Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 15.pdf/297

 258

THE SIX CARPENTERS' CASE. In the King's Bench, Michaelmas Term, 1610. Reported in 8 Coke, 146a. BY J. B. S. FYTTE THE FIRST.

Six carpenters once sat down to drink In the Queen's Head Inn, at Cripplegate; (Twas four by the clock of the afternoon) And mine host and his guests were feeling first rate. "Some wine, Master Vaux," the guests bawl out. "How much, an' it please you," the host replies. "A quart at the least;" the host makes haste, And it bubbles and sparkles beneath their eyes. They emptied the mug and they smacked their lips, And paid for the spirits the price he set. "More wine and some bread!" the jolly six cried, And the order was neatly and properly met. FYTTE THE SECOND.

"Good morrow," quoth Tom, and he rises to go. "Good morrow," quoth Vaux, "but who pays for the drinks?" "Not I," William says, as he feels for his purse, But discovers therein not a metal that clinks; Jack makes his regrets, but no money he has; Harry says that his credit's as good as pure gold; Dick and Francis remember engagements to keep, And mine host, not his wine, 't :s appears to be sold, Master Vaux, nothing daunted, demanded his pay, And caught at his guests and requested the pence. But they 'saulted and battered the host it would seem, And rapidly hied them unfeelingly hence. FYTTE THE THIRD.

Next morning in court Master Vaux airs his woes; The six jolly topers sit sober and pale, For his claim is no longer for spirits and bread— An eightpence at most—the amount of the sale. But trespassers they from the ent'ring his door— "Non-feasance ain't trespass," the six whiskered low— His leave and his license they lost by their tort, And were trespassers all ab in-it-io. The six heaved a sigh and were feeling depressed, When Chief Justice Coke, in a spirit of play,