"funny half-mad"  [Biddle, on Pound] ?
 
"The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless
when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion, the public Safety may require it."
 
"... I mean ain't he [A.G. Biddle] young enuf to turn over a new leaf and
admit the country warn't invaded when they stopped habeas corpus..." [EP]
 
When Pound uses this rough American idiolect, it more often than not signals
a desire to speak plain -- to refresh his audience's recollection of a time
when language in America, especially legal language, was simpler and purer,
and arguments were made without sophistry.
 
If Biddle had been "well acquainted" with Pound's works, as Jonathan Morse
has claimed, Biddle would have understood the rhetorical purpose behind this
"funny" talk.
 
Tim Romano