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MY FIRST BRIEF.

[Illustration]

When you, my first brief, were delivered,
Every fibre in me quivered
With delight. I seemed to see
Myself admitted a Q.C.;
Piles of briefs upon the table,
More work to do than I was able;
Clients scrambling for advice,
Then LORD CHANCELLOR in a trice.

I seized my virgin pencil blue,
Marked and perused you through and through.
The story brief, instructions short,
Defendant in a County Court,
It needed not an ounce of sense
To see that you had no defence.
But, erudite in English law,
I fashioned bricks without the straw.

Around my chamber-floor I sped.
Harangued the book-case on each head;
DEMOSTHENES and CICERO
On hearing me had cried a go.
Then I must own that I was nettled--