And pay, yet have something to spare;

He may pass the “Insolvent Debtors’ Court,”

And merge at the most nearly bare.

But if once in a Chancery suit he’s caught,

Though the world be all his own,

In those hungry clutches, ’twill be as nought,

And they’ll fight for his skin and bone.

For a gem in its way, spite of evil report,

Is the sacred shade of a Chancery Court.

From Grins and Groans, Social and Political,
(London, W. Swan Sonnenschein & Co.)