Till some attorney comes to bless
With _a rule nisi to compute_.


No. 2.--SIGNING A PLEA.

Oh, how oft when alone at the close of the day
I've sat in that Court where the fig-tree don't grow
And wonder'd how I, without money, should pay
The little account to my laundress below!
And when I have heard a quick step on the stair,
I've thought which of twenty rich duns it could be,
I have rush'd to the door in a fit of despair,
And--_received ten and sixpence for signing a plea_.

CHORUS.--Signing a plea, signing a plea!
Received ten and sixpence for signing a plea.

They may talk as they will of the pleasure that's found.
When venting in verse our despondence and grief;
But the pen of the poet was ne'er, I'll be bound,
Half so pleasantly used as in signing a brief.
In soft declarations, though rapture may lie,
If the maid to appear to your suit willing be,
But ah I could write till my inkstand was dry,
And die in the act--yes--of signing a plea.

CHORUS.--Signing a plea, signing a plea!
Die in the act--yes--of signing a plea.