Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 24.pdf/582

 The Editor's Bag When the convicts meet up yonder. And change stripes for robes of white, In their minds will ofttimes ponder Over darkness turned to light. We will not be seeking a witness When we meet at the final bar. It will be self-made fitness Whether we find the gates ajar. In our future incubator-hatch We will find our joys galore, At that royal, glorious potlatch, When we meet on yonder shore.

JUDGES AS POETS (From the London Law Journal)

LORD JUSTICE KENNEDY'S translation of the 'Plutus' of Aristophanes into English verse, which has just been published by Mr. John Murray, is another pleasing instance of the association of the English bench with scholarship and poesy. Two other living judges have found a rest from their judicial labours in wandering about the slopes of Parnassus. Mr. Justice Ridley has rendered Lucan's 'Pharsalia' into blank verse, and Mr. Justice Darl ing is the author of 'On the Oxford Cir cuit' and other peoms. Blackstone, whose 'Farewell to my Muse,' has se cured for him a niche in the Temple of Fame apart from the larger one which he occupies as a jurist, deemed it neces sary to bid 'a long, a last adieu' to his Muse when the duties of the bench drew him to 'wrangling courts and stub born law.' But welcome business, welcome strife, Welcome the cares, the thorns of life, The visage wan, the poreblind sight, The toil by day, the lamp at night, The tedious forms, the solemn prate, The pert dispute, the dull debate, The drowsy bench, the babbling hall, For thee, fair Justice, welcome all.

No such obligation to renounce the Muses was recognized by Mr. Justice

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Talfourd, whose sudden death in the Assize Court at Stafford in the theme of the best of Mr. Justice Darling's poems; his tragedy 'Ion,' though writ ten before he became a judge, was pro duced at Sadler's Wells two years after he was raised to the bench, and he con tinued while wearing the ermine to dis play his gifts as a writer of dramatic verse. Most of the poets of the bench have, like Lord Justice Kennedy, been translators. Lord Bowen's literary gifts found expression in his translation of the '^Eneid,' while Mr. Justice Denman's most notable achievements were his trans lation of Gray's 'Elegy' into Greek elegaic verse and his rendering of the first book of the 'Iliad' into Latin. But both these scholarly judges could on occasion turn their hands very neatly to light verse. Blackstone would prob ably have considered the administra tion of justice a less doleful thing if it had been his happy lot to be the reci pient of a jeu d'esprit from Bowen's facile but fastidious pen. STARVING A JURYMAN SOME years ago there lived in Maine one Colonel Morse, who, unlike many citizens, was not only will ing but anxious to serve as juror. When the jury retired for consultation, the Colonel came forward as the leader, no matter who might be foreman. If his opinion was not followed, there would be a "hung jury." Once the Colonel's vanity was grati fied. He was made foreman of the jury empanelled to try an important case. The consultation was a long one, but it failed to bring about an agree ment. The Colonel led the jury back to the court room. "Have you agreed upon a verdict?" the clerk asked.