    'Tis cruel 'mid the new-mown hay to bask,
+      And find one's mind is running on novation;
+
+    Or in the dusk, when glow-worms light the moss,
+      To hear the distant voice of Philomela
+    Expound the three varieties of _dos_
+      And wax right eloquent about _tutela_.
+
+    I had a little respite yesterday,
+      Dining with one who well knew how to dine us,
+    But when I slept, the charm soon fled away,
+      I dreamed I was a _praetor peregrinus_.
+
+    Dismasted in the deep of law I lie,
+      A poor reward it is to stand confessed as
+    The Virgil of the interdict _de vi_,
+      The Petrarch of the _patria potestas_.
+
+
+
+
+Bologna
+
+
+    I go from colonnade to colonnade
+      In streets that Dante trod, and past the towers
+      Aslant toward heaven, and listen to the hours
+    Chimed by the bells of choirs where Dante prayed.
+    They cease; then lo! the foot of time seems stayed
+      Five hundred years and more, I find me bowers
+      Where sweet and noble ladies weave them flowers
+    For one who reads Boccaccio in the shade.
+    The cowled students halt by two and threes
+      To hear the voice come thrilling through the trees,
+      Then tear themselves away to themes more trite.
+    Anon I mark the diligent hands that turn
+      Unlovely parchment scrolls whereby to learn
+      The beauty of inexorable right.
+
+
+
+
+A Garden Party in the Temple
+
+
+    On hospitable thoughts intent
+    To me the Inner Temple sent
+          An invitation,
+    A garden party 'twas to be,
+    And I accepted readily
+          And with elation;
+    Good reason too, but oft the seeds
+    Of reason flower in senseless deeds.
+
+    I stood as savage as a bear,
+    For not a human being there
+          Knew I from Adam
+    I heard around in various tones,
+    "_So_ glad to see you, Mr. Jones;"
+          "Good morning, Madam."
+    It seemed so painfully absurd
+    To stand and never speak a word.
+
+    I brought my doom upon myself,
+    And there I was upon the shelf
+          In melancholy.
+    Why, say you, did I go at all?
+    I once met Chloris at a ball,
+          And in my folly
+    I went and suffered all this pain
+    In hopes to see her once again.
+
+    Of strawberries a pound at least
+    I ate, and made myself a beast
+          With tea and sherry;
+    And raspberries I ate and trembled,
+    Until I felt that I resembled
+          Myself a berry,
+    But 'twas the berry that at school
+    We used to call a gooseberry fool.
+
+    The I. C. R. V.[F] band droned on,
+    While guests had come and guests had gone
+          Since my arrival;
+    My brow grew gloomier with despair,
+    And on it sat the guilty air
+          Of a survival
+    Of some remorse for ancient crimes
+    Wrought in the pre-historic times.
+
+    My seventh cup of tea was done,
+    My seventh glass of wine begun,
+          Then of her coming
+    I was aware, nor shall forget
+    How she and that brown sherry set
+          My brains a-humming;
+    Well should I be rewarded soon
+    For all the weary afternoon.
+
+    Her eyes looked vaguely into mine
+    Without as much as half a sign
+          Of recognition.
+    My heart, my heart! the blow was sore,
+    But you have often been before
+          In this condition;
+    As said the bard of old, those eyes
+    Are not my only Paradise.[G]
+
+[F] Inns of Court Rifle Volunteers.
+
+[G] Dante, Par. xviii. 21.
+
+
+
+
+The Spinning-House of the Future
+
+    "Cada puta hile."--_Don Quixote_, i. 46.
+
+
+    Without my dinner here I lie,
+          And all because that proctor
+    With her stout bull-dogs passed, and I
+                      Mocked her.
+
+    For Clara is at Girton too,
+          That dragon is her tutor,
+    I threatened once what I would do,
+                      Shoot her.
+
+    Her life by Clara's tears was saved,
+          Wherefore she doth detest me,
+    And hither hungry and unshaved
+                      Pressed me.
+
+    I would that I could have commenced
+          An action 'gainst that devil,
+    Like that once brought by Kemp against
+                      Neville.[H]
+
+    To her I owe the statute framed
+          That one against it sinning
+    Should dwell within the house that's named
+                      Spinning.
+
+    Ah me! it runs in sections three:
+          Who speaks to Girton student
+    Is fined to teach him how to be
+                      Prudent.
+
+    Who loves a Girton girl must do
+          Twelve months on bread and water,
+    From a digestive point of view
+                      Slaughter.
