The name of Nicolas Rapinus is affixed to this; that of Raphael Gallodonius to the following, _Ad consultissimos Supremi Senatus Gallici Patronos, in Rupeæ Pulicem ludentes._ _Abdita causarum si vis responsa referre, Hos tam perspicuos consule Causidicos: Qui juris callent apices, vestigia morsu Metiri pulicum carmine certa sciunt. Ecquid eos latuisse putas dum seria tractant, Qui dum nugantur, tam bene parva canunt?_ The President of the Parliament of Paris, Pierre de Soulfour, compared the flea to the Trojan horse, and introduced this gigantic compliment with a stroke of satire. _Quid Magni peperêre Dies? res mira canenda est, Vera tamen; Pulicem progenuere brevem. Quicquid id est, tamen est magnum; Magnisque Diebus Non sine divino numine progenitum. Ille utero potuit plures gestare poetas, Quam tulit audaces techna Pelasga duces. Tros equus heröes tantos non fudit ab alvo, Dulcisonos vates quot tulit iste Pulex:_ Pasquier was proud of what he had done in starting the flea, and of the numerous and distinguished persons who had been pleased to follow his example in poetizing upon it; _pour memorial de laquelle,_ he says, _jai voulu dresser ce trophée, qui est la publication de leurs vers._ So he collected all these verses in a small quarto volume, and published them in 1582, with this title. LA PUCE; _ou Jeux Poëtiques Francois et Latins: composez sur la Puce aux Grands Jours de Poictiers l'an 1579: dont Pasquier fut le premier motif._ He dedicated the volume to the President Harlay, in the following sonnet: _Pendant que du Harlay de Themis la lumiere, Pour bannir de Poictou l'espouventable mal, Exerçant la justice à tous de poids égal, Restablessoit l'Astrée en sa chaire premiere; Quelques nobles esprits, pour se donner carriere, Voulourent exalter un petit animal, Et luy coler aux flancs les aisles du cheval Qui prend jusque au ciel sa course coutumiere. Harlay, mon Achille, relasche tes esprits; Sousguigne d'un bon œil tant soit peu ces escrits, Il attendent de toy, ou la mort, ou la vie: Si tu pers à les lire un seul point de ton temps, Ils vivront immortels dans le temple des ans, Malgre l'oubly, la mort, le mesdire et l'envie._ The original volume would have passed away with the generation to which it belonged, or if preserved, it would, like many others more worthy of preservation, have been found only in the cabinets of those who value books for their rarity rather than their intrinsic worth: this would have been its fate if it had not been comprized in the collective edition of Pasquier's works, which, as relating to his own times, to the antiquities of his country, and to French literature, are of the greatest importance. It was properly included there, not merely because it is characteristic of the nation, and of the age, but because it belongs to the history of the individual.