The slimy pool, to build his hanging house br25%
Intent. And often, from the careless backles
Of herds and flocks, a thousand tugging bills
Pluck hair and wool; and oft, when unobserved,'
Steal from the barn a straw: till soft and warm,
Clean and complete, their habitation grows.

As thus the patient dam assiduous sits,
Not to be tempted from her tender task,
Or by sharp hunger, or by smooth delight,
Though the whole loosen'd Spring around her blows,
Her sympathizing lover takes his stand

High on the' opponent bank, and ceaseless sings
The tedious time away; or else supplies

Her place a moment, while she sudden flits

To pick the scanty meal. The' appointed time
With pious toil fulfill'd, the callow young,
Warm'd and expanded into perfect life,

Their brittle bondage break, and come to light,

A helpless family, demanding food

With constant clamour: O what passions then, **
What melting sentiments of kindly care

On the new parents seize! Away they fly,'
Affectionate, and undesiring bear

The most delicious morsel to their young;
Which equally distributed, again

The search begins. E'en so a gentle pair,
By fortune sunk, but form'd of generous mould,
And charm'd with cares beyond the vulgar breast,

In some lone cot amid the distant woods,

Sustain❜d alone by providential Heavenpo pries. A
Oft, as they weeping eye their infant train,
Check their own appetites, and give them all. 210
Nor toil alone they scorn: exalting love,

By the great Father of the Spring inspired, d
Gives instant courage to the fearful race,
And to the simple, art. With stealthy wing,
Should some rude foot their woody haunts molest,
Amid a neighbouring bush they silent drop,
And whirring thence, as if alarm'd, deceive

The' unfeeling schoolboy. Hence, around the head
Of wandering swain, the white wing'd plover wheels
Her sounding flight, and then directly on

In long excursion skims the level lawn,

To tempt him from her nest. The wild duck, hence,
O'er the rough moss; and o'er the trackless waste
The heath hen flutters, pious fraud! to lead
The hot pursuing spaniel far astray.

Be not the Muse ashamed here to bemoan
Her brothers of the grove, by tyrant Man
Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage
From liberty confined, and boundless air.
Dull are the pretty slaves, their plumage dull,
Ragged, and all its brightening lustre lost;
Nor is that sprightly wildness in their notes,
Which clear and vigorous warbles from the beech.
O then, ye friends of love, and love-taught song,
Spare the soft tribes, this barbarous art forbear;
If on your bosom innocence can win,

Music engage, or piety persuade.

T

1

But let not chief the nightingale lamento Her ruin'd care, too delicately framed in galopati To brook the harsh confinement of the cage. 1 Oft when, returning with her loaded bill, The' astonish'd mother finds a vacant nest, vide By the hard hand of unrelenting clowns Robb'd, to the ground the vain provision falls;* Her pinions ruffle, and low drooping, scarce Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade; Where, all abandon'd to despair, she sings Her sorrows through the night; and, on the bough Sole sitting, still at every dying fall 20151 +90 Takes up again her lamentable strain (tumor Of winding woe; till, wide around, the woods Sigh to her song and with her wail resound.

b

1

But now the feather'd youth their former bounds, Ardent, disdain; and, weighing oft their wings, Demand the free possession of the sky:

This one glad office more, and then dissolves
Parental love at once, now needless grown.
Unlavish Wisdom never works in vain.

'Tis on some evening, sunny, grateful, mild, for I
When nought but balm is breathing through the woods,
With yellow lustre bright, that the new tribesme
Visit the spacious heavens, and look abroad
On Nature's common, far as they can see a strunt
Or wing, their range and pasture. O'er the boughs !
Dancing about, still at the giddy verge

Their resolution fails; their pinions still, odr

In loose libration stretch'd, to trust the void
Trembling refuse: till down before them fly T DIA
The parent guides, and chide, exhort, command, Ni
Or push them off. The surging air receives
Its plumy burden; and their self-taught wings
Winnow the waving element. On ground
Alighted, bolder up again they lead,

Farther and farther on, the lengthening flight;
Till vanish'd every fear, and every power
Roused into life and action, light in air
The acquitted parents see their soaring race,
And once rejoicing, never know them more.
High from the summit of a craggy cliff
Hung o'er the deep, such as amazing frowns
On utmost Kilda's* shore, whose lonely race
Resign the setting sun to Indian worlds,
The royal eagle draws his vigorous young,
Strong pounced, and ardent with paternal fire.
Now fit to raise a kingdom of their own,
He drives them from his fort, the towering seat,
For ages, of his empire; which, in peace,
Unstain'd he holds, while many a league to sea
He wings his course, and preys in distant isles.
Should I my steps turn to the rural seat,

Whose lofty elms and venerable oaks
Invite the rook, who high amid the boughs,
In early Spring, his airy city builds,

4

2

* The furthest of the western islands of Scotland. TI

And ceaseless caws amusive; there, well pleased,
I might the various polity survey

Of the mix'd household kind. The careful hen
Calls all her chirping family around,

Fed and defended by the fearless cock;

*་

Whose breast with ardour flames as on he walks,
Graceful, and crows defiance. In the pond,
The finely checker'd duck, before her train,
Rows garrulous. The stately sailing swan
Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale;
And, arching proud his neck, with oary feet
Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier isle,
Protective of his young. The turkey nigh,
Loud threatening, reddens; while the peacock spreads
"His every colour'd glory to the sun,
And swims in radiant majesty along.

O'er the whole homely scene, the cooing dove
Flies thick in amorous chase, and wanton rolls
The glancing eye, and turns the changeful neck.
While thus the gentle tenants of the shade
Indulge their purer loves, the rougher world.
Of brutes below rush furious into flame
And fierce desire. Through all his lusty veins, ✅
The bull, deep scorch'd, the raging passion feels.
Of pasture sick, and negligent of food,

Scarce seen, he wades among the yellow broom,
While o'er his ample sides the rambling sprays
Luxuriant shoot; or through the mazy wood:
Dejected wanders, nor the' enticing budit