+
+    Who kisses her commits a crime
+          By hanging expiated,
+    And she in tears must spend her time
+                      Gated.
+
+    Would that at Oxford I had been,
+          At Balliol or at Merton,
+    And then I never should have seen
+                      Girton.
+
+    Go down I must, no more shall I
+          And Clara cross the same bridge;
+    Still, Granta, art thou her and my
+                      Cambridge.
+
+    Some day on this her eyes may light,
+          This doggerel stiff and jointless,
+    And she may own it is not quite
+                      Pointless.
+
+[H] An action brought in 1861 by a dressmaker at Cambridge against the
+Vice-Chancellor for false imprisonment in the Spinning-House (the
+University prison). The Court of Common Pleas held _inter alia_ that no
+action lies against a judge for a judicial decision on a matter within
+his jurisdiction (10 Common Bench Reports, New Series, 523).
+
+
+
+
+How we found our Verdict
+
+
+    We sat in the jury-box, twelve were we all,
+    And the clock was just pointing to ten in the hall,
+    His Lordship he bowed to the jury, and we
+    Bowed back to his Lordship as gravely as he.
+
+    The case of _De Weller_ v. _Jones_ was the first,
+    And we all settled down and prepared for the worst
+    When old Smithers, Q.C., began slowly to preach
+    Of a promise of marriage and action for breach.
+
+    A barmaid the plaintiff was, wondrous the skill
+    Wherewith she was wont her tall tankards to fill,
+    The defendant, a publican, sought for his bride
+    Such a paragon, urged by professional pride.
+
+    But the course of true love ran no smoother for her
+    Than the Pas de Calais or the bark of a fir,
+    The defendant discovered a widow with gold
+    In the bank and the plaintiff was left in the cold.
+
+    An hour Smithers spoke, and he said that the heart
+    Of the plaintiff at Jones's fell touch flew apart,
+    But a cheque for a thousand might help to repair
+    The destruction effected by love and despair.
+
+    Miss de Weller was called, and in ladylike tones
+    She described all the injury suffered from Jones,
+    How he called her at first "Angelina," and this
+    Soon cooled to "Miss Weller," and lastly to "Miss."
+
+    But the jury were shaken a little when Gore
+    Cross-examined about her engagements before,
+    For Jones was the sixth of the strings to her bow
+    And with five other verdicts she solaced her woe.
+
+    Re-examined by Smithers, she won us again,
+    For the tears of a maid are a terror to men,
+    Then his Lordship awoke from his nap and explained
+    How love that is frequent is love that is feigned.
+
+    Miss de Weller looked daggers, and under the paint
+    Of her cheeks she grew pale and fell down in a faint,
+    She played her trump-card in the late afternoon,
+    For damages satisfy girls who can swoon.
+
+    Till she fainted most thought that a farthing would do,
+    Though I was in favour of pounds--one or two;
+    But after the faint--and she _was_ so well dressed--
+    At a hundred the void in her heart was assessed.
+
+
+
+
+A Greek Libel
+
+
+    ARCHILOCHUS.
+
+    Neobule, yesternight
+    Saw I thee in beauty dight,
+    On thy head a myrtle spray
+    Cast its shadow as the day
+    By the stars was put to flight.
+    Twining on thy temples white
+    Roses gave the myrtle light,
+    Sign thou wilt not say me nay,
+                  Neobule.
+    Loosened from its coiled height
+    Streamed thy hair in thy despite
+    On thy shoulders soft to stray
+    And to bid the bard essay
+    Never but of thee to write,
+                  Neobule.
+
+
+    NEOBULE.
+
+    Sorry poet, who dost dare
+    Cast bold glances on my hair,
+    Let thy most presumptuous eyes
+    Seek another enterprise,
+    Ceasing now to linger there.
+    Hearken, I can tell thee where
+    Grow the bushes that will spare
+    Rods to teach thee humbler guise,
+                  Sorry poet.
+    Know I not that I am fair?
+    Need thy halting verse declare
+    What my mirror daily cries?
+    Rid me of thy silly sighs,
+    Rid me of thy hateful stare,
+                  Sorry poet.
+
+
+    ARCHILOCHUS.
+
+    Neobule, poets see
+    Dreams of things that are to be.
+    Vengeance is the poet's trade,
+    Come, iambus, to my aid
+    'Gainst the fools who scoff at me.
+    All the world will laugh with glee
+    When they mark my verses free
+    Grasp thee like a pillory,
+    And thy scorn with scorn repaid,
+                  Neobule.
