Into my varied verfe! while I deduce,
From the first note the hollow cuckoo fings,
The fymphony of Spring, and touch a theme
Unknown to fame, the Paffion of the groves.

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58a

WHEN firft the foul of love is fent abroad, Warm thro' the vital air, and on the heart Harmonious feizes, the gay troops begin, In gallant thought, to plume the painted wing; And try again the long-forgotten ftrain, At first faint-warbled. But no fooner grows The foft infufion prevalent, and wide, Than, all alive, at once their joy o'erflows In mufick unconfin'd. Up-fprings the lark, Shrill voic'd, and loud, the meffenger of morn; Ere yet the shadows fly, he mounted fings Amid the dawning clouds, and from their haunts 590 Calls up the tuneful nations. Every copfe

Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bush

Bending with dewy moisture, o'er the heads
Of the coy quirifters that lodge within,

Are prodigal of harmony. The thrush
And wood-lark, o'er the kind contending throng
Superior heard, run thro' the sweetest length
Of notes; when listening Philomela deigns
To let them joy, and purposes, in thought

Elate, to make her night excel their day.
The black-bird whistles from the thorny brake;

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VOL. I.

C

The

605

The mellow bullfinch answers from the grove:
Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze
Pour'd out profufely, filent: Join'd to these
Innumerous fongsters, in the freshening shade
Of new.fprung leaves, their modulations mix
Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the daw,
And each harsh pipe discordant heard alone,
Aid the full concert: while the stock-dove breathes
A melancholy murmur thro' the whole.

'Tis love creates their melody, and all "This waste of music is the voice of love; That even to birds, and beasts, the tender arts Of pleafing teaches. Hence the gloffy kind

Try every winning way inventive love

Can dictate, and in courtship to their mates

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Pour forth their little fouls. First, wide around,
With distant awe, in airy rings they rove,
Endeavouring by a thousand tricks to catch
The cunning, confcious, half-averted glance
Of their regardless charmer. Should she seem
Softening the least approvance to bestow,
Their colours burnish, and by hope inspir'd,
They brisk advance; then, on a sudden struck,
Retire disorder'd; then again approach;
In fond rotation spread the spotted wing,
And shiver every feather with defire.

625

CONNUBIA,

630

CONNUBIAL leagues agreed, to the deep woods They haft away, all as their fancy leads, Pleasure, or food, or secret safety prompts; That NATURE's great command may be obey'd: Nor all the sweet fenfations they perceive · Indulg'd in vain. Some to the holly-hedge Neftling repair, and to the thicket fome; Some to the rude protection of the thorn Commit their feeble offspring: The cleft tree Offers its kind concealment to a few,

635

Their food its infects, and its moss their nefts.

Others apart far in the graffy dale,

Or roughening wafte, their humble texture weave. 640
But most in woodland folitudes delight,

In unfrequented glooms, or fhaggy banks,
Steep, and divided by a babling brook,

Whose murmurs foothe them all the live-long day,

When by kind duty fix'd. Among the roots
Of hazel, pendant o'er the plaintive stream,
They frame the first foundation of their domes;
Dry fprigs of trees, in artful fabrick laid,
And bound with clay together. Now 'tis nought
But restless hurry thro the bufy air,

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Beat by unnumber'd wings. The fwallow fweeps - The flimy pool, to build his hanging houfe Intent. And often, from the careless back Of herds and flocks, a thousand tugging bills

Pluck hair and wool; and oft, when unobferv'd, 655 Steal from the barn a ftraw: till foft and warm, Clean, and compleat, their habitation grows.

As thus the patient dam affiduous fits,
Not to be tempted from her tender task,
Or by sharp hunger, or by smooth delight,
Tho' the whole loofen'd spring around her blows,
Her fympathizing lover takes his ftand

High on th' opponent bank, and ceafelefs fings.
The tedious time away; or elfe fupplies
Her place a moment, while fhe fudden flits
To pick the fcanty meal. Th' appointed time
With pious toil fulfill'd, the callow young,
Warm'd and expanded into perfect life,

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Their brittle bondage break, and come to light,
A helpefs family, demanding food

670

With conftant clamour: O what paffions then,
What melting fentiments of kindly care,

On the new parents feize! Away they fly

Affectionate, and undefiring bear

The most delicious morfel to their young;

675

Which equally diftributed, again

The fearch begins. Even fo a gentle pair,
By fortune funk, but form'd of generous mold,
And charm'd with cares beyond the vulgar breast,
In fome lone cott amid the diftant woods,
Suftain'd alone by providential HEAVEN,

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Oft,

Oft, as they weeping eye their infant train,
Check their own appetites and give them all.

NOR toil alone they fcorn: exalting love,
By the great FATHER OF THE SPRING infpir'd,
Gives instant courage to the fearful race,
With stealthy wing,

And to the fimple art.
Should fome rude foot their woody haunts moleft,
Amid a neighbouring bush they filent drop,

And whirring thence, as if alarm'd, deceive

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Th' unfeeling school boy. Hence, around the head Of wandering fwain, the white-wing'd plover wheels Her founding flight, and then directly on

In long excurfion skims the level lawn,

To tempt him from her neft. The wild-duck, hence,
O'er the rough mofs, and o'er the trackless waste 696
The heath-hen flutters, (pious fraud!) to lead
The hot pursuing spaniel far aftray.

BE not the Mufe afham'd, here to bemoan
Her brothers of the grove, by tyrant man
Inhuman caught, and in the narrow cage
From liberty confin'd, and boundless air.
Dull are the pretty slaves, their plumage dull,
Ragged, and all its brightening luftre loft;

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Nor is that sprightly wildness in their notes,
-Which, clear and vigorous, warbles from the beech,
Oh then, ye friends of love and love-taught fong,

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