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..^J)iini Caivli'LOInUr/
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH
tj^
LEADING CASES
DONE INTO ENGLISH
AND OTHER DIVERSIONS
BY
Sir FREDERICK POLLOCK, Bart.
Tibullus. How now, Ovid ! Law cases in verse?
Ovid. Troth, if I live, I will new dress the law
In sprightly Poesy's habiliments.
Ben Jonson, The Poetaster, Act I.
MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND NEW YORK
1892
A II rights reserved
The yirst Edition of " Leading Cases" was published in July 1876,
reprinted September Ti-j6 and in 1S77. The other Diversions are
71010 (1892) collected for the first time.
f\6 ^
TO
ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE
653240
PREFACE
In setting my own name to a collection of trijfies
including several parodies of our recent and living
masters in English poetry, I feel that a word of explan-
ation is due. Parody does not, to my mind, imply
any want of respect for the original. Rather I would
say that, where the original has any real worth and
distinction, no parodist can succeed who has not a
fairly adequate sense of its distinctive merits. Indig-
nation or contempt may give point to a parody in
special cases ; there are also parodies which we enjoy
sim.ply as grotesques, with little or no thought of their
correspondence to the thing parodied. A very few
great writers are too universal to give a handle to
parody ; many who are not obscure give none for an
opposite reason, that they lack any prominent character
at all.
I believe this doctrine to be sound ; but I have
viii PREFACE
thought it well to secure myself in it by the best
possible warrant. This volume is dedicated to Mr.
Swinburne : his friendly acceptance is conclusive proof
that at least one of our chief poets in this generation
holds the same magnanimous view that was held by
Scott, Byron, and others in the classical case of the
Rejected Addresses. I am happy to think that these
diversions acquire, by being associated with his name,
a title to remembrance independent of their own
deserts.
My acknowledgments and thanks are hereby given
to the owners of the journals in which several of the
miscellaneous pieces now first collected have appeared
from time to time.
F. P.
i^
TABLE OF CASES REPORTED
IN THIS BOOK
Armory v. Delamirie
CoGGS V. Bernard .
Dickson v. Great Northern Railway
DovASTON V. Payne
Lady Eli bank v. Montolieu
Elwes z>. Mawe
Johnson v. Gallagher
Man BY V. Scott
Marriot v. Hampton
Montague v. Benedict
MosTYN V. Fabrigas
Pasley v. Freeman
Scott v. Shepherd
Seaton v. Benedict
The Six Carpenters' Case
Strathmore (Countess of) v. Bowes
Co.
PAGE
lO
4
52
29
46
32
46
44
39
45
22
26
13
45
I
45
TABLE OF CASES
WiGGLESWORTH V. DaLLISON
In the Matter of the X. CoMrAxv, Limited
Dedication to J. S. .
17
48
55
DIVERSIONS
Shakespeare : King Henry V. .
Lord Tennyson : Boadicea
The Epic of Clovelly . . . . _
The Hindu Ascetic ....
The Burial of Demos ....
To the Memory of Richard Monckton Milnes
Napier of Magdala ....
NoN Commovebitur ....
With Grimm's Marchen ....
Die Symphonien Beethovens .
A Ballade of Autumn ....
Lines on the Death of a College Cat
Atman ......
Un Enfant fin de Siecle
60
68
7^
74
77
83
85
86
88
89
90
92
94
97
LEADING CASES
DONE INTO ENGLISH
I.— THE SIX CARPENTERS' CASE
(i Sviith, L.C. 144, <)th ed.)
This case befell at four of the clock
(now listeneth what I shall say),
and the year was the seventh of James the First,
on a fine September day.
The birds on the bough sing loud and sing low,
what trespass shall be ab initio.
It was Thomas Newman and five his feres
(three more would have made them nine),
and they entered into John Vaux's house,
that had the Queen's Head to sign.
The birds on the bough sing loud and sing low,
what trespass shall be ab i?iitio.
B
I Sept., 7 Jac,
in London, in the
parish of St.
Giles extra
Cripple gate,
hora qua7-ta post
meridiem.
"Upon the new-
assignment, the
plaintiff assigned
the trespass in a
house called the
Queen's Head,
. . . with a
common sign at
the door of the
said house fi.\ed,
&c."
LEADING CASES
They called anon for a quart of wine
(they were carpenters all by trade),
and they drank about till they drank it out,
and when they had drunk they paid.
The birds on the bough sing loud and sing low,
what trespass shall be ab initio.
"One John Rid-
ding, servant of
the said John
Vaux, at the re-
quest of the said
defendants, did
there then deliver
them another
quart of wine and
a pennyworth of
bread, amount-
ing to Srf., and
then they there
did drink the
said wine and eat
the bread " — (Et
semble que ceo
est mervellous
petit manger et
bever pur vj.
homes) — "and
upon request did
refuse to pay for
the same."
.\ c t i o n
trespass.
of
One spake this word in John Ridding's ear
(white manchets are sweet and fine) :
" Fair sir, we are fain of a penn'orth of bread
and another quart of wine."
The birds on the bough sing loud and sing low,
what trespass shall be ab initio.
Full lightly thereof they did eat and drink
(to drink is iwis no blame).
" Now tell me eight pennies," quoth Master Vaux ;
but they would not pay the same.
The birds on the bough sing loud and sing low,
what trespass shall be ab initio.
" Ye have trespassed with force and arms, ye knaves
(the six be too strong for me),
but your tortious entry shall cost you dear,
and that the King's Court shall see.
DONE INTO ENGLISH
The birds on the bough sing loud and nought low,
your trespass was wrought ab hiitio.'''
Sed per totam curiam 'twas well resolved Second resolu-
tion in the case.
(note, reader, this difference)
that in mere not doing no trespass is,
and John Vaux went empty thence. ideo predict' jo-
. hannes in miseri-
The birds on the bough sing loud and sins low, cordiaet defend'
° ° O ' sine ^jig_
no trespass was here ab initio.
II.— COGGS V. BERNARD
(i Sm. L.C. 201)
Holt, C. J. — Brethren, ye see this cause, and the
land's need
Laid on this bench this day, whereof our speech
Should be the sentence of no darkling tongue,
Seeing we are set amidst this strife of men
As wardens of a vast and windy shore
Stormed on with surf and shocks of violent seas.
To kindle some sure beacon for a sign
Shining henceforth to seaward ; such a light
Men look for from this face of most high law.
Ardent with prophecy, and illuminate
With fire of constellated precedents.
Most royal in bounty ; wherefore in this case,
Sirs, I have much considered, questioning
Our books within myself, not as the fool
LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH
That lightly utters fruits of a light mind,
But weighing, as this declaration is,
How it shall lie ; and now for very law,
Seeing with eyes of clear and equal sight,
I hold it will, for if a man will take
This thing upon him, saying he will remove
His neighbour's goods, and safely lay them down
From cellar unto cellar, and with sloth
Of spirit unskilled and lax improvident hand
Cast those goods down and spoil them, what
reward
Shall the Court give to this man ? yea, I think
He shall not hunger or lack for meet reward,
Though he did look for none, nor were by trade
A common porter ; such a sixfold coil
Of divers sorts of bailments, binding men
With diverse powers to manifold degrees
Of vigilance and answerable care.
Is woven and shed around him as a net
Inevitable, whose woof of ancient wit
I first of all men born in all this land
Shall now in seemly wise with ordered speech
Spread forth, and through this undistinguished
field
LEADING CASES
Drive the clean ploughshare of dividing mind,
Ox-wise returning to and fro, till all
Be ready for the seed that springs to fruit
Of judgment ; and the first is where a man
Hath taken goods to wait the bailor's use
Hireless, in unrewarded custody
And bare deposit ; he shall safely walk
Blameless in equal ways, preserving them
AVith equal care like as he doth his own,
Be it or great or small ; but negligence
Gross and apparent, seeing an evil mind
Therein we deem to work his own effect
Of fraud and malice, to the utmost loss
Shall surely bind him ; such not doubtful voice
Of witness clear and consonant is poured
In ears made meet for hearing from this book
Of Bracton, who, being old, yet speaketh law
Most righteous ; nor this once, but twice and
thrice
He speaketh, meting fitting measure of care
To loans gratuitous and commodate.
Or else for hire, demanding diligence
Most strait and perfect ; the next case is fourth
In several station that with borrowed pledge
DONE INTO ENGLISH
And pawn invadiate holds the middle way
Not facile as the first, nor stern to seek
Consummate care, whose weight and whole recoil
Even now with one fifth wave of forceful need
Falls on that carrier who for all men's use
Doth exercise his calling, being bound
In all events against all jeopardies,
Yea, though an irresistible multitude
With might of hands and violent mastery
Should make his freight their quarry : what sheer
stress
Of the land's embattled foemen, or the act
Of most high Gods hath wrought of ruin, shall
rest
Excusable, that only ; but who takes
Like trust by private and peculiar hand,
Having reward, shall bear the lighter charge
Fulfilled and perfect in such measure of care
As reason bids ; and lo, the sixth of kind
Of these folk holden of six necessities
Is this rewardless one who holdeth goods
In simple mandate ; and on him no less
His undertaking, and the owner's trust
Clothing his promise with investiture
LEADING CASES
Of apt consideration, lay the load
Of diligence in duty, that thereby
The sure sweet common faith of man to man
Shall lighten level from eyen to equal eyes
Of one to other, not being desecrate
In desolate places and dispraised of men.
But ye, of staves compact of cooper's craft
Most pitiful, whose glory of bended wood
Is shattered, and the spirit of life therein
Spilt with the cask's undoing, I bid you hail.
Lift up your heads with whatso lifting up
Slain men may lift them; yea, be strong of
heart.
Deem not yourselves as dead, seeing this your
bane
Shall flower for life-giving to England's law,
A leading case for ever, and each drop
And several runlet of this liquor shed
In Water-lane ^ shall rise in Westminster
A fountain-head and wellspring of clear streams
Perennial ; so this court hath judged and I.
1 The cause of action was that the defendant had undertaken ' ' Salvo
et secure elevare, AngUce to take up, several hogsheads of brandy
then in a certain cellar in D. et salvo et secure deponere, Anglice to lay
DONE INTO ENGLISH
them down again in a certain other cellar in Water-lane," and "the
said defendant and his servants and agents tarn negUgetiter et improvide
put them down again into the said other cellar quod per defectum curcB
ipsius the defendant, his servants and agents, one of the casks was
staved, and a great quantity of brandy, ids. so many gallons of brandy,
was spilt."