+    E'en in death thou canst not flee
+    From the doom the Fates decree.
+    When my satire's keenest blade
+    Cuts thee to the heart, fond maid,
+    I shall laugh, but what of thee,
+                  Neobule?
+
+
+
+
+Le Temps Passe
+
+
+    Those brave old days when King Abuse did reign
+    We sigh for, but we shall not see again.
+    Then Eldon sowed the seed of equity
+    That grew to bounteous harvest, and with glee
+    A Bar of modest numbers shared the grain.
+    Then lived the pleaders who could issues feign,
+    Who blushed not to aver that France or Spain
+    Was in the Ward of Chepe;[I] no more can be
+                          Those brave old days.
+
+    O'er pauper settlements men fought amain,
+    And golden guineas followed in their train,
+    John Doe then flourished like a lusty tree,
+    And Richard Roe brought many a noble fee,
+    We mourn in unremunerated pain
+                          Those brave old days.
+
+[I] See, for instance, the well-known case of _Mostyn_ v. _Fabrigas_, in
+which the plaintiff declared that the defendant on the 1st of September,
+in the year 1771, made an assault upon the said plaintiff at Minorca, to
+wit, at London, in the parish of St. Mary-le-bow, in the Ward of Cheap.
+
+
+
+
+Lawn Tennis in the Temple Gardens
+
+
+    Not in contempt but to our sport inclined
+    Smile on us, shades of Judges short and tall
+    Portrayed on windows of the Temple Hall;
+    There was a time that ye grave thoughts resigned,
+    Then, warm with sack, the Serjeants' hearts waxed kind,
+    In mirth Lords Keepers danced the galliard all,
+                          Not in contempt.
+
+    Of pleasures past the shadows here we find,
+    Gay strife on brighter swards we thus recall,
+    Where maiden laughter winged the flying ball;
+    Declare us, fair ones, with a merry mind
+                          Not in contempt.
+
+
+
+
+A Ballade of Lost Law
+
+
+    (_Spirit of Lord Eldon speaks_)
+
+    This England is gone staring mad,
+    She hath abolished Chancery,[J]
+    See the long lines of suitors, sad
+    To find themselves unwontedly
+    After one day of trial free.
+    Pleading and seals have gone their way.
+    "I know," said I, "that after me
+    Too quickly comes the evil day."
+
+
+    (_Spirit of Lord Lyndhurst speaks_)
+
+    I was Chief Baron, and I had
+    A Court of Law and Equity,[K]
+    The Courts at Westminster were clad
+    With ancient glory fair to see.
+    Now County Courts have come to be
+    Exalted high on our decay,
+    And every whit as good as we;
+    Too quickly comes the evil day.
+
+
+    (_Shade of Butler speaks_)
+
+    In days of yore we used to pad
+    Our deeds with words of certainty;
+    Alas! that now the office lad
+    Is qualified to grant in fee!
+    Lost is our old supremacy,
+    Lost is the delicate display
+    Of learning on _pur autre vie_;
+    Too quickly comes the evil day.
+
+
+    L'ENVOI
+
+    (_The Three in Chorus_)
+
+    Thurlow, to thee we bend the knee,
+    When law was law, then men were gay,
+    'Tis down with port and up with tea,
+    Too quickly comes the evil day.
+
+[J] The Court of Chancery was merged in the High Court of Justice in
+1875.
+
+[K] In the days of Lord Lyndhurst the old Court of Exchequer had
+equitable as well as common law jurisdiction.
+
+
+
+
+Com[oe]dia Juris
+
+
+    Est omne jus forense quasi com[oe]dia;
+    Hic advocatus maximas partes agit
+    Laudatus undique a procuratoribus,
+    Labore vocis redditus ditissimus;
+    Cui brevia nil forensis et quaestus valent
+    Silenter ille spectat, at pro praemio
+    Fruitur quietus optime com[oe]dia.
+
+
+
+
+Cases
+
+
+
+
+Cases
+
+
+MYLWARD _v._ WELDON
+
+    [The plaintiff was committed to the Fleet Prison on Feb. 8, 1596, by
+    order of the Lord Keeper, for drawing a replication of sixscore
+    sheets containing much impertinent matter which might well have been
+    contained in sixteen. On Feb. 10 the Lord Keeper ordered that on the
+    following Saturday the Warden of the Fleet should cut a hole through
+    the replication, and put the plaintiff's head through the hole and
+    let it hang about his shoulders with the written side outwards, and
+    lead the plaintiff bareheaded and barefaced round about Westminster
+    Hall, and show him at the bar of all the courts, and so back to the
+    Fleet.--Abridged from Spence's _Equitable Jurisdiction_, vol. i. p.
