208 



Microscopical Essays, 



Yon maggot, vileft offspring of the earth, 



Anfwers the genial bafenefs of his birth : 



Lo ! where he rolls and battens with delight 



In filth, to fmell offenfive, foul to fight I 



Well pleas 'd he drinks the ftench, the dirt devours, 



And prides him in the puddle of his pow'rs ; 



Carelefs, unconfcious of the beauteous gueft, 



Th' internal fpeck committed to his breaft ; 



Yet in his bread th' internal fpeck grows warm, 



And quickens into motion, life, and form : 



Far other form than that it's fofterer bore, 



High o'er it's parent worm ordain'd to foar. 



The fon ftill growing as the fire decays, 



In radiant plume his infant form arrays ; 



Matures as in a foft and filent womb, 



Then op'ning, peeps from his paternal tomb ; 



Now ftruggling, breaks at once into the day, 



Tries his young limbs, and bids his wings difplay ; 



Expands his lineaments, erecls his face, 



Rifes fublime o'er all the reptile race ; 



From dew-dropt bloffoms fips the neclar'd ftream, 



And balks within the glory of the beam. * 



The induftry of the caterpillar, in fecuring itfelf for it's change 

 into the chryfalis, muft not be pafled by ; not only becaufe they 

 naturally lead the reader to confider and admire that Divine 

 agency by which they are informed, but becaufe the different 

 modes they make ufe of cannot be properly invefligated, without 



the 



* Brooke's Redemption. 