III.— ARMORY V. DELAMIRIE
(I S}n. L.C. 385)
The Argument. — This tale shaweth hoiu a poor chimney -sweep
found a goodly jewel, atid by the guile of a goldsmith' s prentice was like
to lose all fruit thereof ; yet afterward, in Hilary Term of the eighth
year of George the First, brought trover for the same and had his damages,
and moreover wrought thereby a perpetual memory of his name and an
occasion for excellent learning.
In Middlesex, that excellent county,
there dwelt a little sweep hight Armory,
which clomb and crope in chimneys strait and small,
to earn full scanty living therewithal.
This Armory, one time as he doth fare
sadly about his toil, is haply ware,
looking to earthward, of a glittering thing,
and putteth hand thereto, and lo a ring
with gold ywrought and seemly stones therein.
To know the worth hereof he fain would win,
and bringeth it unto a stall thereby,
Iw
LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH 1 1
where sat a goldsmith, hight Delamirie,
and eke a prentice knave of evil wit :
(I n'ot his name, the book saith nought of it.)
This prentice, then, as he would weigh the ring,
took it in hand, and of his false cunning
hath from the socket done the stones clean out.
Anon he cried, " Master, thereof no doubt,
three halfpence is the worth, there nis no more."
Quod Armory, " Me this misliketh sore :
give me my jewel back, and fare ye well
with such folk which have will good cheap to sell."
For all his words they gave him for the nones
the socket empty and withouten stones,
and leugh upon him and gan call him thief.
Therefore full wisely telleth he his grief
to men of law, which answered him anon :
" The fmder hath lawful possession
for all men, save the very owner's title.
Eke from this master ye shall have requital,
for wrong that servant doth, books techen so,
in master's business, iwcet dovmio."
What needeth wordes mo : the suit is brought ;
it falleth every point as thus was taught.
And seeing by this wickedness the stone
12 LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH
was made away, and his worth known to none,
craftsmen there came to show by weight and tale
what gems of best and uttermost avail
might in the compass of that ring be laid ;
with no less damage it should be apaid :
for what man hideth truth in wrongdoing,
against him the law deemeth everything.
Thus hath the justice given doom aright,
and Delamirie goeth in ill plight,
and Armory is joyful of his gain.
The tale is done, there is no more to sain.
o
IV.— SCOTT r. SHEPHERD
\
(i Sm. L.C. 4S0)
ANY PLEADER TO ANY STUDENT
Now, you're my pupil !
On the good ancient plan I shall do what I can
For your hundred guineas to give wy law's blue pill \
(Let high jurisprudence which thinks me and you dense,
Set posse of cooks to stir new Roman soup ill) :
First volume of Smith shall give you the pith
Of leading decision that shows the division
Of action on case from plain action of trespass
Where to count in assault law benignantly says " Pass! "
Facts o' case first. At Milborne Port
Was fair-day, October the twenty and eight,
And folk in the market like fowls in a crate ;
Shepherd, one of your town-fool sort
(From Solomon's time they call it sport,
14 LEADING CASES
Right to help holiday, just make fun louder),
Lights me a squib up of paper and powder
(Find if you can the law-Latin for't)
And chucks it, to give their trading a rouse.
Full i' the midst o' the market-house.
It happed to fall on a stall where Yates
Sold gingerbread and gilded cates
(Small damage if they should burn or fly all) ;
To save himself and said gingerbread loss.
One Willis doth toss the thing across
To stall of one Ryal, who straight on espial
Of danger to his wares, of selfsame worth,
Casts it in market-house farther forth.
And by two mesne tossings thus it got
To burst i' the face of plaintiff Scott.
And now 'gainst Shepherd, for loss of eye
Question is, whether trespass shall lie.
Think Eastertide past, off crowds and packs town
Where De Grey, Chief Justice, and Nares and Blackstone
And Gould his brethren are set in banc
In a court full of Serjeants stout or lank.
With judgment to give this doubt an end
(Layman hints wonder to counsellor friend,
DONE INTO ENGLISH 15
If express colour be visible pigment,
And what's by black patch a-top Serjeant's wig meant).
Nares leads off, opines with confidence
Trespass well lies and there's no pretence
But who gave squib mischievous faculty
Shall answer its utmost consequence
{Qtci facit per alium facit per se) :
Squib-throwing a nuisance by statute, too !
Blackstone, more cautious, takes other view.
Since 'tis not all one throw, but an impetus new
Is given to squib by Ryal and Willis,
When vis first impressa thereon spent and still is ;
In fine, would have justice set mouth firm, not sound awry.
But teach forms of action to know each his boundary.
Gould holds with Nares :— If De Grey pairs ?
That were, odzooks, equipoise, dignus vitidice
Nodus ! But — " I too on same side faith pin, d'ye see,"
So De Grey spake — " For, as I take
It, the consequences all flowed of course
From Shepherd's original wrongful force :
Seen rightly, in this case difference 7iil is
In squib's new diversion by Ryal and Willis,
Whom (against Brother Blackstone, I'm free to confess
it) I
1 6 LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH
Account not free agents, since merest necessity
Bade cast off live squib to save selves and wares."
For such reasons, concurs with Gould and Nares.
E7-go, " Postea to the plaintiff."
Next, digest learned editor's notes,
Mark the refinements, preceptor acquaint if
You've duly mastered cases Smith quotes —
Eh? — No ! What says book here? As I'm alive,
" Distinctions, had place in principal case.
Since fifty-two make less ado.
And in fact by Judicature Act,
After November seventy-five.
Last stumps of pleading by final weeding
Are grubbed up and thrown adown wind to perdition
So, note's omitted in present edition ! "
Well — liquor's out, why look more at old bottle ?
Gulp down with gusto, you that are young.
These new Rules' ferment, tastes ill in my throttle.
Since Justice, in nnhibus no more on high sitter,
Descends to speak laymen's vulgar tongue.
So be it ! Explicit — parum feliciter.
v.— WIGGLESWORTH v. D ALLISON
(I Sm. L.C. 569)
" HiBALDSTOw Leys, they say, this field is call'd" —
So I to Edwin, as he swung with slow
Mechanic oscillation on the gate,
Half mindful in dim chambers of the brain,
If our new prophets read old riddles right,
Of some ancestral four-foot playfulness —
"A strange old name." But he, my country friend,
Peal'd forth bucolic laughter, no dry crease
And measur'd curl of nicer town-bred lips.
But full cachinnant music from the lungs
Catching the half-form'd word : " Ay, strange to you
Strangers from town — but I — we know them well.
The field and the field's tenant : there's a tale
My grandfather could tell of Wigglesworth,
c
"This was an
action of trespass
for mowing,
carrj'ing away,
and converting
to the defendant's
own use, the corn
of the plaintiff
growing in a field
called Hibald-
stoiv Leys, in the
parish of Hibald-
sioiu, in the
county of
Lincoln."
i8
LEADING CASES
"One Isabella
Dallison, de-
ceased, being
tenant for life,
and Dallison,
the reversioner
in fee, made a
lease ... to
the plaintiff . . .
for twenty - one
years to be com-
puted from the
istof May, 1755."
Old Wigglesworth ; his lease from Dallison
(His lord late in reversion, now possess'd)
Ran out, next May-day fills the hundred years :
But he had sown his corn, good easy man,
In custom'd thrift and course of husbandry,
Thinking to cut and carry without fail
And take by laudable and ancient use.
Whereto man's memory finds in Hibaldstow
No counter instance, his way-going crop
From reasonable portion of his lands.
He little dreamt the coil that should ensue —
Action of trespass, declaration, plea
Of liberum tenementum — and how else
Their lawyers' jargon runs : for Dallison,
The crop grown up, and farmer Wigglesworth
Claiming the fruits, flatly withstood his right.
I know not why — haply a fit of spleen ;
Haply the scrivener-steward's over-zeal
Would strain his lord's right to the utmost
marge
Of all those four-square and indented skins.
Perpending clause and covenant, with dull ear
Deaf to the promptings of the larger rule,
Folk-law that needs no penman ; or, mayhap,
\
x^
DONE INTO ENGLISH 19
The man's own ill desire, as such rank weeds
Will wax in lordship and mere wantonness
Of new possession, was to burst the bonds
Devised of ancient wont and kindhness
To save dominion whole, not marring use."
He paus'd, and, careless, brush'd a careless gnat.
Then I : " Nay, take me farther ; of these twain,
Your downright farmer and your churlish lord.
The landlord had already the nine points ;
The farmer stirr'd the law then ? " " Ay, trust him
For that ; a man, once mov'd, stout in his right—
Or wrong at need — East-Anglian to the core ;
Dallison kept him out, and mow'd the corn ;
He sued and won." " Whether from flying foe
Or fighting ? " " O, 'twas fought, and lustily,
First up at 'sizes : there the jury found
The custom clear for Wigglesworth ; but that
Was only half the battle, Dallison
Being East- Anglian too ; they took the cause
To Westminster and set their tools to work,
Motion and rule ; well, sir, it somehow grew.
Through due and fitting course of tortuousness,
Ripe for full argument ; then counsellors
Clash'd in high joust with reasons, precedents,
20 LEADING CASES
See the argument Statutcs : thcv sav, onc call'd the almanack
for the defendant,
{^ihl^.f^n^ir^. To witness no such custom could be good
Since May-day was transform'd by change of style ;
At last their quivers' crabbed store was spent,
There came a hush, and nestling of great wigs
In council — curia advisari viilt " —
For Edwin, now a country squire, had sat
With Templars, and such not uncherished scraps
Clung to him from his days of eating terms —
" And nothing fixt : but after certain days
Lord Mansfield spake in words of pithy weight
The judgment of the Court (the words were all
His own, the judgment haply more than half)
Deeming the custom righteous, just, and good,
Seeing 'tis fit that he who sows should reap,
And farming by such liberal custom's aid
Shall gather increase, and the deed admit
No jot of contradiction, but a right
Nowise repugnant. And all this and more
Is printed in a wise and weighty book,
With gloss and commentary, case on case,
Rich soil for fresh debate and argument
To swell the garden of choice instances,
And bless posterity with new delicacies
Jw.