+    376.]
+
+    'Gainst Weldon Mylward files a bill,
+    But doth his replication fill
+    With scandalous and idle matter,
+    That would disgrace the maddest hatter.
+                        Woe is me for Mylward!
+
+    'Twas sixscore sheets, it might have been
+    Contained, and amply, in sixteen;
+    So after that the court hath risen
+    Must Mylward Fleetward go to prison.
+                        Woe is me for Mylward!
+
+    And two days afterwards 'tis meet
+    That by the Warden of the Fleet
+    He be led on in slow progression
+    Through every court that sits in session.
+                        Woe is me for Mylward!
+
+    The pleading writ with words so fair
+    Must Mylward like a tabard wear,
+    A hole therein, the Warden cuts it,
+    A head put through it, Mylward puts it.
+                        Woe is me for Mylward!
+
+    The bar makes merry at his shame;
+    What careth he? He winneth fame,
+    Three hundred years his reputation
+    Hath rested on that replication.
+                        Woe is me for Mylward!
+
+
+HAMPDEN _v._ WALSH
+
+(1 Queen's Bench Division, 189)
+
+    "Five hundred pounds as stake I'll lay,"
+    Says Hampden, "that by such a day
+    No man of science proves to me
+    That earth not flat but round must be;
+    The earth is flat, and flats are they."
+    The sum Walsh holds right willingly;
+    But Wallace by philosophy
+    Proves roundness, and would take away
+            Five hundred pounds.
+
+    "Proof me no proofs," quoth Hampden, "Nay,
+    Let Wallace get it if he may,
+    I'll sue Walsh for it." So sues he.
+    "Let Wallace," hold the judges three,
+    "Take nought, let Walsh to Hampden pay
+            Five hundred pounds."
+
+
+WILLIS _v._ THE BISHOP OF OXFORD
+
+(2 Probate Division, 192)
+
+    Aid me, Muses! my endeavour is to sing a woful song,
+    How a very learned bishop in the Arches Court went wrong.
+    Aid me, for _duplex querela_ is an uninviting theme,
+    And the practice of the Arches raises no poetic dream.
+    'Tis the Reverend Child Willis, child in name but not in age,
+    Comes he to the Court of Arches burning with a noble rage,
+    Filing his _duplex querela_, claiming for himself thereby
+    Vicarage of Drayton Parslow, or to know the reason why.
+    "Reason why?" the bishop answers; "that is not so far to seek.
+    Little Latin have you, Willis, innocent are you of Greek.
+    You were specially examined by my good Archdeacon Pott;
+    He reported to me promptly, 'Greek and Latin all forgot,
+    _Non idoneus_ is Willis, _minus et sufficiens_,
+    He may have a _sanum corpus_, but he lacks a _sana mens_.'"
+    "Nay," says Willis, "such an answer is but trifling with the court,
+    I have preached a Latin sermon, and the classics are my forte,
+    You must name the books I failed in, you must give me every chance
+    Of a fresh examination at the hands of Lord Penzance."
+    Lord Penzance supported Willis: "Bishop, you must file," said he,
+    "Some more tangible objection, some less vague and general plea.
+    As it stands I cannot gather what it is you ploughed him in,
+    Whether Hellenistic aorists or the Latin word for sin."
+    But alas! the world has never known as yet what Willis did,
+    In the breast of the Archdeacon still it lies a secret hid.
+    Was his Latin prose defective? Did his style of writing show
+    More resemblance to Tertullian than to Tullius Cicero?
+    Were his dates a little shaky? Could it, could it be that he
+    Confidently made Augustine flourish at a date B.C.?
+    None will know save Pott, Archdeacon, for alas! the patroness
+    Showed no mercy to Child Willis in the day of his distress.
+    She revoked the presentation, leaving Willis in the lurch,
+    One of undisputed learning preached in Drayton Parslow church.
+    Doubly barren was his triumph, it was not a twelve-month ere
+    Death set up _his_ Court of Arches, Willis did not triumph there.
+
+
+DASHWOOD _v._ JERMYN
+
+(12 Chancery Division, 776)
+
+    Captain Dashwood, who had been
+    In the service of the Queen,
+    Sick of "Eyes front" and "Attention,"
+    Came to London on his pension.
+    At the "Portland" as he stayed,
+    Firm the friendship that he made
+    With one William Richards, who
+    Put up at the "Portland" too.
