LABYRINTH. See Joufts and Tournaments.
HE tender Firstlings of the woolly Breed. Dryd. Virg.
Come lead me forward now, like a tame Lamb,
To facrifice. Thus, in his fatal Garlands,
Deck'd fine and pleas'd, the Wanton Ikips and plays,
Trots by th' enticing flatt'ring Priestess Side;
And, much tranfported with its little Pride,
Forgets his dear Companions of the Plain,
Till, by her bound, he's on the Altar lain. (Ven. Pref.
Yet, then too, hardly bleats, fuch Pleasure's in the Pain. Or.
A hundred Lambs
With bleating Cries attend their milky Dams. Dryd, Virg.
LAR K. See Morning.
The Lark, that fhuns on lofty Boughs to build
Her humble Neft, lies filent in the Field:
But if the Promife of a cloudlefs Day,
Aurora fmiling, bids her rife and play;
Then ftraight the fhews, 'twas not for want of Voice,
Or Pow'r to climb, fhe made fo low a Choice:
Singing the mounts, her airy Wings are stretch'd
Tow'rds Heav'n, as if from Heav'n her Notes she fetch'd. The wife Example of the heav'nly Lark,
Thy Fellow Poet, Cowley mark:
Above the Clouds let thy proud Mufick found,
Thy humble Neft build on the Ground.
And now the Herald Lark,
Left his Ground Neft, high tow'ring to defcry
The Morn's Approach, and greet her with his Song. Milt.
LAUREL. See Daphne.
The Laurel is the Sign of Labour crown'd,
Which bears the bitter Blaft, nor fhaken falls to Ground.
From Winter-winds it fuffers no Decay,
For ever fresh and fair, and ev'ry Month is May:
Ev'n when the vital Sap retreats below,
Ev'n when the hoary Head is hid in Snow,
The Life is in the Leaf, and still between
The Fits of falling Snows, appears the ftreaky Green. Dryd
LAW and LAWYER.
Them never yet did Strife or Av'rice draw Into the noify Markets of the Law,
The Camp of gowned War.
Laws bear the Name, but Money has the Pow'r;
The Caufe is bad, whene'er the Client's poor:
Those ftrict liv'd-Men, that seem above our World,
Are oft too modeft to refift our Gold;
So Judgment, like our other Wares, is fold:
And the grave Knight, that nods upon the Laws,
Wak'd by a Fee, hems, and approves the Caufe.-
You fave the Expence of long litigious Laws,
Where Suits are travers'd, and fo little won,
That he who conquers is but laft undone,
He that with injury is grieved
And goes to Law to be relieved,
Is fillier than a fottish Chowse,
Who, when a Thief has robb'd his House,
Applies himself to Cunning-men,
To help him to his Goods agen;
When all he can expect to gain,
Is but to fquander more in vain.
For Lawyers, left Bear Defendant
And Plaintiff Dog should make an End on't,
Do stave and tail with Writs of Error,
Reverfe of Judgment and Demurrer,
To let 'em breathe a while, and then
Cry Whoop! and fet 'em on agen;
Until with fubtil Cobweb Cheats
'They're catch'd in knotted Law, like Nets:
In which, when once they are imbrangled,
The more they ftir, the more they're tangled,
And while their Purfes can difpute,
There's no End of th' immortal Suit.
"Tis Law that fettles all you do,
And marries where you did but woo;
That makes the most perfidious Lover,.
A Lady that's as falfe recover.
For Law's the Wisdom of all Ages,
And manag'd by the ableft Sages;
Who tho' their Bus'nefs at the Bar
Be but a kind of Civil War,
In which th' engage with fiercer Dudgeons,
Then e'er the Grecians did the Trojans,
They never manage the Contest
'T' impair their public Intereft,
Or, by their Controverfies, leffen
The Dignity of their Profeffion:
For Lawyers have more fober Sense,
Than t' argue at their own Expence ;
But make their best Advantages
Of others Quarrels, like the Savifs,;
And out of foreign Controverfies,
By aiding both Sides, fill their Purfes:
But have no Int'reft in the Caufe
For which th' engage, and wage the Laws;
Nor farther Profpect than their Pay,
Whether they lofe or win the Day.
And tho' th' abounded in all Ages,
With fundry learned Clerks and Sage; ;
Tho' all their Bus'nefs be Difpute,
With which they canvasse very Suit;
They've no Difputes about their Art,
Nor in Polemicks controvert;
While all Profeffions elfe are found,
With nothing but Difputes t'abound.
Divines of all Sorts, and Phyficians,
Philofophers, Mathematicians,
The Galenift and Paraceljan,
Condemns the Way each other deals in:
Anatomifts diffect and mangle,
To cut themfelves out Work to wrangle;
Aftrologers difpute their Dreams,
That in their Sleep they talk of Schemes;
And Heralds ftickle who got who,
So many hundred Years ago.
But Lawyers are too wife a Nation
T'expofe their Trade to Difputation;
Or make the busy Rabble Judges
Of all their fecret Piques and Grudges :
In which, whoever wins the Day,
The whole Profeffion's fure to pay.
Befides, no Mountebanks nor Cheats
Dare undertake to do their Feats;
When in all other Sciences,
They fwarm like Infects, and increase:
For what Bigot durft ever draw,
By inward Light, a Deed in Law?
Or could hold forth by Revelation,
An Answer to a Declaration ?
For those that meddle with their Tools,
Will cut their Fingers, if they're Fools.
I would not give, quoth Hudibras,
A Straw to understand a Case,
Without the admirable Skill
To wind and manage it at wil';
To veer, and tack, and fteer a Cause
Against the Weather-gage of Laws,
And ring the Changes upon Cafes,
As plain as Nofes upon Faces;
As you have well instructed me,
For which you've earn'd, here 'tis, your Fee. Hud.
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