DONE INTO ENGLISH 21
Of hair-breadth difference. Thus old Wigglesworth
Fought for old use, and in his proper cause
Stablish'd the general wont of Hibaldstow,
And built himself an everlasting name."
VI.— MOSTYN V. FABRIGAS
(I Sm. L.C. 628)
The situation
and territorial
sovereignty of
Minorca, 15
Geo. III.
Minorca lies in the Middle Sea,
Within the zuard of Cheap to wit,
Was aforetime of England's empery,
And St. Mary -le- Bow to prosper it.
The manner of
government of
the island.
The false im-
prisonment com-
plained of in the
case.
John Mostyn bare rule within that land,
Within the ward of Cheap to wit,
On such as misliked him he laid strong hand.
And St. Mary-le-Bow to prosper it.
On Anthony Fabrigas he hath passed.
Within the ward of Cheap to ivit.
And his body in prison six days hath cast,
And St. Mary-le-Bow to prosper it.
JL,.
LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH 23
And he drave him into the coast of Spain,
Within the ivard of Cheap to wit,
That a twelvemonth he might not come back again,
A7ui St. Mary-le-Bow to prosper it.
And this for no judgment or righteous cause,
Within the ward of Cheap to wit.
So hghtly this Mostyn did reck of laws,
And St. Mary-ie-Bow to prosper it.
" I may go to England and take mine ease.
Within the ward of Cheap to tuit,
For my trespass was done beyond the seas,"
And St. Mary-le-Bow to prosper it.
Governor
Mostyns vain
confidence to
escape the juris-
diction of the
English courts.
But mark how Fabrigas doth devise.
Within the ward of Cheap to wit,
With pleaders and Serjeants wary and wise,
Atid St. Mary-le-Bow to prosper it.
Viz., Mr. Peck-
ham and Mr.
Serjeant Glynn.
In the Common Pleas they have sued their writ,
Within the ward of Cheap to ivit.
And holden Mostyn to answer it,
And St. Mary-le-Boiv to prosper it.
Action in C.P.
Capias.
24
LEADING CASES
Pleadings and
trial.
The venue is laid with videlicet,
Wit J 1171 the ward of Cheap to luit,
The issue made up, and the jury met,
A7id St. Mary-le-Boiv to prospei- it.
Verdict for
;£3ooo damages
and £,<^o costs.
For three thousand pound was the verdict then,
Within the tvard of Cheap to wit,
And also for costs four score and ten.
And St. Alary-le-Bow to prosper it.
Proceedings in
error : judgment
affirmed.
And Mostyn's Serjeants were not of skill,
Within the ward of Cheap to wit,
For to show that cause of action ill.
And St. Mary-le-Bow to prosper it.
There be actions local which must be tried,
Within the ward of Cheap to wit.
Where their proper cause doth of right abide,
And St. Mary-le-Bow to prosper it.
But trespass of transitory kind.
Within the ward of Cheap to wit.
Shall be laid where the plaintiff hath a mind,
Atid St. Mary-le-Bow to prosper it.
DONE INTO ENGLISH
25
And look, to what end a fiction is made,
Within file ioa?-d of CJieap to wit.
To the same it shall never be gainsaid,
And St. Mary-le-Boiv to prosper it.
Vide Lord Mans-
field's judgment,
Cowp. 177.
Now fictions be dead, and venue undone,
Within tlie ward of Cheap to wit.
And local or transitory's all one.
And St. Mary-le-Bow to prosper it.
Common Law
Procedure Acts
and Judicature
Acts. Et 1'idc
W h i t a k e r v.
Forbes (1S75), 1
C.P.D. 51-
And this is the burden of time's swift feet,
Within the ward of C/ieap to wit,
And of leading cases grown obsolete,
And St. Mary-le-Bow to prosper it.
VII.— PASLEY V. FREEMAN
(2 Sm. L. C. 74)
Videlicet die It was Paslcy Came with his felaw
X X j m o Feb.
dic"''&c ^"^'^''' '° London town with wares to sell,
sixteen bags of the fine cochineal,
for buyers who should like them well.
Stood up a buyer and spoke so fair,
John Christopher Falch he had to name
" Right well me liketh the cochineal fine,
and I will freely buy the same."
" If ye be fain to buy our wares,
we must wot one thing or ere we sell :
ye shall do us to wit if ye be of worth,
a man to trust and credit well.
LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH 27
" For but and the silver and gold were paid,
this day were a day to rue full sore :
two thousand pound is not the worth,
nor if ye tell six hundred more."
Joseph Freeman stood up and spake :
" I rede you let the wares be sold,
John Christopher is a man of trust
for the white silver and eke red gold.'
Appiert per le
liver que le
cochineal estoit
de grand value —
viz. ; del value
;^2634 i6i. id.
They have given their wares to John Christopher,
and set him a day to pay in hand ;
John Christopher's fled o'er the wan water
and left no goods within the land.
Pasley is woxen as a man wood,
to sit still him seemed nothing meet ;
said, We'll up and sue this false Freeman,
to do us right for his deceit.
There was Grose the one justice,
said this was but a lewed thing,
for where ye find no word of promise,
no action licth for bare lesing.
A ma entente le
fait fuit issint,
coment que ceo
nest expresse-
mentnosme deins
le liver.
Nota que la ley
d'Engleterre est
auxi moult haulte
et excellent sci-
ence, que divers
points ne poient
estre facilement
resolve, et pur
graunt reson
maynts foytz les
justices different,
come icy, quar
Xil affiriiiatuin,
nisi sit bene per-
diibitatum.
2S LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH
Buller was the other justice,
said, Here is damage and deceit ;
where by word of man be comen these twain,
the third is, to requite his cheat.
" It ought more
emphatically to
lie against him,
as the malice is
more diabolical,
if he had not the
temptation of
gain." 2 Sm.
L.C. at p. 90.
Ashhurst was the third justice,
said. Though he gain not by the lie,
his malice is yet more curst of kind
than if he had hope to win thereby.
Lord Kenyon was the chief justice,
said. Full little is left to tell ;
but the fraud was plain and eke the loss,
and I hold this action lieth well.
Nota I'effect del
statute. Et est
assavoir que per
reson et entende-
ment poet home
ovesque temps et
diligence con-
ustre la coiTien
ley, mes les
statutes nemye.
So Pasley won that cause as then ;
but merchants had thereof affright,
and have letten ordain in Parliament,
such words shall have no harm ne might
to hold one bound for his fellow's trust,
but if they be written in black and white.
VIIL— DOVASTON zk PAYNE
(2Sm. L.C. 154)
The Court. " O what man are ye that cry so sore ? "
Free and fair is the king's highivay.
Dovaston. " My kine are gone, and I have no more, Replevin for tak-
ing the cattle of
Which Payne hath caught and doth keep the plaintiff.
away."
Cur. " That ye took his cattle, is this well seen ?"
Free and fair is the king's highivay.
Payne. " They were damage feasant in my demesne, Avowry.
And therein I took them, as well I may."
Cur.
Dovaston.
" How came your kine on your neighbour's
land ? "
Free and fair is the king's highway.
" By hedges and fences on either hand, piea.
That were fallen to ruin and great decay."
30
LEADING CASES
Cur. "Nay, tell us, what were your kine about?"
Free and fair is the kin^s highway.
DovastoTi. " They were in it, they erred and escaped
thereout,
Where Payne of right should amend the
way."
Special demurrer. Paytie.
"Por aught he hath said they were there of
wrong,
Free and fair is the king's highway.
For if they were passing through and along,
No word thereof doth his pleading say.
" And if the fence I must needs repair,
{Free a?id fair is the king's highway)
Why, that is for such as of right are there.
Not for folk or beasts that will idly stray."
Judgment for de- Cur,
fendant
" The right is to pass and repass alone.
Free and fair is the king^s highway.
And that your pleader should well have
known,
Whose fault hath lost you this cause to-day.
DONE INTO ENGLISH 31
"And now the case is exceeding plain, SeeperBuUer, j.
Free arid fair is the king's highway.
He shows how your kine he might well
distrain,
And ye show us nothing to say him nay."
For special pleading was then of might,
Free and fair is the king's highway.
And of Payne or Dovaston which had right
Is hid for ever and eke a day.
IX.— ELWES V. MAWE
(2 Svt. L.C. 182)
Strike now, O Muse, a new measure, come forth for a
greater achievement,
Armed in hexameters, august, to refute mere mortals.
Carping and caviUing brood, who doubt if such metre
in EngUsh
Justly and fully sufificeth to render the music of Homer;
Calling it harsh, unruly, dog -tail -dragged, tin-kettle
clatter ;
Jingle of lumbering accent, unfitted for themes heroic.
Sing me the strife immortal that rose betwixt landlord
and tenant,
Strife that set high in the heavens a star to illumine in
all time
Divers kinds and distinctions of chattels annexed to the
freehold.
LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH zi
Named with what names, O Muse, were the heroes of
this Utigation,
Who stood firm in defence, who sued with furious
onset ?
Ehves, the shrewd, was plaintiff, and Mawe, the thrifty,
defendant.
Mawe was lessee from Ehves of lands in the county of
Lincoln,
Messuage, out-houses, stables, and barn, in the parish of
Bigby ;
Mawe, the thrifty, looked round him and scanned those
premises wisely.
Full six years he scanned them, beholding the farm's
occupation
Minished in use and worth for want of convenient
buildings :
Therefore he laid to his hand, and set up those con-
venient buildings,
All at his own expense, a carpenter's shop and a beast-
house.
Houses of fuel and carts, and a pump-house, of brick
and mortar.
Founded fast in the ground, and tiled, and of brick were
the pillars.
D
34 LEADING CASES
So he possessed his farm, and rejoiced in his useful
buildings,
He and all men and all beasts of the field in the parish
of Bigby.
Time, which men count by moons, but the gods by
terms and vacations.
Stood not nor halted the while, and the lease drew nigh
to its ending.
