Page:Carroll - Rhyme and Reason.djvu/186

170 While the charge of Insolvency fails, it is clear,
 * If you grant the plea 'never indebted.'

"The fact of Desertion I will not dispute:
 * But its guilt, as I trust, is removed

(So far as relates to the costs of this suit)
 * By the Alibi which has been proved.

"My poor client's fate now depends on your votes."
 * Here the speaker sat down in his place,

And directed the Judge to refer to his notes
 * And briefly to sum up the case.

But the Judge said he never had summed up before;
 * So the Snark undertook it instead,

And summed it so well that it came to far more
 * Than the Witnesses ever had said!

When the verdict was called for, the Jury declined,
 * As the word was so puzzling to spell;

But they ventured to hope that the Snark wouldn't mind
 * Undertaking that duty as well.