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, How silent are the mob, how still the hall ! Yet think not that his rhetoric's revered: The son is harmless, but the father's feared."

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,

The oracle of Greece he was,

And more than Areopagus he knew,
With all its wisdom in the laws.
The following tale gives but a sample
Of what his fame has made so ample.
Three daughters shared a father's purse,
Of habits totally diverse.

The first, bewitched with drinks delicious,
The next, coquettish and capricious,

The third, supremely avaricious.

The sire, expectant of his fate,
Bequeathed his whole estate

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.
The father died. The females three
Were much in haste the will to see.

They read and read, but still
Saw not the willer's will.

For could it well be understood

That each of this sweet sisterhood,

When she possessed her part no more,
Should to her mother pass it o'er?
'Twas surely not so easy saying

How lack of means would help the paying.
What meant their honored father, then?
Th' affair was brought to legal men,

Who, after turning o'er the case

Some hundred thousand different ways,
Threw down the learned bonnet,
Unable to decide upon it,

And then advised the heirs,

Without more thought, to adjust affairs.
As to the widow's share, the counsel say,
We hold it just the daughters each should pay
One-third to her upon demand,

Should she not choose to have it stand
Commuted as a life annuity,

Paid from her husband's death, with due congruity.
The thing thus ordered, the estate

Is duly cut in portions three;
And in the first they all agree

To put the feasting lodges, plate,
Luxurious cooling mugs,

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
There is of feasting apparatus.
The second part is made

Of what might help the jilting trade,-
The city house and furniture,
Genteel and exquisite, be sure;
The eunuchs, milliners, and laces,
The jewels, shawls, and costly dresses.
The third is made of household stuff,

More vulgar, rude and rough,

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.
'Twas in great Athens town
Such judgment gave the gown.
And then the public voice

Applauded both the judgment and the choice;

But Esop 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,
Would heap reproaches on such Attic wit.
What! men who proudly take their place
As sages of the human race,

Lack they the simple skill
To settle such a will?

This said, he undertook himself

The task of portioning the pelf,

And straightway gave each maid the part
The least according to her heart, —

The gay coquette the drinking stuff;
The drinker next the farms and cattle;
And on the miser, rude and rough,
The robes and lace did Æsop settle;
For thus, he said, an early date
Would see the sisters alienate

Their several shares of the estate.
No motive now in maidenhood to tarry,
They all would seek, post haste, to marry;
And having each a splendid bait,

Each soon would find a fitting mate,

And leaving thus their father's goods intact,
Would to their mother pay them all in fact,—
Which of the testament

Was plainly the intent.

The people, who had thought a slave an ass,
Much wondered how it came to pass,

That one alone should have more sense
Than all their men of most pretence."

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:
They so enwrapped the case in mystery,

He could conjecture naught of its true state.
Two straws he did select, of length unequal,
And offered to the parties, with close grip:
Defendant drew the long, and as a sequel,
Acquitted, gaily from the court did trip.
The other members of the court deride:
But he replies, My blame you must divide;
My judgment is no novelty in law:

For you at hazard frequently decide,
And never pull, nor even care, a straw."

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
An oyster thrown up by the tide:
In hope both swallowed ocean's fruit,
But ere the fact there came dispute.
While one stooped down to take the prey,
The other pushed him quite away.
Said he, 'twere rather meet

To settle which shall eat.
Why, he who first the oyster saw,
Should be its eater by the law:
The other should but see him do it.
Replied his mate, If thus you view it,
Thank God the lucky eye is mine.
But I've an eye not worse than thine,
The other cried, and will be cursed,
If, too, I didn't see it first.

You saw it, did you? Grant it true,
I saw it, then, and felt it too.

Amidst this very sweet affair,
Arrived a person very big,

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;
And in due time his judgment followed.
Attend: the court awards you each a shell,
Cost free; depart in peace, and use them well.
Foot up the cost of suits at law,

The leavings reckon, and award,