Therefore did Mawe, the thrifty, bespeak his own heart
and take counsel,
This way and that revolving the cost and the gain, and
the chances
Weighing, and thus at the last to himself did his heart
make answer :
" Lo now, I leave these lands, and shall be to this farm
as a stranger ;
Soothly it little shall profit me then, if the houses I
builded
All at mine own expense, the carpenter's shop and the
beast-house,
Houses of fuel and carts, and the pump-house, of brick
and mortar,
Joy to all men and all beasts of the field in the parish
of Bigby,
DONE INTO ENGLISH 35
Stand there after my time, and be left a possession to
Elwes :
Nay, but I surely will move their foundations, digging
around them,
Raze their walls, and their stuff, the goodly bricks and
the mortar.
Keep for a gain to myself, and leave the land as I
found it."
So then in all things he did in such wise as his heart
had counselled,
Razed those walls, and moved the foundations, digging
around them.
Carted away the stuff for himself, the bricks and the
mortar.
Elwes, the shrewd, sat aloft, and beheld from his height
of reversion
These things wrought, and, beholding, his anger was
kindled within him.
Anger that moved him to deeds of might and to Lincoln
assizes.
There he declared against Mawe for his injured estate
in reversion,
Claiming the buildings his own, their destruction a waste
and a trespass.
36 LEADING CASES
Great was the case, and the point too grave for Lincoln
assizes ;
After a verdict for Elwes, the case was reserved for the
full court.
There, where the King's own pleas were before his justices
holden,
Counsel for Elwes and Mawe stood forth and strove with
examples,
Showing what things in old time were esteemed ingrown
to the freehold,
Rooted past lawful removal, what kept their moveable
nature.
Much they debated of wainscot and window, of furnace
and oven,
Vats of the dyer, and cider-mills, and boilers and salt-
pans ;
Also, not least, a new thing, fire-engine, a blessing to
coal-mines.
Twice in two terms they strove, and the court considered
its judgment.
Judgment which afterwards, well advised, the Chief
Justice delivered,
Stated the case and the question, and spoke their con-
sidered opinion ;
DONE INTO ENGLISH yj
No right had the defendant, they held, to remove these
buildings.
Wisely he showed how the general rule bids cleave to
the freehold
Things by the tenant once fixed, and explained the divers
exceptions
Suffered in favour of trade, the furnace, the vats, and the
boilers,
.Also the new fire-engines, the cider-mills, and the salt-
pans ;
Ever in favour of trade such exceptions, no mention of
farming ;
Further to stretch the exception to mere agricultural
buildings,
Not for a certain trade, were great and rash innovation.
Wherefore Elwes, the shrewd, maintained his cause and
his verdict.
Had great worship of all men there, and went homeward
rejoicing.
Bearing the postea, goodly -engrossed, the prize of the
battle.
Stay now and rest, O Muse, some breathing-space from
thine headlong
38 LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH
Flight, and abate thy storms whose harmony, thunder-
laden,
Harmony called by profane ones a vile accentual jingle,
Leaves all Greeks outsung, outstorms all thunder of
Homer.
This we have shown them, O Muse ; but if they presume
to deny it.
Say these hexameters jingle, or want any note of the
grand style.
Deadly and swift thy revenge on such carping and
cavilling creatures,
Grievous and grim their reward at thine hand, and the
sword of thy vengeance :
All the Reports at large we will take and versify likewise.
S^'
X.— HARRIOT V. HAMPTON
(2 6";;^. L.C. 441)
Argument. — This is an exceeding pitiful ballad, and therefore I
shall divide it before I write it down. And I will divide it subtly,
for it hath many parts. First it is divided into two parts. The first
part showeth the former dealing between the parties, and the grounds of
this action. The second part showeth the course of this action, and the
fortunes of the plaintiff therein. The secotid part begins here : Go to
now. The second part is again divided into five. The first setteth forth
Marriot's ?iew enterprise in hope to recover his fortune. The second
showeth his discomfiture at Nisi Prius. The third expoundeth the
endeavour of his counsel to have a new trial. The fourth showeth Iiow
the Court wholly refused the same, and the -weighty grounds in reason
and law for their decision. The fifth, moralising upon the whole tale,
saith what instruction and warning it behoves all discreet men io take
from this case. The second begins here : Sir plaintiff. The third begins
here : And Gibbs. The fourth begins here : And O but. The fifth
begins here : And if like. Also the burden hath two parts. The first
relateth to the action, and doth express the original mischance whence
this tragedy arose. The second relateth both to the action and to the
author, and doth express in very lamentable wise as well the particular
grief of the plaintiff in this case, which is the literal sense, as in a
40
LEADING CASES
general and allegorical sense, ivhich is a more subtle and excellent thing,
and to be understood by ccrtaiti I wot of, the antlior s grief and heaviness
at the dowtifall of Pleading, on which once most fair Lady of our Four
Inns the word is in these days fulfilled, Quomodo sedet sola civitas. The
second part begins here : Sing sorrow.
The original sale
of goods to
Marriot, and
Hampton's un-
conscionable
action for the
price thereof,
which in truth
he had in hand.
When Hampton sold goods to Marriot,
Woe^s me for goods sold, and wellaway !
Then Marriot paid, and receipt he got ;
Alas ! it were better he paid it not.
Sing sorroiv for money had and received,
And alack for the common coufits, O.
For the false knave Hampton sued him amain ;
Woe's me for goods sold, and wellaway I
The receipt whereby his discharge was plain
Did Marriot seek, and he sought in vain :
Sing sorrow for mo7iey had and received,
And alack for the commo7i counts, O.
The now plaintiff
Marriot unable
to defend that
action : but by
the secret ways
of destiny the
receipt being at
a later day
found,
He musts needs pay twice, and for costs was bound ;
Woe^s me for goods sold, and wellaway /
But there came a day the receipt was found,
He never had liever no thing on ground.
Sing sorrow for money had and ?'eceived.
And alack for the co7nmon counts, O.
*— ."
DONE INTO ENGLISH
41
"Go to, now, this knave in my turn I'll sue.
( Woe^s me for goods sold, and wellaway /)
And his pride and his evil gains undo : "
But what should befall full little he knew.
Sing sorrozv for money had and received,
A?id alack for the common counts, O.
he merrily sueth
for money had
and received.
"Sir plaintiff," quoth Kenyon, 'your wit is but raw,
( Woe's me for goods sold, and luellaway !)
For to wage this emprise which never man saw.
To get back money paid under process of law."
Si7ig sorro7u for money had ajid received,
And alack for the common counts, O.
Ruling of Lord
Kenyon, C.-J.,at
Nisi Prius.
His name hath the crier thrice called upon,
Woe^s me for goods sold, and wellazvay !
And he standeth nonsuit with his cause undone,
But if a new trial may yet be won,
Sing soi'roiv for money had and received.
And alack for the common counts, O.
Nonsuit.
And Gibbs doth eagerly move the court.
Woe's me for goods sold, and wellazvay !
For such actions have lain, by good report.
Gibbs, of counsel
for M arrioi,
moveth for a rule.
and citeth au-
thority.
42
LEADING CASES
And the doubt is full weighty for cutting short ;
Sing sorrow for money had and received,
And alack for tJie common counts^ O.
Rule refused.
Judgment of
Lord Kenyan,
C-J.
And O but the judges were wrathful men !
Woe's me for goods so id, and wellaway !
" If we granted a rule, it were danger then
No action should henceforth have end again : "
Sing sorrow for money had and received,
And alack for the common counts, O.
Oi Grose, ]. And another spakc : " Shall we give pretence
{J Foe's me for goods sold, and wellaway .')
To fling doors open for negligence
Of parties unready with evidence ? "
Sing sorrow for money had and received.
And alack for the common counts, O.
Of Lawrence, J. And a third : " Thus dooms which be dight and clear
( Woe's me for goods sold, ajid tvellaway /)
Were upset for new matters brought up in arrear,
A thing most monstrous for ears to hear."
Sing sorrow for money had and received,
A7id alack for the common counts, O.
DONE INTO ENGLISH
43
So Marriot must pay for the commonwealth's sake.
Woe's me for goods sold, and wellaway !
And if like ensample ye will not make,
Keep shrewdly, good folk, all receipts that ye take :
Sing sorrow for money had and received,
A?id alack for the common counts, O.
Interest rei-
public(F ut sit
finis litiuiit.
The moral of this
tragedy.
XL— MANBY V. SCOTT, &c.
The wisdom of
the law concern-
ing married
women.
Herkneth this time and learn of me
How this our law and mystery
In ruling all men's property,
And most of folk that wedded be,
Of wisdom is fulfilled well.
All ye wives whose hap thus was
To show this marvel of our laws,
This tale is yours to tell.
DAME SCOTT
Manby v. Scott.
(2 Smith, L.C.
466.)
I am the wife of Edward Scott,
That walked full daintily, I wot,
With silk and samite clothed upon.
The worth of it by ells was told
To forty pounds of the fine gold.
All in my lord's derision.
lU'
LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH 45
By mighty argument was found
His credit might not so be bound,
The mercer had confusion.
MRS. BENEDICT
I am the wife of Benedict.
For gauds and gems mine heart was pricked
With fire and strained with strength of love.
Silks, yea, silk stockings thirteen pair,
Gloves and rich jewels to my wear.
The seller had small gain thereof.
Nathless we had but one poor house,
Of garnishment nought plenteous.
Of serving men eke scant enough.
Montague v.
Benedict.
S e a t o n v.
Benedict.
(2 Sm. L.C. 504,
5I2-)
COUNTESS OF STRATHMORE
I am the Countess of Strathmore.
I married Bowes and rued it sore.
Yet spoiled his uttermost intent.
By cozenage and false championry
Him seemed he had my wealth in fee,
And it was all in settlement.
of
Countess
Str.ithmore
Bowes.
(i Ves. Jr. 22 ; I
R. R. 76.)
46
LEADING CASES
Great words he spake in this despite
Of fraud and his marital right,
In vanity his words were spent.
Lady Elibank v.
Montolieu.
(5 Ves. 737.)
1799 — 1806: be-
fore Lord Lough-
borough, Lord
Elcion, and Sir
IV. Grant.
LADY ELIBANK
I am the Lady Elibank.
Of all wives I have thank
That seek their goods i' the Chancery.
Wives' equity to settlement
Hath worship and establishment
And strength of days by this decree.
Seven years I strove there with my lord,
And plucked the flower of threefold word
In triple doom and mastery.
Johnson v.
Gallagher. (3 De
G. F. &J. 494.)
Thing = Fait,
deed : " indite
and make a
thing."
