English drama (Comedy); English drama -- 17th century
_Wid._ No, no, never fear me for a reference, Mr. Serjeant. But
come, have you not forgot your brief? Are you sure you shan't make
the mistake of--hark you--[_Whispers._] Go then, go to your court of
Common-pleas, and say one thing over and over again: you do it so
naturally, you'll never be suspected for protracting time.
_Serj. Plod._ Come, I know the course of the court, and your business.
[_Exit._
_Wid._ Let's see, Jerry, where are my minutes? Come, Mr. Quaint, pray
go talk a great deal for me in chancery, let your words be easy, and
your sense hard; my cause requires it: branch it bravely, and deck my
cause with flowers, that the snake may lie hidden. Go, go, and be sure
you remember the decree of my Lord Chancellor, _Tricesimo quart'_ of
the queen.
_Quaint._ I will, as I see cause, extenuate or examplify matter of
fact; baffle truth with impudence; answer exceptions with questions,
though never so impertinent; for reasons give 'em words; for law and
equity, tropes and figures; and so relax and enervate the sinews of
their argument with the oil of my eloquence. But when my lungs can
reason no longer, and not being able to say anything more for our
cause, say everything of our adversary; whose reputation, though
never so clear and evident in the eye of the world, yet with sharp
invectives--
_Wid._ Alias, Billingsgate.
_Quaint._ With poignant and sour invectives, I say, I will deface, wipe
out, and obliterate his fair reputation, even as a record with the
juice of lemons; and tell such a story, (for the truth on't is, all
that we can do for our client in chancery, is telling a story,) a fine
story, a long story, such a story--
_Wid._ Go, save thy breath for the cause; talk at the bar, Mr. Quaint:
you are so copiously fluent, you can weary any one's ears sooner than
your own tongue. Go, weary our adversaries' counsel, and the court; go,
thou art a fine-spoken person: adad, I shall make thy wife jealous of
me, if you can but court the court into a decree for us. Go, get you
gone, and remember--[Whispers.]--[Exit QUAINT.]--Come, Mr. Blunder,
pray bawl soundly for me, at the King's-bench, bluster, sputter,
question, cavil; but be sure your argument be intricate enough to
confound the court; and then you do my business. Talk what you will,
but be sure your tongue never stand still; for your own noise will
secure your sense from censure: 'tis like coughing or hemming when
one has got the belly-ache, which stifles the unmannerly noise. Go,
dear rogue, and succeed; and I'll invite thee, ere it be long, to more
soused venison.
_Blund._ I'll warrant you, after your verdict, your judgment shall not
be arrested upon if's and and's. [_Exit._
_Wid._ Come, Mr. Petulant, let me give you some new instructions for
our cause in the Exchequer. Are the barons sat?
_Pet._ Yes, no; may be they are, may be they are not: what know I? what
care I?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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