And as the rents were duly paid, Allowances were each term made; Became trustee and made reports, Term after term, to courts on courts. And long before the appeal was tried, The landlord sickened, grew worse, and died; His lawsuit, however, still survived, And duly was the cause revived. At last the leg was ordered sold; And the clerk — as clerk, receiver, trustee — With ref'rence, account, report, decree, With costs, expenses, and fee on fee — Allowed and due — completely up-ate The corpus — or limb — o' the trust estate; Which shows that the day 's exceeding cold When clerks are left wi' the bag to hold. The case is somewhere pending still; And never will be ending, till The court, for the clerk, on ref'rence, decrees, From the lawyer's estate, a balance of fees. The squire who sat when the cause was tried Has departed this life; all the lawyers have died; The landlord drank 's own liquor, — he's dead; The soldier 's gone to the realm where, it's said, They 've dispensed wi' saltpetre and villanous lead. The clerk, of all of the many lives In being at the time this suit was brought, Still lives and prospers; and, I 'm told, he bought The leg at the sale, — and the leg survives.
LEG-NOTES. Wooden foot-notes, explanatory of the text, cut by the author from the stump to fit a wooden leg. For the longer of these notes the author is indebted to Mr. Story's law books. 1 " E-leg-it," the common-law writ of elegit, which the debtor might choose instead of fiery facias. The judgment debtor might also have a writ of extent, wherewith to put the debtor upon the rack, to the extent of his income. 1 "Recoup," where the defendant may "cut back "or "set off" his damages against those laid by the plaintiff. In this case both parties seem to have had a bad case of damnum absque injuria, which is where