MRS. GALLAGHER
The mystery of wives' separate trade
By me Jane Gallagher was made
In latter days elucubrate.
I writ no writing, sealed no thing,
I dealt after a man's dealing.
Until my debt was heavy and great.
SL,-
DONE INTO ENGLISH
47
By rede of the one Lord Justice,
Albeit it was newfangledness,
This will bind separate estate.
Judgment of
Turner, L. J.,
since approved in
the Priw Coun-
cil, see L. R., 4
P. c. 590-594-
To tell now in what wise was meant
This law should have additament
. By wisdom of the Parliament,
Whereof our scriveners, as men seen,
Reck no more than an old bean,
As now it is not mine intent,
The tale were too long.
By these ensamples ye may find
What power han wives to loose and bind ;
This ends my little song.
Married Wo-
men's Property
Acts, 1870 and
1874. Their
general utility, i
^ These Acts were repealed and superseded by the Act of 1882, to
which the text, written some years before, is not applicable.
XIL— IN THE MATTER OF THE X. CO.,
LIMITED
The changes in the Companies Acts, Bankruptcy Acts and Rules,
and Rules of Court, are so frequent, that in this branch of the law the
only useful course appears to be to present the learned reader with an
ideal typical case, freed from the variable accidents of procedure.
Secta ad Molendinum
Fish andfislier, lost and won ;
Loss and gain, and lightly gone.
He walked all briefless along the stream,
And said : Some solace it would meseem
If here I might catch a cod or a bream
( Wigs are wliite in the ivan tvater) :
For he clean forgat in his misery
Which fish be of river and which of the sea.
{The milli)ig-hoiir is ivhite with flour
On the niill-dain and the miller s daughter)
LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH 49
Moreover, being of heavy fate
Most heart-fulfilled and satiate,
He set on his bended hook no bait.
( IVigs are white in the wan water. )
The fishes were ware and fled at the sight ;
He marvelled much why they should not bite.
{The viilling-hour is white tuith fioiir
On the mill-davi and tlie millers daughter.)
Then deemed he all things were vain and fond.
Hopes lost in the hand and fears beyond,
The round world like as the round mill-pond.
( Wigs are tvhite in the to an water.)
He said : 'Twere a goodly thing to see,
Since I take not fish, will the fish take me ?
{The miUing-hour is ivhite with flour
On the viill-dain a fid the miller's daughter.)
The miller's daughter she came along
In a gown of green harmonies exquisite-wrong,
Singing a marigold-yellow new song.
{Wigs are white in the wan water.)
And first she called him a gaping fool,
And then she blushed and gazed in the pool.
E
50 LEADING CASES
(The milling-hotir is white ivith fioiir
On the mill-dam and the miner's daughter.)
They opened their mouths and spake of Desire,
Of dreams, of dados, of things yet higher,
And he showed her that he was of right Esquire
( Wigs are white in the wan water) :
And her seemed with a real Esquire to wed
Were finer than flour is of simnel bread.
(The milling-hour is zuhite with flour
On the mill-dam and the miller's daughter.)
These twain be wedded right merrily.
And have holden the miller's grist in fee,
And floated therewith a great Companie.
( Wigs are zuhite in the wan water ^
But winding-up cometh to limited things,
And a day when the assets be flown with wings.
{The milling-hour is white with flour
On the mill-dam and the miller's daughter.)
The clerks and accountants came all round,
For each of them goodly fees were found.
The creditors had five pence in the pound.
( Wigs are white in the wan water.)
DONE INTO ENGLISH 51
Take heed ye fall not in such Hke bale,
And pray for the clerk that hath told this tale.
{ The milling-hour is white with flour
On the mill-dam and the miller's daughter.)
XIII.— THE HOUND'S TAIL'S CASE
(Dickson V. Great Northern Railway Co., i8 Q. B. Div. 176)
THE PLAINTIFF
O WHERE, O where is my leetle hound's tail
That you've made of no worth to be,
From a hound of fame, and Dutch Oven his name,
To a dog of low degree ?
Mit your negligent shove-car trundling around,
You trod on his tail full sore ;
Dutch Oven was worth to me sixty pound,
And he never will course no more.
THE RAILWAY COMPANY
The tail and the claim they are both cut short.
You paid us a common dog's fee ;
Two pounds you may have, and they lie in Court,
For the balance you signed us free.
LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH 53
And if more you meant, it was five per cent.
You'd have paid on our special scale
(Twould make shillings threescore and other four)
To insure that little hound's tail.
THE plaintiff's COUNSEL
O where, O where's our little case gone ?
The Company's terms prevail,
The Divisional Court have made us their sport
And mangled and clipped our tail.
But, though shrewd be our haps, and conditions be
traps
When negligent porters shove,
And we can't mend the fact, yet we'll go on the Act —
There's a Court of Appeal above.
THE COURT OF APPEAL
Now here, O here's an unanimous voice
Against this proud Company ;
They takes your money and gives no choice
In reason, that we can see ;
But will break, steal, kill at their servants' will,
Or a monstrous rate will fix —
54 LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH
Eighteenth of the Queen, ^ it shall well be seen,
Was made for to stop such tricks.
THE REPORTER
But where, O where is the tailless hound,
And what shall be done with he ?
Shall a place for him in the Court be found,
The Lords Justices' dog to be?
With glory increased, a reported beast,
Though he course no more on ground.
He shall hunt like a spectre the grasping Director,
Dutch Oven the tailless hound.
^ The Railway and Canal Traffic Act, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 31.
"
DEDICATION TO J. S.
When waters are rent with commotion
Of storms, or with sunhght made whole,
The river still pours to the ocean
The stream of its effluent soul ;
You too, from all lips of all living
Of worship disthroned and discrowned,
Shall know by these gifts of my giving
That faith is yet found :
By the sight of my song-flight of cases
That bears on wings woven of rhyme
Names set for a sign in high places
By sentence of men of old time ;
From all counties they meet and they mingle,
Dead suitors whom Westminster saw ;
They are many, but your name is single,
Pure flower of pure law.
56 LEADING CASES
When bounty of grantors was gracious
To enfeoff you in fee and in tail,
The bounds of your lands were made spacious
With lordship from Sale unto Dale ;
Trusts had you and services loyal,
Lips sovereign for ending of strife,
And the name of the world's names most royal
For light of your life.
Ah desire that was urgent to Romeward
And feet that were swifter than fate's,
And the noise of the speed of them homeward
For mutation and fall of estates !
Ah the days when your riding to Dover
Was prayed for and precious as gold,
The journeys, the deeds that are over,
The praise of them told !
But the days of your reign are departed.
And our fathers that fed on your looks
Have begotten a folk feeble-hearted
That seek not your name in their books ;
And against you is risen a new foeman
To storm with strange engines your home ;
DONE INTO ENGLISH 57
We wax pale at the name of him Roman,
His coming from Rome.
Even she, the immortal imperious
Supreme one from days long ago,
Sends the spectre of Aulus Agerius
To hound the dead ghost of John Doe :
By the name of Numerius Negidius
Your brethren are slain without sword ;
Is it so, that she too is perfidious.
The Rome you adored ?
Yet I pour you this drink of my verses,
, Of learning made lovely with lays.
Song bitter and sweet that rehearses
The deeds of your eminent days :
Yea, in these evil days from their reading
Some profit a student shall draw,
Though some points are of obsolete pleading,
And some are not law.
Though the Courts that were manifold dwindle
To divers Divisions of one,
And no fire from your face may rekindle
The light of old learning undone,
;8 LEADING CASES DONE INTO ENGLISH
We have suitors and briefs for our payment,
While, so long as a Court shall hold pleas.
We talk moonshine with wigs for our raiment,
Not sinking the fees.
Note. — This J. S. is a mythical person introduced for the purposes
of illustration, and constantly met with in the older books of our law,
especially Sheppard's Touchstone : a kind of cousin to John Doe and
Richard Roe, but more active and versatile. In later works and in
the Indian Codes his initials, which are supposed to stand for John
Stiles, have degenerated into unmeaning solitary letters, such as A,
B, and C. The old books are full of grants of lands to him for
various estates, so that his wealth is evident. He also appears as a
trustee and arbitrator, and (incongruously) as a servant. His devotion
to Rome is shown by his desperate attempts to get there in three
days: "If J. S. shall go to Rome in three days" is the standing
e.xample of an impossible condition. "If" or "until J. S. shall
return from Rome " is also a frequent example of a condition or con-
ditional limitation : hence the importance of that event is obviously
not e.xaggerated by the poet. It is not clear why he did not want to
ride to Dover, seeing it was on the way to Rome. It is said, however,
that one who is bound in a bond with condition that he shall ride with
J. S. to Dover such a day must procure J. S. to go thither and ride
with him at his peril. Aulus Agerius and Numerius Negidius are
corresponding, and therefore rival, personages of the Civil Law, who
may be found in the Digest and Institutes. It is understood that the
revival of the study of Roman Law by the Inns of Court is to be
commemorated in the decoration of the new Law Courts by colossal
statues of Aulus Agerius and Numerius Negidius trampling on the
corpses of John Doe and Richard Roe respectively.
[This has not been done. It is understood that the Council of the
Judges had the project under serious consideration at their recent
meeting. — 1892.]
iu'
DIVERSIONS
SHAKESPEARE: KING HENRY V
Act V. Scene I
GOWER. FLUELLEN. PISTOL.
Gotv. Why, here he comes, swelUng Hke a turkey-cock.
Flu. 'Tis no matter for his swellings nor his turkey-
cocks. God pless you, Aunchient Pistol ! you scurvy,
lousy knave, God pless you !
Pist. Ha ! art thou bedlam ? dost thou thirst, base
Trojan,
To have me fold up Parca's fatal web ?
Hence ! I am qualmish at the smell of leek.
Flu. I peseech you heartily, scurvy, lousy knave, at
my desires, and my requests, and my petitions, to eat, look
you, this leek : because, look you, you do not love it, nor
your affections and your appetites and your disgestions
doo's not agree with it, I would desire you to eat it.
IDEM GRAEGE REDDITUM
r. Aw ovTo<; avrb^ liriraXeKrpvcov 6o-o<;
aTTOvSalov op/xa TroSa 7re(f)vaiyyco/ji€PO<;.
