24. EPITAPH ON BROOKS

ALAS! that Brooks, returned to dust
  Should pay at length the debt that we,
Averse to parchment, mortgage, trust,
  Shall pay, when forced, as well as he.

And die so poor, too! He whose trade
  Such profits cleared by draught and deed,
Though pigeons called him murmuring Brooks
  And dipped their bills in him at need.

At length his last; conveyance see,
  Each witness mournful as a brother,
To think that this world’s mortgagee
  Must suffer judgment in another!

Where no appeals to court can rest,
  Reversing a Supreme decree,
But each decision stands expressed
  A final precedent in re.