Song Lyric of the Day (W.S. Gilbert, on the Rise of an English ‘Learned Judge’)

“At Westminster Hall I danced a dance,

    Like a semi-despondent fury;

For I thought I never should hit on a chance

    Of addressing a British Jury—

But I soon got tired of third-class journeys,

    And dinners of bread and water;

So I fell in love with a rich attorney's

    Elderly, ugly daughter….

“The rich attorney, he jumped with joy,

    And replied to my fond professions:

‘You shall reap the rewards of your pluck, my boy,

    At the Bailey and Middlesex sessions.

You'll soon get used to her looks,’ said he,

    ‘And a very nice girl you will find her!

 She may very well pass for forty-three

    In the dusk, with a light behind her!’"—English lyricist W.S. Gilbert (1836-1911), “When I, Good Friends, Was Called to the Bar,” in the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Trial by Jury (1875)

(The image accompanying this post shows Frederic Sullivan, brother of Gilbert’s songwriting partner Arthur Sullivan, in the role of the “Learned Judge” in the original production of Trial by Jury.)