+    Passed six years, then he was wrapped in
+    Love's embraces, vanquished captain!
+    "Yes," he cried, "I will; no bar shall
+    Stop my wedding Edith Marshall."
+    But there was a bar, 'twas that
+    He was poorer than a rat;
+    Indian pensions do not run
+    More than just enough for one.
+    Edith, too, had not a cent,
+    Who would pay the rates and rent?
+    Two more years, and Richards moved
+    (He perchance had sometime loved),
+    Promised them an income clear,
+    'Twas five hundred pounds a year
+    For his life; when he was dead,
+    Then ten thousand pounds instead.
+    This to Dashwood in a letter
+    Wrote he, deeming it was better
+    They should marry soon while he
+    Lived their happiness to see.
+    'Twas a modest sum, but marriage
+    May be blest without a carriage,
+    Forty pounds a month and more
+    Keep the wolf from near the door.
+    So they wed for worse or better,
+    On the faith of Richards' letter.
+    Scarcely was a quarter's payment
+    Due when mourning was their raiment.
+    Richards died. Alas! no cash would
+    Find its way to Captain Dashwood.
+    Dashwood's head began to swim--
+    Not a shilling left to him!
+    "Ha, I'll have it still," cried he;
+    "Justice dwells in Chancery."
+    So the case was straightway taken
+    To the court of V.-C. Bacon.
+    Vainly Dashwood cash expended
+    The executors defended,
+    Claiming that what Richards wrote
+    Was not worth a five-pound note;
+    First because the dead testator
+    Well, not wisely, loved the "cratur,"
+    More than that, had often been
+    In delirium tremens seen;
+    Secondly, because he signed
+    When he did not know his mind;
+    Third, because pollicitation
+    Is not good consideration.
+    Law, of justice independent,
+    Gave its judgment for defendant.
+    Poorer than he was at first,
+    That unhappy plaintiff cursed,
+    With a special satisfaction
+    Cursed the day he brought his action.
+    Would that he'd in India tarried!
+    Would that he had never married!
+    He, alas, is tied for life
+    Pauper to a pauper wife,
+    Scarce consoled that on his name
+    Equity reports shower fame,
+    Bearing down to endless ages
+    Dashwood's story on their pages.
+
+
+_EX PARTE_ JONES
+
+(18 Chancery Division, 109)
+
+    Oh for the wily infant who married the widow and made
+    Profit of coke and of breeze, and never a penny he paid!
+    Oh for the Corporation of Birmingham cheated and snared,
+    Taking orders for coke that the widow and infant prepared!
+    Oh for the Court of Appeal, and oh for Lords Justices three!
+    Oh for the Act that infants from contracts may shake themselves free!
+    Oh for the common law with its store of things old and new!
+    Birmingham coke is good and good Coke upon Littleton too.
+
+
+FINLAY _v._ CHIRNEY
+
+(20 Queen's Bench Division, 494)
+
+    When love-sick man descends to folly
+      And gets engaged, he must not stray,
+    The jury takes the part of Polly,
+      And if he jilts her, he must pay.
+
+    The only way his fault to cover,
+      From damages and costs to fly,
+    To leave his jilted lady-lover
+      Without an action is--to die![L]
+
+[L] The decision was to the effect that in most cases an action for
+breach of promise of marriage does not survive against the
+representatives of the promiser.
+
+
+POLLARD _v._ PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPANY
+
+(40 Chancery Division, 345)
+
+    "Shall I take your photograph, my pretty maid?"
+    "You may if you like, kind sir," she said.
+
+    "Do you like your photograph, my pretty maid?"
+    "It is more than flattering, sir," she said.
+
+    "I'll publish your photograph, my pretty maid."
+    "Indeed but you won't, kind sir," she said.
+
+    "As a Christmas card, my pretty maid."
+    "The very idea, kind sir!" she said.
+
+    "But what if I've done it, my pretty maid?"
+    "I'll get an injunction, sir," she said.
+
+    "The law is with you, my pretty maid,"
+    The learned judge of the Chancery said.
+
+    "You have proved the negative, my pretty maid,
+    A difficult thing in law," he said.
+
+
+THE MINNEAPOLIS CASE
+
+(_Tried in Minnesota in 1892_)
+
+    Kind reader, tarry here, nor miss
+    The law of Minneapolis.
+    There was a carpenter called Brown,
+    A citizen of that great town,
+    Who stood his "inexpressive she"
+    A dollar's worth of comedy.
