VICTORIA FORENSIS.

CAIO cum Titio lis et vexatio longa
Sunt de vicini proprietate soli.

Protinus ingentes animos in jurgia sumunt,
Utraque vincendi pars studiosa nimis.

Lis tumet in schedulas, et jam verbosior, et jam:
Nec verbum quodvis asse minoris emunt.

Prætereunt menses, et terminus alter et alter;

Quisque novos sumptus, alter et alter, habent. Ille querens, hic respondens pendente vocatur Lite; sed ad finem litis uterque querens.

THE CAUSE WON.

Two neighbours furiously dispute;
A field-the subject of the suit.

Trivial the spot, yet such the

rage

With which the combatants engage,

"Twere hard to tell, who covets most
The prize-at whatsoever cost. § &q pat
The pleadings swell. Words still suffice;
No single word but has its price:

No term but yields some fair pretence
For novel and increas'd expense. zil

Defendant thus becomes a name, Which he, that bore it, may disclaim; Since both, in one description blended, Are plaintiffs-when the suit is ended.

BOMBYX.

FINE sub Aprilis Bombyx excluditur ovo
Reptilis exiguo corpore vermiculus.

Frondibus hic mori, volvox dum fiat adultus,
Gnaviter incumbens, dum satietur, edit.

Crescendo ad justum cum jam maturuit ævum,
Incipit artifici stamine textor opus:

Filaque condensans filis, orbem implicat orbi,
Et sensim in gyris conditus ipse latet.
Inque cadi teretem formam se colligit, unde
Egrediens pennas papilionis habet;

Fitque parens tandem, fœtumque reponit in

ovis;

Hoc demum extremo munere functus obit.

Quotquot in hac nostra spirant animalia terra Nulli est vel brévior vita, vel utilior.

THE

SILK WORM.

THE beams of April, ere it goes, 201
A worm, scarce visible, disclose;

All winter long content to dwell
The tenant of his native shell.

The same prolific season gives

The sustenance by which he lives,

The mulb'rry-leaf, a simple store,

That serves him-till he needs no more!
For, his dimensions once complete,

Thenceforth none ever sees him eat;

Though, till his growing time be past,
Scarce ever is he seen to fast.

That hour arriv'd, his work begins;

He spins and weaves, and weaves and spins ;

Till circle upon circle wound

Careless around him and around,

Conceals him with a veil, though slight,

Impervious to the keenest sight.

Thus self-enclos'd, as in a cask,

At length he finishes his task :

And, though a worm, when he was lost,

Or caterpillar at the most,

When next we see him, wings he wears,

And in papilio-pomp appears;

Becomes oviparous; supplies

With future worms and future flies,
The next ensuing year;-and dies!
Well were it for the world, if all
Who creep about this earthly ball,
Though shorter-liv'd than most he be,
Were useful in their kind as he.

INNOCENS PREDATRIX.

SEDULA per campos nullo defessa labore,
In cellâ ut stipet mella, vagatur apis,
Purpureum vix florem opifex prætervolat unum,
Innumeras inter quas alit hortus opes;

Herbula gramineis vix una innascitur agris,
Thesauri unde aliquid non studiosa legit.
A flore ad florem transit, mollique volando
Delibat tactu suave quod intus habent.