CANTO III.]
HUDIBRAS.
415
Which he may 'dhere to, yet disown,
For reasons to himself best known; 550
But 'tis not to b' avoided now,
For Sidrophel resolves to sue;
Whom I must answer, or begin,
Inevitably, first with him;
For I've receiv'd advertisement, 555
By times enough, of his intent;
And knowing he that first complains
Th' advantage of the bus'ness gains;
For courts of justice understand
The plaintiff to be eldest hand; 560
Who what he pleases may aver,
The other, nothing till he swear;[1]
Is freely admitted to all grace,
And lawful favour, by his place;
And, for his bringing custom in, 565
Has all advantages to win:
I, who resolve to oversee
No lucky opportunity,
Will go to counsel, to advise
Which way t' encounter, or surprise, 570
And after long consideration,
Have found out one to fit th' occasion,
Most apt for what I have to do,
As counsellor, and justice too.[2]
And truly so, no doubt, he was, 575
A lawyer fit for such a case.
An old dull sot, who told the clock,[3]
For many years at Bridewell-dock,
At Westminster, and Hicks's-hall,
And hiccius doctius[4] play'd in all; 580
For reasons to himself best known; 550
But 'tis not to b' avoided now,
For Sidrophel resolves to sue;
Whom I must answer, or begin,
Inevitably, first with him;
For I've receiv'd advertisement, 555
By times enough, of his intent;
And knowing he that first complains
Th' advantage of the bus'ness gains;
For courts of justice understand
The plaintiff to be eldest hand; 560
Who what he pleases may aver,
The other, nothing till he swear;[1]
Is freely admitted to all grace,
And lawful favour, by his place;
And, for his bringing custom in, 565
Has all advantages to win:
I, who resolve to oversee
No lucky opportunity,
Will go to counsel, to advise
Which way t' encounter, or surprise, 570
And after long consideration,
Have found out one to fit th' occasion,
Most apt for what I have to do,
As counsellor, and justice too.[2]
And truly so, no doubt, he was, 575
A lawyer fit for such a case.
An old dull sot, who told the clock,[3]
For many years at Bridewell-dock,
At Westminster, and Hicks's-hall,
And hiccius doctius[4] play'd in all; 580
- ↑ An answer to a bill in chancery is always upon oath;—a petition not so.
- ↑ Probably the poet had his eye on some particular person here. The old annotator says it was Edmund Prideaux; but the respectable and wealthy Attorney-General of that name cannot have been meant. The portrait must have been taken from some one of a much lower class. A pettifogging lawyer named Siderfin is said with more probability to have been intended.
- ↑ The puisné judge was formerly called the Tell-clock; as supposed to be not much employed, but listening how the time went.
- ↑ Cant words used by jugglers, corrupted perhaps from hic est inter doctos. See note on hocus pocus, at line 716.
