312 Parliamentary Pastorals. MARCH, 



NO. V. THE LAMENTATION OF A LATE LAW-REATE. 



OH ! my heart is weighed down with a grief, 



That I scarcely know how to express ; 

 If my tears even gave me relief, 



Still they never could give me redress : 

 To see that man sit in my place. 



Whom with scorn I looked down on so long, 

 Makes me think very ill of my race, 



For their judgment must surely be wrong. 



When the Chancery / used to hear. 



The trials I loved to delay ; 

 Ev'ry " suit" at least lasted a year, 



But he wears them out in a day. 

 There his Lordship continues to sit, 



Dispensing his jokes, and the laws ; 

 And he hesitates scarcely a bit, 



As if there had ne'er been a " cause." 



How delighted I felt ev'ry hour, 



When my clerks were as busy as bees ; 

 How I loved to make use of my power, 



With what rapture I handled my fees ! 

 And, each sceptic whose notions I knew, 



Were not quite so divine as my own ; 

 I condemned him, and punished him too, 



Though my " doubts" were more publicly known. 



But those bankruptcy cases I prized, 



For the pickings I used to have there ; 

 Ev'ry act he has changed or revised, 



And I'm almost inclined to despair. 

 For such changes he makes, and has made. 



And the law has got so insecure ; 

 That lawyers I'm almost afraid, 



Will soon be made honest, or poor. 



Oh ! Wellington, you were unjust, 



To proceed with that Catholic Bill ; 

 If you had not persisted, I trust 



That I might have been Chancellor still. 

 Yet / may be somewhat to blame, 



In so hastily quitting your corps ; 

 But should I my honours reclaim, 



I will never " resign" any more. 



There were those whom I tried to oppress. 



That declared me as rich as a Jew ; 

 (They were not very far from their guess, 



For " the law and the profits" I knew.) 

 But the seals, alas ! now are not mine, 



And the woolsack's unhonour'd by me ; 

 John ! open a bottle of wine, 



No, don't for I hear Lady E. 



