TALE I. THE DUMB ORATORS; OR, THE BENEFIT OF SOCIETY. With fair round belly, with good capon lined, With eyes severe Full of wise saws and modern instances. - As You Like It. Let's kill all the lawyers; Now show yourselves men: 't is for liberty: We will not leave one lord or gentleman. 2 Henry VI. And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges. Twelfth Night. (1) (1) These mottoes are many, because there is a reference in them not orly to the characters, but frequently to the incidents also; and they are all taken from Shakspeare, because I could more readily find them in his scenes, than in the works of any other poet to whom I could have recourse. 155 TALE I. THE DUMB ORATORS. THAT all men would be cowards if they dare, In contest mighty, and of conquest proud, Was Justice Bolt (1), impetuous, warm, and loud; His fame, his prowess all the country knew, And disputants, with one so fierce, were few : He was a younger son, for law design'd, With dauntless look and persevering mind; While yet a clerk, for disputation famed, No efforts tired him, and no conflicts tamed. Scarcely he bade his master's desk adieu, When both his brothers from the world withdrew. (1) [The original of Justice Bolt was Dr. Franks, of Alderton, on the Norfolk coast a truly worthy man, but a rather pompous magistrate.] An ample fortune he from them possess'd, He would the rights of all so well maintain, All this and more he purposed-and what man Could do, he did to realise his plan : But time convinced him that we cannot keep A breed of reasoners like a flock of sheep; For they, so far from following as we lead, Make that a cause why they will not proceed. Man will not follow where a rule is shown, But loves to take a method of his own: Explain the way with all your care and skill, This will he quit, if but to prove he will.. Yet had our Justice honour-and the crowd, Awed by his presence, their respect avow'd. In later years he found his heart incline, More than in youth, to gen'rous food and wine; But no indulgence check'd the powerful love He felt to teach, to argue, and reprove. Meetings, or public calls, he never miss'd To dictate often, always to assist. |