 | Beasts at law, or zoologian jurisprudence |  |
“Still the defendant did not fall....
For, had he yielded to her call,
The fiend of lust had been appeased,
And Capra with the Mastiff pleased;
No prosecution had been seen,
Nor love have changed to hate and spleen.
But he rejected her desires,
Till they assumed infernal fires;
Her blasted hopes were turn'd to rage,
And she resolved this war to wage.
Panting for vengeance, still she fear'd
The Mastiff was so much revered,
That her bare, unsupported tale,
Would in the cause of vengeance fail;
And, therefore, potent means devised
By which the Dog might be surprised.
Could he be frightened to confession
Of any action like transgression,
She thought the work would be complete,
And Canis would with shame retreat;
So organised an inquisition,
Of beasts just fitted for the mission.
Felis, a Cat of tarnished fame,
Whose jealousy she could inflame,
Was chosen as a proper tool,
Asinus next, and then the Mule;
The latter from the flock expell'd,
She knew would gladly take the field;
While she could lead, whene'er she chose,
The meek Asinus by the nose.
The council met, in dread array,
Their accusations to display,
And taking Canis by surprise,
They conjure up before his eyes,
A host of dangers that await
His hardened, unconfessing state;
Till, quite bewildered, he confest
Some foolish speech he had exprest;
And thus confiding—[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
For, had he yielded to her call,
The fiend of lust had been appeased,
And Capra with the Mastiff pleased;
No prosecution had been seen,
Nor love have changed to hate and spleen.
But he rejected her desires,
Till they assumed infernal fires;
Her blasted hopes were turn'd to rage,
And she resolved this war to wage.
Panting for vengeance, still she fear'd
The Mastiff was so much revered,
That her bare, unsupported tale,
Would in the cause of vengeance fail;
And, therefore, potent means devised
By which the Dog might be surprised.
Could he be frightened to confession
Of any action like transgression,
She thought the work would be complete,
And Canis would with shame retreat;
So organised an inquisition,
Of beasts just fitted for the mission.
Felis, a Cat of tarnished fame,
Whose jealousy she could inflame,
Was chosen as a proper tool,
Asinus next, and then the Mule;
The latter from the flock expell'd,
She knew would gladly take the field;
While she could lead, whene'er she chose,
The meek Asinus by the nose.
94
Their accusations to display,
And taking Canis by surprise,
They conjure up before his eyes,
A host of dangers that await
His hardened, unconfessing state;
Till, quite bewildered, he confest
Some foolish speech he had exprest;
And thus confiding—[OMITTED]
[OMITTED]
Here is another deficiency in the Arabic MS. The remainder of this excellent speech seems to be lost, and two others, noted in the argument, must have shared a similar fate, to wit: that of Leopardus, on the part of the defendant, and that of Ursus, in summing up for the beasts, on the part of Capra. The Martin, for the prosecution; appears to have closed the observations, a part of whose speech I am enabled to translate, the commencement of it being so defaced, that it is impossible for me to decypher it. He thus proceeds:
| Beasts at law, or zoologian jurisprudence | |