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And lively fermentation, mounting, fpreads
All this innumerous colour'd fcene of things.
As rifing from the vegetable world

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My theme a cends, with equal wing ascend,
My panting Mufe; and hark how loud the woods
Invite you forth in all your gayeft trim.
Lend me your fong, ye nightingales! oh pour
The mazy-running foul of melody
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.
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 mufic unconfin'd. Up-fprings the fark,
Shrill voice, and loud, the meffenger of morn
Ere yet the fhadows fly, he mounted fings
Amid the dawning clouds, and from their haunts
Calls up the tuneful nations. Every copfe
Deep-tangled, tree irregular, and bufh
Bending with dewy moisture, o'er the heads
Of the coy quirifters that lodge within,
Are prodigal of harmony. The thrush
And woodlark, o'er the kind contending throng
Superior heard, run thro' the fweeteft length
Of notes; when liftening 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;
The mellow bullfinch anfwers from the grove;
Nor are the linnets, o'er the flowering furze.
Pour'd out profufely, filent. Join'd to thefe
Innumerous fongfters, in the freshening fhade 605
Of new-fprung leayes, their modulations mix
Mellifluous. The jay, the rook, the daw,
And each harsh pipe difcordant heard alone,

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Aid

Aid the full concert: while the ftock-dove breathe A melancholy murmur thro' the whole.

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Tis love creates their melody, and all This waste of mufic is the voice of love; That even to birds, and beafts, the tender arts Of pleafing teaches. Hence the gloffy kind Try every winning way inventive love Can dictate, and in courtship to their mates Pour forth their little fouls. First, wide around, With diftant awe, in airy rings they rove, Endeavouring by a thoufand tricks to catch The cunning, confcious, half-averted glance 620 Of their regardlefs charmer. Should the feem Softening the least approvance to bestow, Their colours burnish, and by hope infpir'd, They brifk advance; then, on a fudden struck, Retire diforder'd; then again approach; In fond rotation fpread the fpotted wing, And shiver every feather with defire."

Connubial leagues agreed, to the deep woods They hafte away, and all their fancy leads, Pleafure, or food, or fecret fafety prompts; That Nature's great command may be obey'd: Nor all the fweet fenfations they perceive Indulg'd in vain. Some to the holly-hedge Nettling 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,

Their food its infects, and its mofs their nefts.

Others apart far in the graffy dale,

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Or roughening waste, their humble texture weave.

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But most in woodland folitudes delight,

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

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Whofe murmurs footh 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 fabric laid,
And bound with clay together. Now 'tis nought
But reftlefs hurry thro' the bufy air,

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Beat

Beat by unnumber'd wings. The fwallow fweeps
The flimy pool, to build his hanging house
Intent. And often, from the careless back
Of herds and flocks, a thousand tugging bills
Pluck hair and wool; and oft, when unobferv'd,
Steal from the barn a ftraw: till soft and warm, 656
Clean, and compleat, their habitation grows.

As thus the patient dam affiduous fits,
Not to be tempted from her tender task,
Or by tharp hunger, or by smooth delight,
Tho' the whole loofen'd Spring around her blows,
Her fympathizing lover takes his ftand
High on the opponent bank, and ceaseless fings
The tedious time away; or elfe fupplies
Her place a moment, while the fudden its
To pick the fcanty meal. Th' appointed time
With pious toil'd 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 helpless family, demanding food

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With conftant clamour: O what paffions then,

What melting fentiments of kindly care,

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

On the new parents feize! Away they fly
Affectionate, and undefiring bear

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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 breaft,
Ia fome lone cot amid the diftant woods,
Suftain'd alone by providential Heaven,
Oft, as they weeping eye their infant train,
Check their own appetites, and give them all.
Nor to 1 alone they fcorn: exalting love,
By the great Father of the Spring infpir'd,
Gives instant courage to the fearful race,
And to the fimple art. With itealthy wing
Should fome rood foot their woody haunts moleft,
Amid a neighbouring bufh they filent drop,
And whirring thence, as if alarm'd, deceive 690
Th' unfeeling school-boy. Hence, around the head
Of wandering (wain, the white wing'd plover wheels

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Her

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 wafte 696
The heath-hen flutters, (pious fraud!) to lead
The hot pursuing spaniel far aftray.

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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 flaves, their plumage dull, Ragged, and all its brightening luftre loft; Nor is that fprightly wildness in their notes, 705 Which, clear and vigorous, warbles from the beech. Oh then, ye friends of love and love-taught fong, Spare the foft tribes, this barbarous art forbear; If on your bofem innocence can win, Mufic engage, or piety perfuade.

But let not chief the nightingale lament

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Robb'd, to the ground the vain provision falls;

Her pinions ruffle, and low-drooping scarce

Can bear the mourner to the poplar fhade;

Where, all abandon'd to despair, the fings
Her forrows thro' the night; and, on the bough,
Sole-fitting, ftill at every dying fall

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Takes up again her lamentable strain

Of winding woe; till wide around, the woods
Sigh to her fong, and with her wail refound.

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But now the feather youth their former bounds, Ardent, difdain; and, weighing oft their wings, Demand the free poffeffion of the sky: This one glad office more, and then diffolves Parental love at once, now needless grown. Unlavith Wifdom never works in vain. 'Tis on fome evening, funny, grateful, mild, When nought but balm is breathing thro' the woods, With yellow lustre bright, that the new tribes

Vifit the fpacious heavens, and look abroad

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On Nature's common, far as they can fee, 1
Or wing, their range, and pafture. O'er the boughs
Dancing about, fill at the giddy verge

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Their refolution fails; their pinions still,
In locfe libration firetch'd, to trust the void
Trembling aefufe: till down before them fly
The parent-guides, and chide, exhort, command,
Or pufh them off. The furging air receives
The plamy burden: and their felf-taught wings
Winnow the waving element.
On ground
Alighted, bolder up again they lead,
Farther and farther on, the lengthening flight;
T.ll vanish'd every fear, and every power
Rous'd into life and action, light in air
Th' acquitted parents fee their foaring race,
And once rejoicing never know them more,
High from the fummit of a craggy cliff,
Hung o'er the deep, fuch as amazing frowns
On utmost Ki da's thore, whofe lonely race
Refign the fetting fun to Indian worlds,
The royal eagle draws his vigorous young,
Strong-pounc'd, and ardent with paternal fire.
Now fit to raise a kingdom of their own,
He drives them from his fort, the tow'ring feat,
For ages, of his empire; which in pease,
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Unftain'd he holds, while many a league to fea
He wings his courfe, and preys in diftant ifles.
Should I my steps turn to the rural feat,

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Whole lofty elms, and venerable oaks,

Invite the rook, who high amid the boughs,

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In early Spring, his airy city builds,

And ceafelefs caws amufive; there, well-pleas'd, I might the various polity furvey

Of the mixt houthold kind.

The careful hen

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Calls all her chirping family around,

Fed and defended by the fearless cock;
Whofe breaft with ardour flames, as on he walks,
Graceful, and crows defiance. In the pond,
The finely-checker'd duck, before her train,
Row garrulous. The ftately failing fwan

775 Gives

* The furtheft of the western iflands of Scotland.**

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