DIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED PROM INSECTS. 263 



Shapcot, to thee the fairy state 



I with discretion dedicate ; 



Because thou prizest things that are 



Curious and unfamiliar. 



Take first the feast ; these dishes gone, 



We'll see the fairy court anon. 



A little mushroom table spread ; 



After short prayers, they set on bread, 



A moon-parch'd grain of purest wheat, 



With some small glitt'ring grit to eat 



His choicest bits with ; then in a trice 



They make a feast less great than nice. 



But all this while his eye is serv'd, 



We must not think his ear was starv'd ; 



But that there was in place to stir 



His spleen, the chirring grasshopper. 



The merry cricket, puling fly, 



The piping gnat for minstrelsy : 



And now we must imagine first 



The elves present, to quench his thirst, 



A pure seed pearl of infant dew. 



Brought and besweeten'd in a blue 



And pregnant violet ; which done, 



His kitling eyes begin to run 



Quite through the table, where he spies 



The horns of papery butterflies, 



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 ; 



S 4 



