1783 



VEESES ON WASPS 107 



Mr. Barker, the father, is the same agile being that he 

 used to be : he rises at six, and cannot sit still ; but starts 

 up the moment he has dined, and runs away to Hawkley 

 Hanger, or King John's Hill. He rode in three days from 

 Lyndon through Oxford to this place 118 miles; and at 

 every dining place, while the horses were baiting, walked 

 four or five miles in the heat in his boots with his wig 

 in his hand. 



As soon as I read your translations I knew at once that 

 the first must belong to the Scotch Bishop Gawen Douglas : 

 as to the second, had I supposed that Chapman had ever 

 translated Virgil, as he did Homer, I should from the 

 numbers have imputed it to him; but not recollecting 

 such translation, I suspect it may be done by Phaer and 

 Twyne. 



Pray desire your father to receive my midsummer 

 dividend, and to bring me down thirty Pounds, when he 

 comes, and also to remember to charge me for the two hams 

 which he procured for me in the Spring. Be sure remember 

 the Dog's toothed Violets. We have suffered much in our 

 grass-grounds and gardens from drought, but on the 24th 

 and 25th instant we had fine showers. Wasps began to 

 abound and to be very troublesome; but I have employed 

 the Boys to destroy seven nests, and have set my nephews 

 with lime twigs to catch many hundreds more, so that at 

 present the felon race is much lowered. 



We have also set bottles with treacle &c. 



They by th' alluring odor drawn, in haste 



Fly to the dulcet cates, & crouding sip 



The palatable bane : joyful thou'lt see 



The clammy surface all o'er strown with tribes 



Of greedy insects, that with fruitless toil 



Flap filmy pennons oft to extricate 



Their feet, in liquid shackles bound, till Death 



Bereave them of their worthless souls. Such doom 



Waits luxury, and lawless love of gain ! 



