Tracti bello, fatisque repulsi.

Tracti et repulsi, Antithesis perpulchra! Fracti frigide et vulgariter.

Equum jam Trojanum (ut vulgus loquitur) adeamus; quem si Equam Græcam vocabis, lector, minime pecces; solæ enim femellæ utero gestant. Uterumque armato milite complent-Uteroque recusso Insonuere cava-Atque utero sonitum quater arma dedere-Inclusos utero Danaos, etc. Vox fœta non convenit maribus,-Scandit fatalis machina muros, Foeta armis-Palladem virginem, equo mari fabricando invigilare decuisse, quis putet? Incredibile prorsus! quamobrem existimo veram equa lectionem passim restituendam, nisi ubi forte, metri causa, equum potius quam equam, genus pro sexu, dixit Maro. Vale! dum hæc paucula corriges, majus opus moveo.*

* There is much pleasantry in supposing it should be the Trojan Mare, and not Horse; and in the reasons assigned for this new reading. The same may be said of altering tectis for lectis, v. 631. l.i.; and of altering opes for oves, v. iv. 1. 3. Warton.

A

SPECIMEN

OF

SCRIBLERUS'S REPORTS.*

STRADLING VERSUS STYLES.

Le Report del Case argue en le commen Banke devant touts les Justices de mesme le Banke, en le quart an du raygne de Roy Jacques, entre Matthew Stradling, Plant. et Peter Styles, Def. en un Action propter certos Equos coloratos, Anglicè, Pyed horses, post. le dit Matthew vers le dit Peter.

per

Le recitel SIR John Swale, of Swale-Hall, in Swale del Case. Dale, fast by the River Swale, Kt. made his last Will and Testament: In which, among other Bequests, was this, viz. Out of the kind Love and Respect that I bear unto my much ho

* This humorous report was written by Mr. Fortescue.

Warton.

Pope wrote the Law-case of the black and white horses, with the help of a Lawyer. By what he added, it was the late Master of the Rolls, Fortescue. Spence's Anecd. p. 145, Singer's Ed.

noured and good Friend Mr. Matthew Stradling, Gent. I do bequeath unto the said Matthew Stradling, Gent. all my black and white Horses. The Testator had six black Horses, six white Horses, and six pyed Horses.

Le Point.

The Debate therefore was, whether or no the said Matthew Stradling should have the said pyed Horses by Wirtue of the said Bequest.

Pour le Pl.

Atkins Apprentice pour le Pl. Moy semble que le Pl. recovera.

And first of all it seemeth expedient to consider what is the Nature of Horses, and also what is the Nature of Colours; and so the Argument will consequently divide itself in a twofold way, that is to say, the Formal Part, and Substantial Part. Horses are the Substantial Part, or thing bequeathed: Black and White the Formal or descriptive Part.

Horse, in a physical Sense, doth import a certain Quadrupede or four-footed Animal, which, by the apt and regular Disposition of certain proper and convenient Parts, is adapted, fitted and consti

tuted for the Use and Need of Man. Pea, so necessary and conducive was this Animal conceived to be to the Behoof of the Commonweal, that sundry and divers Acts of Parliament have, from time to time, been made in Favour of Horses.

1st. Edward VI. Makes the transporting of Horses out of the Kingdom no less a Penalty than the Forfeiture of 407.

2nd and 3rd Edward VI. Takes from Horsestealers the Benefit of their Clergy.

And the Statutes of the 27th and 32d of Hen. VIII. condescend so far as to take Care of their very Breed. These our wise Ancestors prudently foreseeing, that they could not better take care of their own Posterity, than by also taking care of that of their Horses.

And of so great Esteem are Horses in the Eye of the Common Law, that when a Knight of the Bath committeth any great and enormous Crime, his Punishment is to have his Spurs chopt off with a Cleaver, being, as Master Bracton well observeth, unworthy to ride on a Horse.

Littleton, Sect. 315. saith, If Tenants in Common make a Lease reserving for Rent a Horse, they shall have but one Assize, because, saith the Book, the Law will not suffer a Horse to be severed: Another Argument of what high Estimation the Law maketh of a Horse.

But as the great Difference seemeth not to be so much touching the substantial Part, Horses, let us proceed to the formal or descriptive Part, viz. What Horses they are that come within this Bequest.

Colours are commonly of various Kinds and different Sorts; of which White and Black are the two Extremes, and consequently comprehend within them all other Colours whatsoever.

By a Bequest therefore of black and white Horses, grey or pyed Horses may well pass; for when two Cxtremes, or remotest Ends, of any thing are devised, the Law, by common Intendment, will intend whatsoever is contained between them to be devised too.

But the present Case is still stronger, coming not only within the Intendment, but also the very Letter of the Words.