North Brixton.
Before this talented judge was advanced to the bench, he amused himself and
instructed his clients by occasional _metrical_ notes, of which the annexed
is a specimen. To make it intelligible to those whom it may _not_ concern,
I must add an explanation by the attorney in the suit, who has obligingly
placed the learned serjeant's notes at my disposal. This gentleman says:
"These notes are in the margin of a brief held by the serjeant as leading
counsel in an action of ejectment brought against a person named Rock, in
1842. In converting into rhyme the evidence of the witness Hopkins, as set
out in the brief, he has adhered strictly to the statements, whilst he has
at the same time seized the prominent points of the testimony as supporting
the case."
John Hopkins will identify the spot,
Unless his early sports are quite forgot,
And from his youngest recollection show
The house fell down some forty years ago.
And then--a case of adverse claim to meet,
Show how the land lay open to the street;
And there the children held their harmless rambles,
Till Robert Woolwich built his odious shambles,
And never did the playmates fear a shock,
From anything so hateful as a _Rock_.
Perhaps the above may elicit from other quarters similar contributions;
indeed, any memorial of the friend of Charles Lamb must be precious to the
Muse.