---
title: "Extempore in the Court of Session"
subtitle: "Lord Advocate"
author: "Robert Burns"
form: "Song"
year: "1787"
tune: "Killiercrankie"
location: "Edinburgh"
source: "Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns"
source_url: "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt"
canonical_url: "https://robert-burns.com/poems/extempore-in-the-court-of-session/"
---

# Extempore in the Court of Session

### Lord Advocate

## Song
He clenched his pamphlet in his fist,  
He quoted and he hinted,  
Till, in a declamation-mist,  
His argument he tint it:  
He gaped for’t, he graped for’t,  
He fand it was awa, man;  
But what his common sense came short,  
He eked out wi’ law, man.

Mr. Erskine

Collected, Harry stood awee,  
Then open’d out his arm, man;

His Lordship sat wi’ ruefu’ e’e,  
And ey’d the gathering storm, man:  
Like wind-driven hail it did assail’  
Or torrents owre a lin, man:  
The Bench sae wise, lift up their eyes,  
Half-wauken’d wi’ the din, man.

## Footnotes
1. William Dunbar, W. S., of the Crochallan Fencibles, a convivial club.

---

Source: [Project Gutenberg #1279 — Poems and Songs of Robert Burns](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1279/pg1279.txt)  
Canonical HTML: https://robert-burns.com/poems/extempore-in-the-court-of-session/