4>. Tcbv linrdX.eKTpvovcov iiev ovSev fxoc fieXei.
dXk' S) Kpariarov %<xt/5e fioL To^Lmriov,
ycLlp avOi^, 0) p^o'^Oi'ipe koX /jLiapcorare.
T. oivdpwTT , rj Xvaaci'i ; KeXeai vv fie /xopcrifMov
rjfiap
eKTekeeiv '^elpeacnv e/u.ij<; WrpoTroLO re 7r7]vd<; ;
aAA, aTTitf , CO Lpoocov e'^uLur , avroiac irpa-
aotaiv,
alvM'i yap reipec fie irpdacov 6Xo(OTaTO<; 68/i7].
^. Beofiat fiev ovv. Si fiiape, Kuvri/SoXoi crcpoSpa
Kal TToXV iKerevco cr evrpayelv fioi rovroyi'
■>]Ki(TT epn<; yap Kal (TTvyec<; ttuvtcov irXeoi)
6vT0<; ye yaarpl rfj afj SvacpLXecrrdrov'
dvO cbv Kara^ayelv avro a d^tb) rovvv.
62 DIVERSIONS
Fist. Not for Cadwallader and all his goats.
Flu. There is one goat for you. [Strikes hi/ii.'] Will
you be so good, scauld knave, as eat it ?
Fist. Base Trojan, thou shalt die.
Fhi. You say very true, scauld knave, when God's
will is : I will desire you to live in the mean time, and
eat your victuals : come, there is sauce for it. [Strikes himi\
You called me yesterday mountain-squire ; but I will
make you to-day a squire of low degree. I pray you,
fall to : if you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek.
Gow, Enough, captain : you have astonished him.
Flu. I say, I will make him eat some part of my
leek, or I will peat his pate four days. Bite, I pray
you ; it is good for your green wound and your ploody
coxcomb.
Fist. Must I bite ?
Fhi. Yes, certainly, and out of doubt and out of
question too, and ambiguities.
Fist. By this leek, I will most horribly revenge : I
eat and eat, I swear —
Flu. Eat, I pray you : will you have some more
sauce to your leek ? there is not enough leek to swear by.
Fist. Quiet thy cudgel ; thou dost see I eat.
Flu. Much good do you, scauld knave, heartily.
DIVERSIONS 63
T. ouS' at K "18r]0€v Sft)? aiiroXta irXare alycov.
^. ravTTjv [xlav yovv e^e \a/3ct)V' a\X' ov ^e'Xet?
rpcoyetv to irpdaov to,'^, S) ko-klctt airoKov-
T. ov Ke (f)V'yoL^, kvov o) TpoLrjjeve^;, alirvv okeOpov.
^. ov 8i]6\ orav y w fiiape T0I9 6eol<i SoktJ'
av 8' ovv a'^/d'Tra ^wv kol Se'^ov ra crLTiw
TTidavooraTOV 8' rjBvcrfia Karaj^eoi T08L
eaKcoTTTef; ifxe fiev e^^e? to? opearepov
(pavel S' ^Opearov W]/u,epov ddXccorepo'i.
dX)C d'ye' irpdaov yap Sei^o? tov (TKooTneiv dvrjp
ovK iad^ OTTW? dv ov fiaX acrreio)? <f)a'yoi<;.
r. iravaai vvv ovTO<i yap ocrov ov-^ copaKLa.
^. dXrjde'i ; dTOC rj yevcreral fioL tov irpdaov
rj '70) TTUTd^o) TTjv Ke(f)a\T]v irevd^ ■))ixepa^.
ovTO<i, Ti fxeXXea ; Tpav/naTOiv S uKeacfiopov
€(TTac TO (jiVTOv (TOi TOV \o(f)ov KaTeuyoTL
VTTO KOvSvXwV TWvS .
T. eaOleiv p! dvayKdaei^ ;
<I>. KOfiiSj] ye 8)] ToS" cadi Kal aacpeaTaTa
KuvTiXoytcov re Kal aocj)ia/xdTQ)v dvev.
T. Betvt]v ye Beivrjv vrj to irpdaov Tificopiav
djJb iadicov oixvvfJLi
(E>. ^dye fJLev ovv e'^cov.
7) Bel KaTa'^vap,aT0<; a' eV ; dW '6pK0<i iravv
a/uiiKpoii irpdaov aoc.
T. irave Bi] pdj3Bov /jievo<;,
i^Br] yap eaOiovTd pi op-paat ^\eirec<i.
<i>. ovaio BrjTa Kal /xaA,', 6) irovrjpe av.
64 DIVERSIONS
Nay, pray you, throw none away ; the skin is good for
your broken coxcomb. When you take occasions to see
leeks hereafter, I pray you, mock at 'em ; that is all.
Fist Good.
Fill. Ay, leeks is good : hold you, there is a groat
to heal your pate.
Fist. Me a groat !
Fill. Yes, verily and in truth, you shall take it ; or
I have another leek in my pocket, which you shall eat.
Fist. I take thy groat in earnest of revenge.
Fill. If I owe you any thing, I will pay you in
cudgels : you shall be a woodmonger, and buy nothing
of me but cudgels. God b' wi' you, and keep you, and
heal your pate.
The foregoing exercise, which was printed in the
Cambridge Tripos Verses of 1S67, was written and sent
in MS. to Richard Shilleto in the Long Vacation of 1866.
After twenty-five years there can be no indiscretion in
publishing Shilleto's answer ; and if there be any vanity, it
may be redeemed by the merit of putting scholars in
possession of a hitherto unpublished piece of Shilleto's
Greek.
j_: DIVERSIONS 65
ka, Ti TTOieo^ ; ^rj yap d7ro/3d\r]<;, eVel
'^prjarov to Xefifjba rfj Ke^aXfj r^evt^aerai.
TOL<yap TO XoiTTov (7Ko)7ne fiot ytjrei' IScov.
T. KaWicrra.
*&. KcCkd yovv rd irpdcra' TrpoaXa^oiv
o ert,
T€Tp(6/3o\ov vvv Trapdrpe'^ 69 rd TLtrrdXov.
T. Terpco/SoXov 7' i/xol crv ;
^. Td\7]6e<; Xeyco'
Se^et yap, el 8' ovv, erepov av irpdaov roSe
<f)ayetv Trpo'^etpov aoi ^(ttiv gk tov OvXdKov.
T. \a^d)V diToriaay jxkydXd croi y^povw irore.
<J>. Kuycoye aol irdvO drr 6<pel\o)v Tvyydvw
opOoi'^ aTTohctiao} Kdv8piK(t)<i ^aKTrjpta'
KovSev KOfitel Trap ifxovye TrXrjv /3aKT7]pLa<i
oiCTTrep ^v\.ovpyo<i' vvv S' duolvTO crot Kapa
KauTOL<i \o(potcnv ev (puXdrrotev Oeoi.
My dear Pollock,
The two first and two last lines were an
impromptu, made on the receipt of your truly charming
That I am sending you after so many months what I
hope is now somewhat more worthy of your acceptance is
to be set down to over-fastidiousness. 1 was aware that
F
66 DIVERSIONS
Lacones swore vat rw crtoj, that Lacones and Lacaenae (in
anticipation of Roman ladies) swore vat rov Kacrro/aa, but
I wanted an authority for any Greek taking in vain the
name of noAvSeTJKT/s. However I think now that I have
not taken too great a hberty with the Champion, for neither
virap nor ovap has he let me feel his " brown fist which
bruised the brawny big Bebrycian."
Hoping you are in excellent health,
Believe me,
Pollux o lepidi digne nepos avi,
Praegrandi Eupolidem cum sene qui sapis.
Very truly yours,
RICHARD SHILLETO.
Dec. 9, 1866.
vv) Tov IIoAvSevK?;, ere fiaKapL^u) twv cttoIv
^apUvra yovv Kacmla., IIoAvSewKes, Aeyets,
(f)Xvapo(f>XveXX^]Voixa)(^iav ko/x^ws Trotwv,
if/oXoKO/XTTLav T dAa^ovos TOV Trpa(rocf)dyov.
TraTTTTuios o ^tos ecrrt crot ^tAoTraty/xovetv.
i^'
DIVERSIONS 67
07rw5 i>i. TO yevos fJ.i^SafxCj'i Karaicr^wets.
/Xfj [J.01 rov auTov fir] crv y dvv^s Moi'ctojv SpeTrujv
ApL(rTOcf)a.vei XeifJMV lepov kultoi <t iyoj
8€Soi)(^ OTTOIS fJ.^] T7)v TTapOlfXiaV (fiaV€L?'
nOAAOI ]\IAeHTAI KPEITT0NE2 AIAA2KAAf2N.
I need not say to those who knew Shilleto that the
original is an exquisite work of handwriting.
LORD TENNYSON : BOADICEA
Fear not, isle of blowing woodland, isle of silver}-
parapets !
Tho' the Roman eagle shadow thee, tho' the gathering
enemy narrow thee,
Thou shalt wax and he shall dwindle, thou shalt be the
mighty one yet !
Thine the liberty, thine the glory, thine the deeds to be
celebrated.
Thine the myriad - rolling ocean, light and shadow
illimitable,
Thine the lands of lasting summer, many-blossoming
Paradises,
Thine the North and thine the South and thine the
battle-thunder of God.
IDEM GRAECE REDDITUM
vXmv Be rpocjjov a rjvefioeaacJov, y y?;? epvfi apfyv-
poeiSe^,
dappelv \eyofi6v rr-jv a/j.cfapvrrjv, Kav al€T6<i ajx(f)t-
KaXvTTTr}
TTTepvyc aKOTio), koI 'Pco/xaloc iroKefJuov arl^ei
^vve-^coaiv
eTTL yap (f>povSoc<; 'lctOc ae TovToi<; irXelaTqv fiifivovaav
er ap-^i)v.
aot yap Ti/xtj KoXevdepla fxeya t ucr^eaTwv kXgo^
epywv
'^ecXtaaofxevT] vv^ ooKeavov ical (pQ)<i ava Kvpiar
arretpov,
(Toi T t(jQ Iva yt]<; depo<; ov \t]yet Xec/xoov re (f)Xiy€C
7ro\uavd)]<;,
At/3v(op re Kpdro'^ Kal 'TTrep^opewv Kal Zev^; j3pov-
ralcTiv dvTcov.
