A few years ago a sign of one of the Durham inns was removed, and sent
to Chester-le-Street, by way of a frolic. It was generally supposed that
the feat was achieved by some of the legal students then in that city;
and a respectable attorney there was so fully persuaded of it, that he
immediately began to make inquiries corroborative of his suspicions. The
circumstances drew forth the following epigram from our friend T. Q. M.,
which has never appeared in print.
From one of our inns was a sign taken down.
And sent by some wags to a neighbouring town.
To a limb of the law the freak caus’d much vexation,
And he went through the streets making wild lamentation;
And breathing revenge on the frolicsome sparks,
Who, he had not a doubt, were the “gentlemen clerks.”[363]
From the _prophets_ methinks we may inference draw
To prove how _perverse_ was this man of the _law_.
For we find it inscrib’d in the pages divine--
“A _perverse_ generation looks after _a sign_!”
[363] A favourite expression of the legal gentleman alluded to.
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