They May Be Old, But Not Necessarily Archaic.
“O! then, I see, Queen Mab hath been with you ….
“She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes …
“O’er lawyers’ fingers, who straight dream on fees.” –SHAKESPEARE, Romeo and Juliet, Act I, scene 4.
“While in bed the sick man’s lying,
“While in Court your client’s cause you’re trying,
“That’s the time to get your fee.
“For, when the sick man has recovered,
“And the lawsuit’s won or smothered,
“He will never think of thee.” –UNKNOWN; inscribed on the walls of the University of Bologna, Italy, in the 13th century.
“Ask for what Price thy Venial Tongue was sold:
“A rusty Gammon of some sev’n Years old:
“Tough, wither’d Treuffles; ropy wine, a Dish
“Of shotten Herring, or stale stinking Fish.
“For four times talking, if one piece thou take,
“That must be cantled, and the Judge go snack.” –JUVENAL, Satires VII (Dryden trans.)
To put in context, lawyers were paid in goods or produce at the time. “Venial” means trifling; “rusty gammon” is old ham; “treuffles” are scallions; “ropy wine” is wine having long chain polymers and increased viscosity due to the interaction of lactic acid; “shotten Herring” is gutted or dried herring;“cantled” means apportioned out or shared. On the extreme occasions that a client paid with a gold piece, the judge took a “snack,” or a share of the “cantled” gold piece. Doesn’t make collecting receivables look so bad, does it?
Thanks and acknowledgments to McNamara, 2,000 Famous Legal Quotations, “Fees,” pp. 214, 216 (Lawyers Co-Operative Pub. Co. 1967).