What most his folly doth augment, Is to attain each point desir'd, To battle, for the destined treasure; As April rays, the wav'ring mind and unsteady humour of mankind; kings would be gods; lords would be kings: every captain would prove an Alexander; and every beggar an independent gentleman: and yet, if it were possible to change their several stations at pleasure, a something would still be wanting to realize the scene of fancied happiness; and it is therefore most certain, that he who knows and enjoys the least, approximates the nearest to that most envied of earthly states content. Un certo è meglio che dieci incerti. L'ENVOY OF THE POET. Curb, in thy bosom, ev'ry changeful thought; And o'er thy wishes hold the steady rein, For he who's fancy's fool, is folly fraught; Grasping mere phantoms of his idiot brain. THE POET'S CHORUS TO FOOLS. Come, trim the boat, row on each Rara Avis, Crowds flock to man my Stultifera Navis. SECTION XXXV. OF FOOLS WHO GO TO LAW FOR TRIFLES. Cum licet fugere, ne quære litem THE fool, who doth at trifles claw; * Time hath been when this nation was priest ridden, but now we are law ridden. Not that the professional gentlemen are so much to blame; for it is their province to exist on the folly of others: and if mankind will squabble about straws, lawyers are in the right to profit by their want of reason. As for my own part, I perfectly agree with the old French proverb, "Bon avocat, mauvais voisin ;" and will endeavour to profit by the advice, while it shall please Hea And from the rich alike will steal ven to make me a sojourner on this side of the grave. Merciful powers! How much do I feel pity for that fool who, as Butler saith, -Believes no voice t'an organ, So sweet as lawyer's in his bar gown; They're catch'd in knotted law, like nets: There's no end of th' immortal suit. In the rolls of parliament, A. D. 1445, is a petition from the commons of two counties, showing, that the number of attorneys had increased from eight to twenty-four, whereby the peace of those counties had been greatly interrupted by suits: the commons, therefore, petitioned that it may be ordained, that there shall be no more than six common attorneys for Norfolk, six for Suffolk, and two for the city of Norwich. Any other person, acting as an attorney, to forfeit 20s. They granted the prayer of the petition, provided the judges thought it reasonable! Widow Blackacre, in Wycherley's excellent comedy of The plain Dealer, is a most finished picture of this species of folly; neither can the writer refrain from noticing the anecdote of a noble peer, who complained to a friend, that Р Just like the sheep that, in a storm, he had a blood horse so excessively spirited, as to defy all attempts at breaking In; and that no place was sufficiently strong to contain him. "Say not so:" replied the gentleman, "do you but put him in the Court of Chancery, and I'll be bound he will never get out again." Alexander Stevens, in his Lecture on Heads, used also to relate the facetious story of Bullam versus Boatum, which was a very fair sarcasm on this kind of legal warfare: for no country can boast more obstinacy and folly, on litigious points, than my own native island. Le litti non generanto, mai amicizia. The subjoined paragraph will, it is conceived, prove a further elucidation of the poet's meaning: The following was copied from the New Jersey Journal: "To be sold, on the 8th of July, 131 suits in law, the property of an eminent attorney, about to retire from business. Note, the clients are rich and obstinate!" |