Excerpt
Justinian at Windermere We took a hundredweight of booksTo Windermere between us,Our dons had blessed our studious looks,Had they by chance but seen us. Maine, Blackstone, Sandars, all were there,And Hallam's Middle Ages,And Austin with his style so rare,And Poste's enticing pages. We started well: the little innWas deadly dull and quiet,As dull as Mrs. Wood's East Lynne,Or as the verse of Wyatt. Without distraction thus we readFrom nine until eleven,Then rowed and sailed until we fedOn potted char at seven. Two hours of work! We could devoteNext day to recreation,Much illness springs, so doctors note,From lack of relaxation. Let him read law on summer days,Who has a soul that grovels;Better one tale of Thackeray'sThan all Justinian's novels. At noon we went upon the lake,We could not stand the slownessOf our lone inn, so dined on steak(They called it steak) at Bowness. We wrestled with the steak, when lo!Rose Jack in such a hurry,He saw a girl he used to knowIn Suffolk or in Surrey. What matter which? to think that sheShould lure him from his duty!For Jack, I knew, would always beA very slave to beauty. And so it proved, alas! for JackGrew taciturn and thinner,Was out all day alone, and backToo often late for dinner. What could I do? His walks and rowsAll led to one conclusion;I could not read; our work, heaven knows,Was nothing but confusion. Like Jack I went about alone,Saw Wordsworth's writing-table,And made the higher by a stoneThe "man" upon Great Gable. At last there came a sudden pauseTo all his wanderings solus,He learned what writers on the lawsOf Rome had meant by dolus. The Suffolk (was it Surrey?) flirtWithout a pang threw overPoor Jack and all his works like dirt,And caught a richer lover. We read one morning more to sayWe had not been quite idle,And then to end the arduous dayEnjoyed a swim in Rydal. Next day the hundredweight of booksWas packed once more in cases,We left the lakes and hills and brooksAnd southward turned our faces. Three months, and then the Oxford Schools;Our unbelieving collegeSaw better than ourselves what foolsPretend sometimes to knowledge. Curst questions! Jack did only one,He gave as his opinionThat of the Roman jurists noneHad lived before Justinian. I answered two, but all I didWas lacking in discretion,I reckoned guardianship amidThe vitia of possession. My second shot was wider still,I held that commodataCould not attest a prætor's willBecause of culpa lata. We waited fruitlessly that night,There came no blue testamur,Nor was Jack's heavy heart made lightBy that sweet word Amamur.
Since the above was written, the testamur, like many other institutions dear to the old order of Oxford men, has been superseded.
A Vision of Legal Shadows A case at chambers left for my opinionHad taxed my brain until the noon of night,I read old law, and loathed the long dominionOf fiction over right....