And lively fermentation, mounting, fpreads All this innumerous colour'd fcene of things. As rifing from the vegetable world
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,
Aid the full concert: while the ftock-dove breathe A melancholy murmur thro' the whole.
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,
Or roughening waste, their humble texture weave.
But most in woodland folitudes delight,
In unfrequented glooms, or fhaggy banks, Steep, and divided by a babbling brook,
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,
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,
Their brittle bondage break, and come to light, A helpless family, demanding food
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
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
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.
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
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
Takes up again her lamentable strain
Of winding woe; till wide around, the woods Sigh to her fong, and with her wail refound.
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
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
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, 760 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,
Whole lofty elms, and venerable oaks,
Invite the rook, who high amid the boughs,
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.
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
* The furtheft of the western iflands of Scotland.**
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