 | Beasts at law, or zoologian jurisprudence |  |
96
Can never influence such a court;
Suppose that Capra ask'd the Cur,
As Ovis swears, to visit her;
Suppose he shared her choicest food,
Does't follow that the Goat was rude?
No...Ovis, by her evidence,
Pourtrays herself the slave of sense;
A loose, light, giddy, wanton ewe,
As e'er disgraced the bleating crew;
The “weak spu” story I despise
As I do her that gave it rise.
As to the Magpie's declaration,
It merits no investigation;
And Poll, the Parrot's, is so vile,
To touch it would my tongue defile.
The Pigeon is a pretty bird,
But when her vulgar tale I heard,
So foreign from her honest duty,
I could not but forget her beauty.
The Ringdove's story claims attention....
For if 'tis more than mere invention,
It proves, in spite of all they say,
That Canis met the Goat half way.
Numidica, the Turkey's tale,
If you believe it, cannot fail
To damn the Dog...for she affirms,
In the most plain and vulgar terms,
That Canis aid commit the act....
[OMITTED]
What! another deficiency! Gentle reader, it's not my fault. When I commenced the translation I thought the work was perfect and entire; but now find, to my great mortification, that more than half the third Canto is missing. Even Leo's most excellent charge to the jury is involved in the same fate, excepting a small portion of it, in which he sums up the evidence, and explains the law, in a most masterly manner. He then goes on to reprobate the immoral tendency of such trials upon public morals, and concludes in the following manner:
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