The Volokh Conspiracy

Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent

Queen Caroline

|The Volokh Conspiracy |


Queen Caroline, the wife of King George IV, was put on trial (in effect) before Parliament in 1820, on charges of adultery. One of her lawyers cited the Bible passage that ends with Jesus saying, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." This may have been inapt, since the defense was arguing that Caroline was factually innocent, whereas Jesus's was that we should forgive even the guilty (since none of us is without sin). But in any event, this led an unknown wag to write,

Most Gracious Queen, we thee implore
To go away and sin no more
Or if that effort be too great
To go away at any rate.

For some reason this passage has been going through my mind.