'I thank you,' quoth the Knight, for that, Because 'tis to my purpose pat'—

For Justice, though she 's painted blind, Is to the weaker side inclined,

Like Charity; else right and wrong

Could never hold it out so long,

And, like blind Fortune, with a sleight,

Convey men's interest and right

From Stiles's pocket into Nokes's,

As easily as Hocus Pocus;

Plays fast and loose, makes men obnoxious;

And clear again, like hiccius doctius.

Then, whether you would take her life,
Or but recover her for

your wife,
Or be content with what she has,
And let all other matters pass,
The business to the law 's alone,
The proof is all it looks upon;
And you can want no witnesses,
To swear to any thing you please,
That hardly get their mere expenses
By the' labour of their consciences,
Or letting out, to hire, their ears
To affidavit-customers,

At inconsiderable values,

To serve for jurymen, or talés,

Although retain'd in the' hardest matters
Of trustees and administrators.'

For that,' quoth he, let me alone;
We 'ave store of such, and all our own,
Bred up and tutor❜d by our Teachers,
The ablest of conscience-stretchers."

'That's well,' quoth he, but I should guess,

By weighing all advantages,

6

Your surest way is first to pitch
On Bongey for a water-witch:
And when ye'ave hang'd the conjurer,
Ye 'ave time enough to deal with her.
In the' interim, spare for no trepans
To draw her neck into the banns;
Ply her with love-letters and billets,
And bait them well, for quirks and quillets,
With trains to' inveigle and surprise
Her heedless answers and replies;
And if she miss the mouse-trap lines,
They'll serve for other by-designs;
And make an artist understand

Το

copy

out her seal, or hand;

Or find void places in the paper
To steal in something to entrap her;
Till with her worldly goods, and body,
Spite of her heart, she has endow'd
Retain all sorts of witnesses,

That ply i' the' Temples, under trees,

ye.

Or walk the round, with Knights o' the' Posts,
About the cross-legg'd knights, their hosts;
Or wait for customers between

The pillar-rows in Lincoln's-Inn;
Where vouchers, forgers, common-bail,
And affidavit men ne'er fail

To' expose to sale all sorts of oaths,
According to their ears and clothes,

6 Bongey was a Franciscan, and lived towards the end of the thirteenth century, a doctor of divinity in Oxford, and a particular acquaintance of Friar Bacon's. In that ignorant age every thing that seemed extraordinary was reputed magic, and so both Bacon and Bongey went under the imputation of studying the black art.

Their only necessary tools,
Besides the Gospel, and their souls;
And when ye're furnish'd with all
I shall be ready at your service.'

purveys,

I would not give,' quoth Hudibras
، A straw to understand a case,
Without the admirable skill
To wind and manage it at will;
To veer, and tack, and steer a cause,
Against the weather-gage of laws;
And ring the changes upon cases,
As plain as noses upon faces,
have well instructed me,

As

you

For which you 'ave earn'd, (here 'tis) your fee.
I long to practise your advice,
And try the subtle artifice;
To bait a letter, as you bid.'-
As, not long after, thus he did;
For, having pump'd up all his wit,
And humm'd upon it, thus he writ.