DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 313 



Of which he eats, and tastes a little 



Of what we call the cuckoo's spittle : 



A little furze-ball pudding stands 



By, yet not blessed by his hands, 



That was too coarse : but then forthwith 



He ventures boldly on the pith 



Of sugar' d rush, and eats the sag 



And well be-strutted bee's sweet bag; 



Gladding his palate with some store 



Of emmet's eggs : what would he more ? 



But beards of mice, a newt's stew'd thigh, 



A bloated earwig and a fly ; 



With the red-capp'd worm that's shut 



Within the concave of a nut, 



Brown as his tooth : a little moth 



Late fatten'd in a piece of cloth ; 



With wither'd cherries; mandrakes' ears; 



Moles' eyes ; to these the slain stag's tears ; 



The unctuous dewlaps of a snail ; 



The broke heart of a nightingale 



O'ercome in music; 



This done, commended 



Grace by his priest, the feast is ended. 



Having considered insects as adding to the general 

 stock of food, I shall next request your attention while I 

 detail to you how far the medical science is indebted to 

 them. Had I addressed you a century ago, I could have 

 made this an ample history. Amongst scores of infal- 

 lible panaceas, I should have recommended the woodlouse 

 as a solvent and aperient; powder of silkworm for ver- 

 tigo and convulsions ; millepedes against the jaundice ; 

 earwigs to strengthen the nerves ; powdered scorpion for 

 the stone and gravel ; fly-water for disorders in the eyes ; 

 and the tick for erysipelas. I should have prescribed 



