ODE

ON THE DEATH OF A LADY,

Who lived one hundred Years, and died on her Birth-day, 1728.

ANCIENT dame, how wide and vast,
To a race like ours appears,

Rounded to an orb at last,

All thy multitude of years!

We the herd of human kind,

Frailer and of feebler pow'rs; We, to narrow bounds confin'd, Soon exhaust the sum of ours.

Death's delicious banquet-we

Perish even from the womb,

Swifter than a shadow flee,

Nourish'd but to feed the tomb.

Seeds of merciless disease

Lurk in all that we enjoy ;

Some, that waste us by degrees,
Some, that suddenly destroy.

And if life o'erleap the bourn

Common to the sons of men: What remains, but that we mourn, Dream, and doat, and drivel then?

Fast as moons can wax and wane,

Sorrow comes; and while we groan,

Pant with anguish and complain,

Half our years are fled and gone.

If a few, (to few 'tis giv'n,)

Ling'ring on this earthly stage,
Creep, and halt with steps uneven,
To the period of an age;

Wherefore live they, but to see

Cunning, arrogance, and force,
Sights lamented much by thee,

Holding their accustom'd course?

Oft was seen in ages past,

All that we with wonder view;

Often shall be to the last;

Earth produces nothing new.

Thee we gratulate; content,

Should propitious Heaven design

Life for us, as calmly spent,

Though but half the length of thine.

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 prizeat whatsoever cost.
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.

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 ove 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. Jnque 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 brevior vita, vel utilior.

THE SILK WORM.

THE beams of April, ere it goes,
A worm, scarce visible, disclose;
All winter long content to dwell
The tenant of his native shell.
The same prolifick season gives
The sustenance by which he lives.
The mulb'rry leaf, a simple store,

That serves him-till he needs no more i
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 PRÆDATRIX.

SECULA per campos nullo defessa labore,
In cella 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.
Omnia delibat, parce sed et omnia, furti,

Ut ne vel minimum videris indicium:
Omnia degustat tam parce, ut gratia nulla
Floribus, ut nullus diminuatur odor.
Non ita prædantur modice bruchique et erucæ ;
Non ista hortorum maxima pestis, aves;
Non ita raptores corvi, quorum improba rostra
Despoliant agros, effodiuntque sata.
Succos immiscens succis, ita suaviter omnes
Temperat, ut dederit chymia nulla parcs.
Vix furtum est illud, dicive injuria debet,
Quod cera, et multo melle rependit apis.

THE

INNOCENT THIEF.

Nor a flower can be found in the fields,
Or the spot that we till for our pleasure
From the largest to least, but it yields

To the bee, never wearied, a treasure