Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HOW THE LAWYERS GOT A PATRON SAINT; A LEGEND OF BRETAGNE, by JOHN GODFREY SAXE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HOW THE LAWYERS GOT A PATRON SAINT; A LEGEND OF BRETAGNE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A lawyer of brittany, once on a time
Last Line: Was touching the form of the devil!
Subject(s): Clergy; Legends; Pope, Alexander (1688-1744); Religion; Saints; Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops; Theology


A lawyer of Brittany, once on a time,
When business was flagging at home,
Was sent as a legate to Italy's clime,
To confer with the Father at Rome.

And what was the message the minister brought?
To the Pope he preferred a complaint
That each other profession a Patron had got,
While the Lawyers never had a Saint!

"Very true," said his Holiness,—smiling to find
An attorney so civil and plesant,—
"But my very last Saint is already assigned,
And I can't make a new one at present.

To choose from the Bar it were fittest, I think;
Perhaps you've a man in your eye"—
And his Holiness here gave a mischievous wink
To a Cardinal sitting near by.

But the lawyer replied, in a lawyer-like way,
"I know what is modest, I hope;
I didn’t come hither, allow me to say,
To proffer advice to the Pope!"

"Very well," said his Holiness, "then we will do
The best that may fairly be done;
It don’t seem exactly the thing, it is true,
That the Law should be Saint-less alone.

To treat your profession as well as I can,
And leave you no cause of complaint,
I propose, as the only quite feasible plan,
To give you a second-hand Saint.

To the neighboring church you will presently go,
And this is the plan I advise:—
First, say a few aves—a hundred or so—
Then carefully bandage your eyes;

Then (saying more aves) go groping around,
And, touch one object alone,
The Saint you are seeking will quickly be found,
For the first that you touch is your own."

The lawyer did as his Holiness said,
Without an omission or flaw;
Then, taking the bandages off from his head,
What do you think he saw?

There was St. Michael (figured in paint)
Subduing the Father of Evil;
And the lawyer, exclaiming "Be thou our Saint!"
Was touching the form of the DEVIL!





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