In the first epistle to the king, Boileau speaks of — "The costly quarrels of the wrangling bar, More fatal than the bloody feud of war.” The following translation of a Latin epigram by this poet closes the list of his contributions to my subject: "UPON A YOUNG LAWYER, THE SON OF A COUNTRY BEADLE. "While the fierce beadle's brat does loudly bawl, LA FONTAINE. The twentieth Fable of the Second Book of La Fontaine contains a point of law derived, I infer, from Phædrus. The translation given below is Elizur Wright's, slightly modified: "If what old story says of Æsop's true, And more than Areopagus he knew, The first, bewitched with drinks delicious, The third, supremely avaricious. The sire, expectant of his fate, In equal shares to them, And to their mother just the same, — To her made payable when (and not before) Each daughter should possess her part no more. Were much in haste the will to see. For could it well be understood That each of this sweet sisterhood, How lack of means would help the paying. Who, after turning o'er the case Some hundred thousand different ways, And then advised the heirs, Without more thought, to adjust affairs. Should she not choose to have it stand Paid from her husband's death, with due congruity. The thing thus ordered, the estate Is duly cut in portions three; To put the feasting lodges, plate, Enormous liquor jugs, Rich cupboards, built beneath the trellised vine, — The stores of ancient, sweet Malvoisian wine, The slaves to serve it at a sign, — In short, whatever in a great house Of what might help the jilting trade, – Farms, fences, flocks, and fodder, And men and beasts to turn the sod o'er. This done, since it was thought To give the parts by lot Might suit, or it might not, Each paid her share of fees dear, And took the part that pleased her. Applauded both the judgment and the choice; But Æsop well was satisfied The learned men had set aside, In judging thus the testament, The very jist of its intent. The dead, quoth he, could he but know of it, Lack they the simple skill This said, he undertook himself And straightway gave each maid the part The gay coquette the drinking stuff; Each soon would find a fitting mate, And leaving thus their father's goods intact, Was plainly the intent. The people, who had thought a slave an ass, That one alone should have more sense Among La Fontaine's Tales is one entitled "Le Juge de Mesle," of which I propose the following paraphrase : — "Two advocates, unable to agree, Perplexed a plain provincial magistrate: He could conjecture naught of its true state. For you at hazard frequently decide, The story of the Oyster and the Litigants has been so spiritedly told by La Fontaine, that although it has been so often told, I will venture to present it in Wright's excellent version : "Two pilgrims on the sand espied To settle which shall eat. You saw it, did you? Grant it true, Amidst this very sweet affair, Yclept Sir Nincom Periwig. They made him judge, — to set the matter square. Sir Nincom, with a solemn face, Took up the oyster and the case. In opening both, the first he swallowed; The leavings reckon, and award, |