Let me tell you, my Lords, this cause is no joke;
Says with a horse laugh my Lord Elliock[13]
To have read all the papers I pretend not to brag,
Says my Lord Gardenstone[14] with a snuff and a wag.
Up rose the President,[15] and an angry man was he,
To alter this judgment I never can agree;
The east wing said yes, and the west wing cried not,
And it carried ahere by my Lord's casting vote.
This cause being somewhat knotty and perplext,
Their Lordships not knowing what they'd determine next;
And as the session was to rise so soon,
They superseded extract till the 12th of June.
Part Second
Having lost it, so now we prepare for the summer,
And on the 12th of June presented a reclaimer;
But dreading a refuse, we gave Dundas[16] a fee,
And though it run nigh it was carried to see.
In order to bring aid from usage beyond,
The answers were drawn by quondam Mess John;[17]
He united with such art our law the civil,
That the counsel, on both sides, would have seen him to the devil.
The cause being called, my Lord Justice-Clerk,[18]
With all due respect, began a loud bark;
He appeal'd to his conscience, his heart, and from thence,
Concluded to alter, but give no expence.
Lord Stonefield,[19] unwilling his judgment to podder,
Or to be precipitate agreed with his brother;
But Monboddo[20] was clear the bill to enforce,
Because, he observed, 'twas the price of a horse.
Says Pitfour[21] with a wink and his hat all agee,
I remember a case in the year twenty-three,
The magistrates of Banff contra Robert Carr,
I remember well, I was then at the Bar.
Likewise, my Lords, in the case of Peter Caw,
Superflua non nocent was found to be law:
Lord Kennet[22] also quoted the case of one Lithgow
Where a penalty in a bill was held pro non scripto.