[ Victorian women and the legal profession. ] Illustrated humorous manuscript valentine poem, in the form of a 'Brief | for the opinion of Mr Harington', on what would happen if the 'ladies' appeared 'in wig and gown', with '”chambers” up in town.'

Author: 
[ Victorian women and the legal profession ] [ Sir Richard Harington (1861-1931) of Ridlington, 12th Baronet, judge ]
Publication details: 
[ London. ] Dated at head 'February 13th. A.D. 1890'.
£120.00
SKU: 19650

3pp., 4to. Bifolium. Folded in customary fashion, with 'Brief | for the opinion of Mr Harington' on the outside of the packet, beneath which, in another hand: 'Feby 14th. 1890 | Richard Harington Esq'. The author's hand is clearly disguised, as is usual with valentines, the writing being markedly ornate. There are various crude drawings in the margins, ranging from images of a barrister and a woman, faces of two women (one smoking a pipe), to small representations of cigar boxes, briefs and books. The text of the poem, which is unpublished, reads: 'I sit me down and take my pen | And write to you this line | To greet you as in former years. | Upon Saint Valentine | * * * | Another year has rolled away | Since February last | And think of all those briefs & balls | Now reckoned with the past. | And may you of the latter have | Enough to renovate you | And joined with these, this year, I hope | Ten thousand briefs await you. | But I must further add – I trust | That “Hawky” will have done | And not keep you all sitting up | Till some time after one! | You say some day that ladies will | Appear in wig and gown | And armed with blue bags & with briefs | Have “chambers” up in Town. | Its rather sad to think of it | What would you poor men do | If your briefs went to Mrs. A | Instead of going to you? | The Judge must be a lady too - | (I'd quite forgotten that) | But we've no ladies now-a-days | To sit as Portia sat | And then to think if all the girls | Were so Su-per-i-or | There'd be no dancing & no fun | All would give way to law. | No, no, I'm a conservative | And you'll agree with me | Let men remain the barristers | And women what they be!' Last four lines, and the word 'Su-per-i-or' in red ink, the rest in black. From the Harington family papers. Sir Richard Harington of Ridlington, 12th Baronet, was educated at Eton and Christ College, Cambridge. Called to the Bar in 1886, he practised as a barrister on the Oxford Circuit before taking up an appointment as a Puisne Judge in the High Court of Justice at Fort William in Bengal in 1899, serving in that capacity until returning home in 1913. In later years he acted as Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Herefordshire.