The assumption of the prancing winged horse by the one society, and the retention of the lamb by the other, have given rise to the following witty lines—
“As thro’ the Templars’ courts you go,
The lamb and horse displayed,
The emblematic figures show
The merits of their trade.
That clients may infer from hence
How just is their profession;
The lamb denotes their INNOCENCE,
The horse their EXPEDITION.
Oh, happy Britain! happy isle!
Let foreign nations say,
Here you get justice without guile,
And law without delay.”
ANSWER.
“Unhappy man! those courts forego,
Nor trust such cunning elves,
The artful emblems only show
Their clients, not themselves.
These all are tricks,
These all are shams,
With which they mean to cheat ye,
But have a care, for you’re the LAMBS,
And they the wolves that eat ye.
Nor let the plea of no delay
To these their courts misguide ye,
For you’re the PRANCING HORSE; and they
The jockeys that would ride you!”
CHAPTER XIV.
THE TEMPLE.
The Temple Garden—The erection of new buildings in the Temple—The dissolution of the order of the Hospital of Saint John—The law societies become lessees of the crown—The erection of the magnificent Middle Temple Hall—The conversion of the old hall into chambers—The grant of the inheritance of the Temple to the two law societies—Their magnificent present to his Majesty—Their antient orders and customs, and antient hospitality—Their grand entertainments—Reader’s feasts—Grand Christmasses and Revels—The fox-hunt in the hall—The dispute with the Lord Mayor—The quarrel with the custos of the Temple Church.
| “Plantagenet. | Great lords and gentlemen, what means this silence? Dare no man answer in a case of truth? |
| Suffolk. | Within the Temple Hall we were too loud: The GARDEN here is more convenient.” |
Shakspeare makes the Temple Garden, which is to this day celebrated for the beauty and profusion of its flowers, the scene of the choice of the white and red roses, as the badges of the rival houses of York and Lancaster. Richard Plantagenet and the earl of Somerset retire with their followers from the hall into the garden, where Plantagenet thus addresses the silent and hesitating bystanders:
“Since you are tongue-ty’d, and so loath to speak,
In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts:
Let him, that is a true-born gentleman,
And stands upon the honour of his birth,
If he suppose that I have pleaded truth,
From off this brier pluck a white rose with me.
Somerset. Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer,
But dare maintain the party of the truth,
Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me.
Warwick. I love no colours; and, without all colour
Of base insinuating flattery,
I pluck this white rope with Plantagenet.
Suffolk. I pluck this red rose with young Somerset,
And say withal I think he held the right.
········
Vernon. Then for the truth and plainness of the case,
I pluck this pale and maiden blossom here,
Giving my verdict on the white rose side.
Somerset. ... Come on, who else?
Lawyer. Unless my study and my books be false,
The argument you held was wrong in you;
In sign whereof I pluck a white rose too. [To Somerset.
········
Warwick. ... This brawl to-day,
Grown to this faction in the Temple Garden,
Shall send, between the red rose and the white,
A thousand souls to death and deadly night.”