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,
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;

Ile 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.

Omnia delibat, parcè sed et omnia, furti

Ut ne vel minimum videris indicium:

Omnia degustat tam parcè, 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 pares.
Vix furtum est illud, dicive injuria debet,
Quod cerâ, et multo melle rependit apis.

THE

INNOCENT THIEF.

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

The bee, never-wearied, a treasure.

Scarce any she quits unexplor'd,

With a diligence truly exact;

Yet, steal what she may for her hoard, Leaves evidence none of the fact.

Her lucrative task she pursues,

And pilfers with so much address, That none of their odour they lose,

Nor charm by their beauty the less.

Not thus inoffensively preys

The canker-worm, indwelling foe!

His voracity not thus allays

The sparrow, the finch, or the crow.

The worm, more expensively fed,

The pride of the garden devours; And birds peck the seed from the bed, Still less to be spar'd than the flow'rs.