Lord President brought his chair to the plum,
Laid hold of the bench and brought forward his bum;
In these answers, my Lords, some freedoms have been used,
Which I could point out, provided I chus'd.
I was for this interlocutor, my Lords, I admit,
But am open to conviction as long's I here do sit;
To oppose your precedents I quote you some clauses,
But Tait[23] a priori hurried up the causes.
He prov'd it as clear as the sun in the sky
That the maxims of law could not here apply,
That the writing in question was neither bill nor band
But something unknown in the law of the land.
The question adhere or alter being put,
It carried to alter by a casting vote:
Baillie then mov'd.—In the bill there's a raze,
But by that time their Lordships had called a new case.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Wight: a well-known advocate of the period.
[2] Baillie: Lord Palkemmet.
[3] Afterwards Lord Eskgrove.
[4] The father of James Boswell.
[5] Afterwards Lord Braxfield.