 | Poems on Affairs of State |  |
433
On the Death of Serjeant Darnell, 1706.
Renowned
Phiz! kept Evidence in awe,
Yet smooth'd the wrinkled Forehead of the Law,
Is made, by Death, a Morsel for its Jaw.
Yet smooth'd the wrinkled Forehead of the Law,
Is made, by Death, a Morsel for its Jaw.
Swop down he went, in Parchment-skin wrapt close,
Instead of Coffin, and in Paper Clothes;
He left his Friends, and grin'd upon his Foes.
Instead of Coffin, and in Paper Clothes;
He left his Friends, and grin'd upon his Foes.
Strange hand of Death that spares nor Man nor Woman,
The Chancery Lawyer, or the Lawyer Common,
And grants a Habeas Corpus unto no Man.
The Chancery Lawyer, or the Lawyer Common,
And grants a Habeas Corpus unto no Man.
The talking Serjeant talk'd, but talk'd in vain,
Could not the Judgment of Death's Law restrain,
So rais'd his Head, and laid it down again.
Could not the Judgment of Death's Law restrain,
So rais'd his Head, and laid it down again.
Death to the Sentence did stand stiff and firm,
Tho mov'd Imparlance to another Term;
Death will the Sentence maugre Quirks confirm.
Tho mov'd Imparlance to another Term;
Death will the Sentence maugre Quirks confirm.
Whither he's gone I shall not dare to say,
Whether the darkest or the brightest Way
But that he's gone, I will a Wager lay.
Whether the darkest or the brightest Way
But that he's gone, I will a Wager lay.
If to the sooty Shore he's thither gone,
I'll pass my Word he'l hardly there find One,
Of Phiz more dismal or Complexion.
I'll pass my Word he'l hardly there find One,
Of Phiz more dismal or Complexion.
Well, since he's dead and gone, e'en let him go,
Shall we lament because the Case is so?
I boldly answer positively, No.
Shall we lament because the Case is so?
I boldly answer positively, No.
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