+    Was it a Gaiety burlesque,
+    Or labour of Norwegian desk?
+    Or did they spout in stagey tones
+    Morality by H. A. Jones?
+    Or tear romance to rags and set it
+    In heavy platitudes by Pettit?
+    I know not, and it matters not,
+    The subject I have clean forgot.
+    Sufficient that the pair did sit
+    In expectation in the pit,
+    An expectation not fulfilled,
+    'Twas otherwise by fortune willed.
+    Before this loving couple sat
+    In solitary state a hat--
+    A hat, I say, for in their wonder
+    They never noticed what was under,
+    The wearer must have been a "human,"
+    But might have been a man or woman.
+    'Twas like a mountain crowned with trees
+    Amid the pathless Pyrenees,
+    Or like a garden planned by Paxton,
+    Or colophon designed by Caxton,
+    So intricate the work; and flowers
+    Were trained to climb its soaring towers,
+    Convolvulus and candytuft,
+    And 'mid them water-wagtails stuffed.
+    Such splendour never yet, I wis,
+    Had shone in Minneapolis.
+    But Brown was in a sore dilemma,
+    A dollar he had paid for Emma
+    To see a play, and not a hat;
+    A dollar, it was dear at that.
+    And Emma--disappointment racked her,
+    She never saw a single actor.
+    So Brown, with visage thunder-black,
+    Demanded both his dollars back.
+    The man who took the cash said, "Sonny,
+    Our rule is not to give back money.
+    But if you'll come another night,
+    Maybe you'll get a better sight."
+    So Brown went home and nursed his sorrow,
+    His writ he issued on the morrow.
+    A hundred dollars was his claim,
+    And the young lady claimed the same.
+    The case was argued, on revision
+    Of pleadings, this was the decision:
+    "The theatre's defence is bad,
+    Brown paid for what he never had,
+    He paid when in the pit he sat
+    To see a play and not a hat.
+    To bring defendants to their senses,
+    I find for plaintiffs with expenses."
+    _Justitiae columna sis_,
+    Wise judge of Minneapolis!
+
+
+COMMONWEALTH _v._ MARZYNSKI
+
+(21 New England Reports, 228 [Massachusetts, 1893])
+
+    [On a complaint for keeping open a tobacconist's shop on Sunday,
+    contrary to the law of Massachusetts, it was held that the court
+    will take judicial notice that tobacco and cigars are not drugs and
+    medicines, and will exclude the testimony of a witness who offers
+    evidence that they are.]
+
+    Against the statutes of the Old Bay State
+      Marzynski on a Sunday stood behind
+      His counter, well content his gain to find
+      In pipes not pills, cigars not carbonate.
+    From breakfast till 'twas dusk at half-past eight
+      Tobacco cheered this hardened sinner's mind,
+      The price of it his pockets, disinclined
+      To add their dime to the collection plate.
+    The State Attorney claimed the penalty;
+      "Cigars are no cigars," said the defence,
+      "But drugs, and we have witnesses to prove it."
+    "Cigars to be cigars judicially
+      We notice, and reject the evidence."
+      So said the Court, and spat, and nought could move it.
+
+
+
+
+Translations
+
+
+
+
+Translations
+
+
+GREEK ANTHOLOGY
+
+
+X. 48
+
+    Woe to the house whose mistress was a slave!
+    So say old saws, my own in aid I crave;
+    Woe to the court whose judge once spake for fees,
+    Though he were readier than Isocrates!
+    An advocate that pleaded once for pelf
+    Scarce on the bench forgets his former self.
+
+                                  _Palladas._
+
+
+XI. 75
+
+    This Olympicus of old
+    Had, Sebastus, I am told
+    Quite his share of upper gear,
+    Nose and chin and eye and ear.
+    All he lost, and by his fist--
+    He became a pugilist.
+    Loss of members with it drew
+    Loss of patrimony too.
+    When his birthright he would claim,
+    Into court his brother came
+    With a portrait, saying, "Thus
+    Looked the old Olympicus."
+    None could any likeness see,
+    Disinherited was he.
+
+                                  _Lucillus._
+
+
+XI. 141
+
+    A pig, a goat, an ox I lost:
+    I want them back at any cost,
+    And so retained, O woful fate!
+    Menecles for my advocate.
+    But tell me, will you, what have these
+    In common with Othryades?
+    The heroes of Thermopylae
+    Have nought to do with theft from me.
+    Against Eutychides I bring
+    My action for a trivial thing.
