Recaptured Rhymes Being a Batch of Political and Other Fugitives Arrested and Brought to Book. By H. D. Traill |
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ON A FAMOUS BILL: THE LAWYER'S SOLILOQUY. |
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 | Recaptured Rhymes |  |
126
ON A FAMOUS BILL: THE LAWYER'S SOLILOQUY.
I hold it clear, as one who sings
The party song in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of brazen speech to higher things.
The party song in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of brazen speech to higher things.
And, holding this as maxim chief,
Ill were my part of lawyer played
Did I not welcome undismayed
The burden of this desperate brief.
Ill were my part of lawyer played
Did I not welcome undismayed
The burden of this desperate brief.
For well his trade he understood,
And wise that statesman was, I wot,
Who valued their assistance not
That helped him when his case was good:
And wise that statesman was, I wot,
Who valued their assistance not
That helped him when his case was good:
127
Who knew how cheaply could be had
The summer-weather partisan,
And used to say, “Give me the man
That backs me when my case is bad!”
The summer-weather partisan,
And used to say, “Give me the man
That backs me when my case is bad!”
I am that man. Behold in me
A faithful yeoman of debate,
Ever at hand the case to state
For Land Bill Number Twenty-three.
A faithful yeoman of debate,
Ever at hand the case to state
For Land Bill Number Twenty-three.
O Bill, unfriended of the wise,
Poor derelict of truth and sense,
Thy blackest blot and worst offence
Is light and virtue in my eyes.
Poor derelict of truth and sense,
Thy blackest blot and worst offence
Is light and virtue in my eyes.
They say thy purpose is concealed,
And that the coy design which strays
Nymph-like, through tangled woods of phrase
Might blush to find itself revealed.
And that the coy design which strays
Nymph-like, through tangled woods of phrase
Might blush to find itself revealed.
128
The more the need that I should spare
No pains to lead the chase awry,
The while I vigorously cry,
“The nymph, although unseen, is fair!”
No pains to lead the chase awry,
The while I vigorously cry,
“The nymph, although unseen, is fair!”
The dull Economist fulfils
His mission to denounce thy scheme
As flattery of the peasant's dream
And worsening of his waking ills.
His mission to denounce thy scheme
As flattery of the peasant's dream
And worsening of his waking ills.
The greater the demand on me
For cheaply manufactured sneers
At imbeciles who feed their fears
On bugbears of Economy.
For cheaply manufactured sneers
At imbeciles who feed their fears
On bugbears of Economy.
Of contracts' broken faith they prate,
Of justice made a Lesbian rule,
And law degraded to the tool
Of mean expediencies of State.
Of justice made a Lesbian rule,
And law degraded to the tool
Of mean expediencies of State.
129
And here they touch me nearly—here
They press me home: yet only so
Can all the party zeal I show
Clothed in its full deserts appear.
They press me home: yet only so
Can all the party zeal I show
Clothed in its full deserts appear.
So much the greater shall my feat
Of bold apostasy be found,
So louder shall my praises sound
Where Tadpoles and where Tapers meet,
Of bold apostasy be found,
So louder shall my praises sound
Where Tadpoles and where Tapers meet,
In that I falter not nor swerve
From Ministerial paths, nor err
Through foolish reverence for Her
Whose bread I eat, whose shrine I serve:
From Ministerial paths, nor err
Through foolish reverence for Her
Whose bread I eat, whose shrine I serve:
That, holding Justice not in awe,
I find no filial wrath upflame
Though bastard legislation shame
The household of her priestess, Law;
I find no filial wrath upflame
Though bastard legislation shame
The household of her priestess, Law;
130
But bear to see her bed defiled—
Nay, dare, unnaturally brave,
To strike my mother dead to save
Blind Faction's misbegotten child!
Nay, dare, unnaturally brave,
To strike my mother dead to save
Blind Faction's misbegotten child!
| Recaptured Rhymes | |