MACARONICA CLOVELLIANA
Argument. — The tale tells how Zeus, being wroth with the men
of Clovelly, in the county of Devon, sent upon them a south-west
wind with perpetual rains ; and how certain of the strangers there
beguiled the time with going to the shop down along toward the quay-
pool, where John Mill, the boat - builder, beloved of Pallas Athene,
had a goodly new herring -boat a -building ; and of the manner of
John Mill's caulking that boat.
W9 o'i fxev Kara aarv Trpo? a\XrjXov<; dyopevov,
T(opie<; ^8' Tlye'i irapkrjiJuevTrjpLOi dv8pe<i,
vrjina p,a-^Lhla)^, eirel ov Kara piolpav eenrov.
Kal K ijpavTO (f)V'yr]<i, fiifivov 8' de/covret; clvdyKr]-
iarvyeov t alvco^ dyoprjv re iroXiv r iplhovTrov.
K.\a)(f)e\iSai<i 8e /Jiey 6^07]cra<; ve^eXrjyepera Zei'9
ojpcrev dp vypordrov^ dvejxovi Ze^vpov re Noroy re,
Tol fxaXa Treido/xevoi cryz/ep^e? irveov aXXuSa dWo<;,
ovpavoOev ve<p€a aKtoevr ^8' ofx^pov dyovTe<;.
mSe Se ti^ etirecrKe fxera ^elvoov ixeyadviJiwv,
01 p iv KX(o(j}e\l8ai'i o\i8ai^ovT€<i evaiov
(b TTOTTOi, 77 Tohe fx€v TTOv dvaXKrjTov KaKOv icrriv
eK Aio<i' dWd fxe Oup,o<; ivl aTi'iOecraiv avwye
THE EPIC OF CLOVELLY
A FRAGMENT
So all day long the noise of jangling rolled
From Westminster, of Tories and of U^higs
Prating in Parliament, whose words were vain.
And fain they were of flight, but stayed perforce,
Loathing right grievously St. Stephen's halls,
Divisions, and the din of London town.
But on Clovelly Zeus the lord of clouds
Loosed in his anger those his wettest winds,
Notos and Zephyros, who unceasing blew,
Now this, now that, and hid the face of heaven
With shadowy clouds, and brought a mighty rain.
Then spake one of the stranger-folk who dwelt
There in Clovelly, making holiday :
" Alack, a remediless plague we bear,
Being of Zeus : but lo, thus redes my heart.
72 DIVERSIONS
yaiTTvkirivK 'ifxevai Suva\6y/Lov, avepo<i epjov
KoXov eTToylrofxevov, Kapirevr/jpcov 6'^' aplarov,
yivWlov, w /jLoXa SalSaX' ivl (f)pealv epya fxefxifkev.
&)9 €<f}a6^ • o'l 8' apa irdvre'i eiryveov, rjpx^ ^' oSoio.
^av he doM<i BvvdXoyyov, ikovto re Xdivov ovBov
reKTOVO<i dvTiOiov o <ye Srj '^dafiaXo'i /jidXa Kelro,
evda re iravvrjfxap %6/3crt cm^apfjcn, Trove lto
MuXXto?, dX)C vTrdXoj'yov eye kXvtov v-^epe(f)e<; Bco.
vrja 8' ivacr€X/u,ov revyev, fieya Oavfia IhecrOai.
cr7]/ia'i 87] jxaKpd'^ tot eKavXyee vi]o<; eicnr}<i,
evda Trep ijp/jbocrcrev TrXdjKU'i TrvKLVw^ dpapvla'^'
uKUfjiaTOV 8e crlBripov eycov ev dp' dairerov rjKev
o)KV/xi,7jv, Tt]v pa irporepov iroXXrjv Kdfxev avTO<i
olKodi TTC^d/xevo^ vvKTecra- ivl yei/xepLrjat,,
irdvT e(j)opMV Kara Koap,ov IBvirjcn irpairlBecrcn,
MuXXio?* e^oya ydp fitv e(^iXaro HaXXa? ^ XOi^vi],
ij: DIVERSIONS 73
To go quay-poohvard down-along, and view
The goodly work of John the carpenter,
Prince of his craft, whose care is in all skill
Of fair design, and might of cunning hands."
So spake he, and the saying pleased them well.
And first he went, and down-along they sped
Swiftly, and came unto the threshold-stone
Of John the shipwright : down to quay it lay,
Even the shop where all day long his hands
Wrought sturdily, but up-along his house.
Goodly, high-roofed : there in the shop he wrought
A herring-boat, right marvellous to see.
Shapen and fixt they found the planks thereof,
And John sat caulking all her length of seams
With tireless iron, driving in amain
Oakum well-picked ; thereof he had good store,
The work of his own hands in winter nights,
What time he sat at home, disposing all
Full wisely, for Athene loved him well.
*^* If a man will read these lines aright, let him note that he shall
not speak the name of quay-pool as the Cockneys do (who likewise say
Lundy Island for Lundy, with other such idle and corrupt imagina-
tions) ; but he shall say quay-pool after the right manner of the men
of Clovelly ; which if he would understand, let him come and hear it.
THE HINDU ASCETIC
(STUDIES AT DELHI, 1 876)
Here as I sit by the Jumna bank,
Watching the flow of the sacred stream,
Pass me the legions, rank on rank,
And the cannon roar, and the bayonets gleam.
Is it a god or a king that comes ?
Both are evil, and both are strong ;
With women and worshipping, dancing and drums.
Carry your gods and your kings along.
Fanciful shapes of a plastic earth.
These are the visions that weary the eye ;
These I may 'scape by a luckier birth.
Musing, and fasting, and hoping to die.
When shall these phantoms flicker away,
Like the smoke of the guns on the wind-swept hill,
Like the sounds and colours of yesterday :
And the soul have rest, and the air be still ?
Sir Alfred Lyall : Verses written in India.
«J^
'O TTMNOSO^ISTHI
(PUNJAB, B.C. 327)
Ti9 /xe /3or;, Ti Oiafia KaOrjfievov evOdS' i/cdvei,
yrjpdaKovd^ lepov irap nrorapbolo poal^ ;
dvSpcov Sij TTVKLvaX aTL'^e<; aih\ aLyXy re klovtwv
acrirero^ ixXd/xTrei, koI ktvtto^ L7nTocrvv7}<i'
roiv 6eo<i i) ^acrtXeu?, 7rdvTco<; kukov, rjyefxovevei'
v^pL<; S' rjSe jBlr] (T'^€tXio<; u/J.(f)OT€pcov.
a BetXoL, ^aaiXrja nrpoiTepiirere Sai/u,ovd 6^ ovtco';
avv SovTTO) TVTrdvcov avv re Kopoiv Ou'ictm'
fjivpia yap roiavr ereKev cfival^oo^; ala,
(jidafiara Kal ve(^eXriv, roh icriSovcrc irovov'
Oiv arro Kav yeverj<i iirl \movo<; uXXa^aL/XTjv,
vrjarLcn avvvoLaL<; lefievo'^ Oavdrov.
dXXa yevoiff' ore raur eppoi irdXiv, wcrre Kovir}v
dvhpoiv fiapvafxevcov icTKeSacre ^€(pvpo<;,
"^^X^ ^'' *^'* X^^o"'^^'}'? /jiop<f>r]<; <f)Oo<yyMV re XeXtjOe,
vyjve/iov e^avvoi vi']yp€To^ I'jav^irjv.
'O TAc|)OS TOT AHMOT
('EGNIKOX TPArOTAION)
'O 7]\co<; e/BacriXeve, k 6 A?}yu,o9 Siard^ec'
" %vpre, TTaoStd /jlov, \ ro vepov, yjrwfu va <pdT
diTO-y\re'
Kal (TV, Aa/XTrpuKT] fji uveylrte, Kadco eSo) Kovrd fxov
Na ! T dp/xard (xov <popeae, vd jevy'i Ka7rerdvo<;'
Kal cret?, rracScd fjiov, Trdpere to ep^ifiov cnraOl /xov,
Jlpdaiva KO^jreTe KXaSid, cnpoiare fjuov vd KaOlaco,
Kal cf)epTe rov Trvev/jLariKov vd fie ^ojjbo\oj')]ar],
Na Tov etTTO) ra KpipLara, oa e^w Ka/ico/xeva.
l^pidvTa ')(^povC dp/jiaTco\b<i k eiKoai, e^&) K\e(f)r7}<;,
THE BURIAL OF DEMOS
The sun was low on his western throne when Demos
spake his will :
" Go, children, make your evening meal, get water
from the rill ;
Stay thou, Lambrakis, cousin mine, sit by me near at
hand ;
Lo, here my arms — bear them and be the captain of the
band :
You, children, take away the sword widowed of my
renown,
And strew me grass and fresh-cut boughs, that I may lay
me down.
And fetch the ghostly man to shrive the sins of all my
life;
Fain would I tell him all I did ; my days were full of
strife ;
A man-at-arms good thirty years, a Klepht I tell a score ;
78 DIVERSIONS
Kal T(opa fJL rj\0' 6 Odvaro^ koI OiXco v aTToOdvco.
Ka/Aere to Ki^ovpi /xov, irXarv, ^yfrriXov va yevr),
Na areK 6p6o<i, va TroXe/iW koI BiTrXa vd yefii^co.
K' aTTO TO fJi6po<; TO Se^l dcfifjaTe TrapaOvpi,
Ta j(e\ihovia v ep'ywvTai ttjv dvoi^LV vd (pepovv,
Kal T drjhovLa tov koXov ^Idrjv vd fie jxaOalvovv.
DIVERSIONS 79
And now my hour of death is come, and life shall be
no more.
Let make my tomb as a man of war's, a wide and lofty
one —
I'll stand upright for the day of fight, and kneel to load
my gun —
And make me a little window too, to my right hand
opening.
Where I may watch the swallows' flight, the swallows
that come with spring.
And know the merry month of May by the nightingales
that sing."
LES fun^:railles de demos
VoiLA le soleil qui baisse :
Voila Demos qui s'affaisse,
Qui se meurt et veut parler.
" Enfants, comme a I'ordinaire
Courez vers la riviere,
Nous chercher I'eau du souper.
" Ici, Lambraki, prends place ;
Regarde-moi bien en face.
Vois, mes amies sont a toi :
Qu'a toi, mon meilleur collegue,
Le commandement je legue,
Ce don fera pleine foi.
