_First Lawyer, Second Lawyer, Giovanni._
_Air_--“Soldier, gave me one Pound.”
_First Lawyer._
Giovanni, give me one pound.
_Second Lawyer._
Giovanni, give me two.
_First Lawyer._
Trial it comes on to-day;
_Second Lawyer._
And nothing we can do.
_First Lawyer._
You must give a fee,
Both to me--
_Second Lawyer._
And me.
_Both Lawyers._
For, oh! the law’s a mill
that without grist will never go.
_Giovanni._
Lawyer, there is one pound;
(_to second Lawyer_)
Lawyer, there are two;
(_to first Lawyer_)
And now I am without a pound,
Thanks to the law and you.
For, oh! I feel the law
Has clapp’d on me its paw;
And, oh! the law’s a mill
that without grist will never go.
~Collop Monday.~
The Monday before Shrove Tuesday is so called because it was the last
day of flesh-eating before Lent, and our ancestors cut their fresh meat
into collops, or steaks, for salting or hanging up till Lent was over;
and hence, in many places, it is still a custom to have eggs and
collops, or slices of bacon, at dinner on this day. The Rev. Mr. Bowles
communicates to his friend Mr. Brand, that the boys in the neighbourhood
of Salisbury go about before Shrove-tide singing these lines:
Shrove-tide is nigh at hand,
And I am come a shroving;
Pray, dame, something,
An apple or a dumpling,
Or a piece of Truckle cheese
Of your own making,
Or a piece of pancake.
Polydore Virgil affirms of this season and its delicacies, that it
sprung from the feasts of Bacchus, which were celebrated in Rome with
rejoicings and festivity at the same period. This, therefore, is another
adoption of the Romish church from the heathens; and it is observed by
Brand, that on Shrove Monday it was a custom with the boys at Eton to
write verses concerning Bacchus, in all kinds of metre, which were
affixed to the college doors, and that Bacchus’ verses “are still
written and put up on this day.” The Eton practice is doubtless a
remnant of the catholic custom.
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