There's a verse from this poem in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations: "Alone from jargon born to rescue law From precedent, grave hum and formal saw To strip chicanery from its vain pretence And marry Common Law to Common Sense" Does anyone know the rest of it? Lloyd lived from 1733 - 1764, and the poem is about the reformist Lord Chancellor of the time, Lord Mansfield (William Murray). It seems to be an 18th century plea for plain language in the law. Things never change, do they? 'Hum' means a sham or hoax, and 'saw' is a maxim or proverb. I've looked high and low in libraries and second-hand bookshops but haven't yet found a single volume of Lloyd's, although as he died young, I don't suppose he had time to create much in the way of product. Some anthologies have one or two of his other poems but not this one. Can anyone help?
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