" Enlevez, mes fils, I'epde ;
La main manque a sa poignee
Qui la serrait autrefois :
^ DIVERSIONS
Et pour mon vieux corps inerte
Faites une couche verte
De rameaux coupes au bois.
"Puis allez chercher le pretre :
Devant lui va comparaitre
De mes peches le recit :
C'est un assez rude conte :
Des amies trente ans je compte,
Et vingt ans je fus bandit.
" Maintenant la mort m'appelle,
Je ne me fais point rebelle,
Mais je veux rester soldat :
Faites ma tombe haute et large,
Pour qu'^ mon aise je charge
Mon fusil dans le combat.
" Faut encor une fenetre,
Que je puisse voir renaitre
Les fleurs qui dorent le sol.
Du printemps les hirondelles
M'apporteront des nouvelles,
Et de mai le rossignol."
IN MEMORIAM
RICARDI MONCKTON MILNES
BARONIS DE HOUGHTON
MDCCCLXXXV
Cui post quindecimum parata lustrum
lingua condere, fons novi leporis,
aequales iuvenesque quod probarent,
quidquid Phoebus amat facetiarum ;
lenis cui Genius comes vigebat
actorum memor et capax agendi
nullis ut numeris carere posset ;
qui felicibus optimus sodalis,
infelicibus idem opem ferebat,
quid lugebimus ? at decus rosarum
nectamus potius : patrum quod aetas
certatim puerique diligebant,
impotentior hoc caput feretur
invidisse Proserpinae senectus.
TO THE MEMORY OF
RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES
LORD HOUGHTON
Follow not with mourning cries,
But with rose-crowned obsequies
And with songs of thankful praise,
This our friend whose length of days
Did but mellow his ripe wit
Ever fresh and ever fit
For delight of old and young ;
On his utterance we hung
Fed from memory's garnered store,
Whence meet action grew the more,
Adding mirth in happiness,
Rich with solace for distress.
Lady Proserpine the while
With her deep and ageless smile
That the just alone may see
(Such their meed by Jove's decree)
84 DIVERSIONS
Beckons at her gate set wide,
Thrusting envious Eld aside.
" Back " she bids " thou numbing frost
Thou hast played for him and lost.
Here, where mortal changes end,
Welcome, sons' and fathers' friend."
So, for him no mournful cries :
Strew bright garlands where he lies.
i^'
NAPIER OF MAGDALA
January 21, 1890
AtT^//,7;T7;9 oS avi~jp ^\vh(hv Ai^vwv re Kparijcra'?,
TToXXa fiev epy elScb^ 8aL8a)C "Aprj 8e iroXvv,
eu7rpe7reo9 re Xa^^oov jSiorov Oavdrov r dyavoio,
' A'yyXo'i iv "A'yyXoKTtv Kelrai oBvpo/xevoi'i.
NON COMMOVEBITUR
(Scriptum cum bellum imminere videretur)
En ut imber caelo crescit,
En ut hostium grandescit
Clamor minitantium
Terram se debellaturos,
Fortium spolia relaturos
Nobis in exitium.
Patet ingens fati limen,
Rapiuntur in discrimen
Proceres ac populus.
Cuius defensoris utor
Armis ? unde in his adiutor
Tenebris instantibus ?
Vox respondet, vox avorum :
Quos pertulimus laborum
Munus, onus, filiis
DIVERSIONS 87
*— <'
Nunc tenendum, nunc ferendum ;
Hoc non vobis perhorrendum
Patrium quod agitis.
Dominus per nos potentis
Ultra fas superbientis
Bis confregit bracchium ;
Galli tumor et Hispani,
Mole corruens immani,
Factus est ludibrium.
Novum fulgur coruscabit
Lux antiqua, conturbabit
Tyrannorum insidias ;
Stella nobis ipsa lucet,
Mirabiliter deducet
Liberorum dexteras.
TO A CHILD
WITH A COPY OF GRIMM'S MARCHEN
New-made tales are daily told,
New-made songs are daily sung :
These I give you, they were old
When old England's name was young
Dull are wits that fain would mock
At the wisdom these can teach,
Growth of sturdy German stock,
Heart of homely German speech.
From their roots in ancient soil
Springs the blossom ever bright,
And men ponder it with toil
To count flower and root aright ;
And each oldest word is new
And the far-off story near,
And wise books may prove it true.
But a child can read it clear.
DIE SYMPHONIEN BEETHOVENS
Neunmal sprach das schopfende Wort der Tonenbeherr-
scher,
Fasste der Zaubermacht neunfache Kette die Welt ;
Fasste den Geist, die Natur, die Wonne der heiteren
Jugend,
Heldenthaten und Tod, Schicksal und Trauer und
Nacht ;
Bis, durch Menschenstimme gelockt, im entschleierten
Himmel
Glanzend vom Sternenzelt Freude, die gottliche,
schwebt.
A BALLADE OF AUTUMN
Trusting the sun, faith seldom erred,
If Virgil our master's saying be sound ;
Brave was his triumph, though long deferred,
Over the storm-clouds that lowered round,
A leaguer embattled with tower and mound
For a darkening blight upon tilth and meads ;
The sun comes forth, and the foe discrowned
Flies like the fume of the burning weeds.
There was joy upon earth for man, beast, and bird
When the light laughed clear through the sky's
profound.
And we garnered, cheerful and undeterred.
Wealth that the stormflood had well nigh drowned ;
But lo, the sun's self in a fatal bound
Is tethered, and stronger masters heeds ;
The late-born brightness from air and ground
Flies like the fume of the burning weeds.
DIVERSIONS 91
The stars have spoken their ancient word,
Against their courses no spell is found ;
In the harvest moon's wake the hunt is stirred
That Orion leads up with his flaming hound ;
His horn for the fall of the year doth sound
Points that the poet from old time reads,
And the scroll of the summer days unwound
Flies like the fume of the burning weeds.
ENVOY
Masters whose mightier notes redound
To living splendour of loves and deeds.
Scorn not the measure that unrenowned
Flies like the fume of the burning weeds.
LINES ON THE DEATH OF A COLLEGE CAT
The Junior Fellow's vows were said ;
Among his co-mates and their Head
His place was fairly set.
Of welcome from friends old and new
Full dues he had, and more than due ;
What could be lacking yet ?
One said, " The Senior Fellow's vote ! "
The Senior Fellow, black of coat,
Save where his front was white,
xA.rose and sniffed the stranger's shoes
With critic nose, as ancients use
To judge mankind aright.
I — for 'twas I who tell the tale —
Conscious of fortune's trembling scale,
Awaited the decree ;
ij: DIVERSIONS 93
But Tom had judged : " He loves our race,"
And, as to his ancestral place,
He leapt upon my knee.
Thenceforth in common-room and hall
A verus socius known to all
I came and went and sat.
Far from cross fate's or envy's reach :
For none a title could impeach
Accepted by the cat.
While statutes changed, and freshmen came,
His gait, his wisdom were the same.
His age no more than mellow ;
Yet nothing mortal may defy
The march of Anno Doinini^
Not e'en the Senior Fellow.
Beneath our linden shade he lies :
Mere eld hath softly closed his eyes
With late and honoured end.
He seems, while catless we confer.
To join with faint Elysian purr,
A tutelary friend.
ATMAN
ECOLE DU VEDANTA
Sous mon voile que nul ne perce
Le nom de I'lnfini se tait.
Dans mon immensite se berce
Tout ce qui nait, meurt et renait.
Je sens passer la vie humaine
Ainsi qu'un vent dans les roseaux,
Et je me pare de la chaine
Dont les ames sont les anneaux.
II
Les ans tombent au fond des ages
Sans que je m'en sois aperc^'U.
Indra chevauchant les nuages
Me fait Teffet d'un parvenu.
Pour moi dans Teternelle danse
DIVERSIONS 95
Les jours de Brahma sont des pas ;
J'en sais la fin et la naissance. . . .
Si ce n'est que je ne sais pas.
Ill
Pourtant sur la mer de ce monde
L'homme dans son essor fatal,
Nocher aveugle, vogue et sonde,
Ayant le doute pour fanal,
Et, doux ou fier, humble ou farouche,
Dans son image fait son dieu,
Ne songeant pas que de ma bouche
Un souffle finirait le jeu.
IV
Fils de l'homme, veux-tu te faire
Calme et puissant, ton pretre et roi ?
Plane sans crainte dans ma sphere,
Ou Ton ne dit plus toi ni moi.
Du secret tu seras le maitre
Que tu cherchais en gemissant ;
C'est que, pour arriver k I'Etre,
II faut passer par le Neant.
96 DIVERSIONS
Quand le desir et I'ignorance
N'auront plus de tes sens la cle,
Quand tu verras la difference
Se fondre dans mon unite,
Quand de ta raison I'equilibre
Ne connaitra ni temps ni lieu,
Alors tu seras fort et libre,
Alors tu seras plus qu'un dieu.
UN ENFANT FIN DE SIECLE
Je connais un jeune gargon
Qui de la plus docte fa9on,
Plein de science semitique,
S'est fait maitre en haute critique,
Et rend k chaque auteur sa part
D'apres les regies de cet art,
Suivant exactement la piste
Du vieux et du jeune Elohiste.
II dit : J'ai cranement lave
La tete a messire lahve.
Voulez-vous une foi nouvelle ?
Je vais vous en faire une belle.
— Je raconte done, entre amis,
De mon bonhomme les devis.
L'un de crier : Horreur ! blaspheme !
Un archange en deviendrait bleme.
— Un autre : O grand et saint Progres !
H
98 DIVERSIONS
Ce cher enfant te voit de pres.
— Je crois pourtant qu'on exagere
En prenant gravement I'affaire,
Car m'est avis que I'Eternel,
Juge a nous tous et sans appel,
Ayant au fond, soit dit sans schisme,
Pas mal de pantagruelisme,
Ne s'occupe de telle gent
Que pour en rire ^normement.
Aussi ce gargon, je m'assure,
N'est pas perdu dans la nature,
Et puisqu'aux yeux de I'lnfini
Rien n'est trop grand ni trop petit,
Les gloses que tant il estime
Ont peut-etre une part minime
Dans ce franc rire du bon Dieu
Que rhomme appelle le ciel bleu.
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