+    Let Xerxes rest a little space,
+    And leave the Spartans in their place.
+    For if you don't put all this by
+    I'll go into the streets and cry,
+    "The voice of Menecles is big,
+    But what about my stolen pig?"
+
+                                  _Lucillus._
+
+    [This Epigram is probably an imitation of that of Martial, on p.
+    90.]
+
+
+XI. 143
+
+    Pluto rejected at his gate
+    The soul of Mark the advocate;
+    "No, Cerberus my dog," quoth he,
+    "Will make you pleasant company;
+    But if within you needs must go,
+    Practise on poet Melito,
+    And you shall have, if he won't do,
+    Tityus and Ixion too.
+    You'll be to hell the sorest ill
+    Of all that hell contains, until
+    There come to us worse barbarisms
+    When Rufus speaks his solecisms."
+
+                                  _Lucillus._
+
+
+XI. 147
+
+    So soon hath Asiaticus
+      The gift of eloquence achieved?
+    It was in Thebes it happened thus,
+      The story well may be believed.
+
+                                  _Ammianus._
+
+
+XI. 151
+
+    The statue of an advocate, as like as like can be.
+    And why? The statue cannot speak a word, no more could he.
+
+                                  _Anon._
+
+
+XI. 152
+
+    Paul, dost thou wish to make thy boy
+      An advocate like these his betters?
+    Then let him not his time employ
+      To useless ends in learning letters.
+
+                                  _Ammianus._
+
+
+XI. 251
+
+    The parties were as deaf as deaf could be,
+    The judge was far the deafest of the three.
+    Said plaintiff, "Sir, I ask for five months' rent."
+    Defendant, "Grinding corn all night I spent."
+    "Why," quoth the judge, "dispute? Your mother's claim
+    Is good, and you must both support the dame."
+
+                                  _Nicarchus._
+
+
+XI. 350
+
+    Remember justice and her yoke, and know
+    That 'gainst the wicked votes of "Guilty" go.
+    Thou trustest in thy cunning speech, thy power
+    Of speaking words that vary with the hour.
+    Hope what thou wilt, thy trifling tricks are vain,
+    Thou canst not make the path of law less plain.
+
+                                  _Agathias._
+
+
+XI. 376
+
+    Once to Diodorus came a client in a state of doubt,
+    And to that most learned counsel thus he set the matter out:
+    "Alpha Beta found a slave-girl who had run away from me:
+    To a slave of his he wed her, though she was my property,
+    Well he knew she was my chattel; she has had a child or two;
+    Now I cannot tell for certain whose the children are, can you?"
+    Diodorus thought, consulted all authorities on "Slave,"
+    To his client turned his furrowed brows and slowly answer gave:
+    "'Tis to you or to the other who, you say, has done you wrong,
+    That the children of the handmaid rightfully of course belong,
+    Your best plan will be the matter in the proper court to place,
+    So you'll get a good opinion whether you have any case."
+
+                                  _Agathias._
+
+
+PLAN, 193
+
+    "Good Hermes, only just one cabbage plant."
+    "Stop, stop, my thieving traveller, you can't."
+    "What, grudge me one poor cabbage! is it so?"
+    "Nay, I don't grudge it, but the law says no.
+    The law says, Keep your itching palms, d'ye see,
+    From meddling with another's property."
+    "Well, this beats anything I ever saw!
+    Hermes against a thief invokes the law."
+
+                                  _Philippus._
+
+
+APPENDIX, 385
+
+    Pupils seven of Aristides,
+          Tell me, how are ye?
+    Four of you are walls, beside is
+          Nought but benches three.
+
+    _Another Version_
+
+    Seven pupils of the rhetor
+          Aristides, how are ye?
+    Seven! _Hoc et nihil praeter_,
+          Four are walls and benches three.
+
+                                  _Anon._
+
+
+MARTIAL
+
+
+_In Caium_
+
+    "Lend me sestertia, Caius, only twenty,
+    'Tis no great thing for you who roll in plenty."
+    He was an old companion, and his coffers
+    Were full enough to stand such friendly offers.
+    "Go, plead in court," said he; "'tis pleadings pay us."
+    "I want your money, not your counsel, Caius."
+
+                                  _Martial_, ii. 30.
+
+
+_In Causidicum_
+
+    'Tis said that some bold advocate
+      Has dared to criticise my poem,
+    His name I have not learned, his fate
+      Will be a warning when I know him.
+
+                                  _Martial_, v. 33.
+
+
+_In Postumum Causidicum_
+
+    No claim for trespass do I bring,
+    Or homicide, or poisoning.
