To catch in knotted law, like nets;
In which, when men are once imbrangled,
The more they stir, the more they’re tangled.”
The founders of New England had little sympathy with, and made no provision for, legal legerdemain. They were much too earnest and honest to admire that kind of justice which Pope has satirized:
“Once—says an author, where I need not say—
Two travellers found an oyster in their way:
Both fierce, both hungry, the dispute grew strong,
When, scale in hand, dame Justice passed along.
Before her each with clamor pleads the laws,
Explains the matter, and would win the cause.