+    I claim that by my neighbour's theft
+    Of she-goats three I was bereft.
+    The judge of course wants evidence,
+    But you go wandering far from thence,
+    And with a mighty voice declaim
+    Of Mithridates and the shame
+    Of Cannae, and the lies of old
+    That Punic politicians told.
+    And why should you pass Sylla by,
+    The Marii and Mucii?
+    When, Postumus, d'ye hope to reach
+    My stolen she-goats in your speech?
+
+                                  _Martial_, vi. 19.
+
+
+_In Cinnam_
+
+    Is this advocacy, Cinna, this a type of lawyers' powers,
+    This immense oration, Cinna, some nine words in some ten hours?
+    Waterclocks I grant you asked for, Cinna, yes, you called for four;
+    There you stopped, such wealth of silence, Cinna, ne'er was seen
+              before.
+
+                                  _Martial_, viii. 7.
+
+
+THE COURT OF REASON
+
+    A thousand doubts and pleadings in a day
+      Are filed in Empress Reason's court supreme
+      By angry Love--his eyes with anger gleam.
+      "Which of us twain hath been more faithful, say.
+    'Tis all through me that Cino can display
+      The sail of fame on life's unhappy stream."
+      "Thee," quoth I, "root of all my woe I deem,
+      I found what gall beneath thy sweetness lay."
+    Then he: "Ah, traitorous and truant slave!
+      Are these the thanks thou renderest, ingrate,
+      For giving thee a maid without a peer?"
+    "Thy left," cried I, "slew what thy right hand gave."
+      "Not so," said he. The judge, "Your wrath abate.
+      I must have time to give true judgment here."
+
+                                  _Cino da Pistoia._
+
+    [Imitated by Petrarch in the conclusion of the Canzone, _Quell'
+    antico mio dolce empio signore_.]
+
+
+TO ROME
+
+    Tell me, proud Rome, why dost these edicts read,
+      These many laws by prince or people made,
+      Or answers by the prudent duly weighed,
+      When now thou canst the world no longer lead?
+    Thou readest, sad one, of each ancient deed
+      Where thy unconquered sons their might displayed,
+      Afric and Egypt at thy feet were laid,
+      But slavery, not rule, is now thy meed.
+    What boots it that thou wast of old a queen,
+      And over foreign nations heldest rein,
+      If thou and all thy fame no more exist?
+    Forgive me, God, if all my days have been
+      Devoted to man's laws, unjust and vain
+      Unless Thy law within the heart be fixed.
+
+                                  _Cino da Pistoia._
+
+
+JUSTICE
+
+    Ah! justice is a virtue bepraised and full of worth,
+    It castigates the sinner, and peoples all the earth,
+    And kings with care should guard it--instead they now forget
+    The gem that is most precious in all the coronet.
+    Some think they may do justice by cruelty, I wist;
+    But 'tis an evil counsel, for justice must consist
+    In showing deeds of mercy, in knowledge of the truth,
+    And executing judgment it executes with ruth.
+
+                                  _Pedro Lopez de Ayala._
+
+
+THE POET AND THE ADVOCATE
+
+
+    Glory and gain thus mixed distract the thought,
+    We owe to honour all, to fortune nought;
+    The poet, like the soldier, scorns for pay
+    Peruvian gold, but seeks the wreath of bay.
+    How is the advocate the poet's peer?
+    The poet's glory is complete and clear;
+    He far outlives the advocate's renown,
+    Patru is e'en by Scarron's name weighed down.
+    The bar of Greece and Rome you point me out,
+    A bar that trained great men, I do not doubt,
+    For then chicane with language void of sense
+    Had not deformed the law and eloquence.
+    Purge the tribune of all this monstrous growth,
+    I mount it, and my soul will sink, though loth,
+    Will yield to fortune and will speak in prose.
+    But since reform in this so slowly grows,
+    Leave me my tastes, for I aspire to be
+    By verse ennobled to posterity,
+    To hold first place in arts above the law,
+    More grave and noble than it ever saw.
+    Fraud in this age of ours unpunished can
+    Tread down the equity so dear to man.
+    Can you for spirits just and generous find
+    A fairer cause to plead before mankind?
+    Mother or stepmother let Fortune be,
+    The theatre and not the bar for me;
+    For client virtue, truth for counsel's wage;
+    For judge the present and the coming age.
+
+                                  _Piron_, _La Metromanie_, Act iii. Sc. 7.
+
+
+MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+
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