Illustrious drop! and happy then Beyond the happiest lot, Of all that ever pass'd my pen, So soon to be forgot!
Phoebus, if such be thy design, To place it in thy bow,
Give wit, that what is left may shine With equal grace below.
PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED.
I SHALL not ask Jean Jacques Rousseau,* If birds confabulate or no ;
'Tis clear, that they were always able To hold discourse, at least in fable; And e'en the child who knows no better Than to interpret by the letter, A story of a cock and bull, Must have a most uncommon skull.
It chanc'd then on a winter's day, But warm, and bright, and calm as May, The birds, conceiving a design To forestal sweet St. Valentine,
In many an orchard, copse, and grove, Assembled on affairs of love,
And with much twitter and much chatter,
Began to agitate the matter.
At length a Bulfinch, who could boast More years and wisdom than the most, Entreated, op'ning wide his beak, A moment's liberty to speak;
• It was one of the whimsical speculations of this philosopher, that all fables, which ascribe reason and speech to animals, should be withheld from children, as being only vehicles of deception. But what child was ever deceived by them, or can be, against the evidence of his senses?
PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED.
And, silence publicly enjoin'd, Deliver'd briefly thus his mind.
My friends! be cautious how ye treat The subject, upon which we meet; I fear we shall have winter yet.
A Finch, whose tongue knew no control, With golden wing, and satin poll,
A last year's bird, who ne'er had tried What marriage means, thus pert replied: Methinks the gentleman, quoth she, Opposite in the apple-tree,
By his good will would keep us single Till yonder Heav'n and Earth shall mingle, Or (which is likelier to befall)
Till death exterminates us all.
I marry without more ado,
My dear Dick Redcap, what say you?
Dick heard, and tweedling, ogling, bridling, Turning short round, strutting and sideling, Attested, glad, his approbation
Of an immediate conjugation. Their sentiments so well express'd
Influenc'd mightily the rest,
All pair'd, and each pair built a nest.
But though the birds were thus in haste,
The leaves came on not quite so fast, And Destiny, that sometimes bears An aspect stern on man's affairs, Not altogether smil'd on theirs. The wind, of late breath'd gently forth, Now shifted east, and east by north; Bare trees and shrubs but ill, you know, Could shelter them from rain or snow,
Stepping into their nests, they paddled,
Themselves were chill'd, their eggs were addled; Soon ev'ry father bird and mother
Grew quarrelsome, and peck'd each other,
Parted without the least regret, Except that they had ever met, And learn'd in future to be wiser, Than to neglect a good adviser.
Misses! the tale that I relate This lesson seems to carry- Choose not alone a proper mate, But proper time to marry.
A RAVEN, While with glossy breast Her new-laid eggs she fondly press'd, And, on her wickerwork high mounted, Her chickens prematurely counted, (A fault philosophers might blame, If quite exempted from the same) Enjoy'd at ease the genial day; 'Twas April, as the bumpkins say, The legislature call'd it May. But suddenly a wind, as high As ever swept a winter sky,
Shook the young leaves about her ears, And fill'd her with a thousand fears, Lest the rude blast should snap the bough, And spread her golden hopes below. But just at eve the blowing weather, And all her fears were hush'd together: And now, quoth poor unthinking Ralph, 'Tis over, and the brood is safe; (For ravens, though as birds of omen They teach both conj'rors and old women, To tell us what is to befal,
Can't prophesy themselves at all.)
The morning came, when neighbour Hodge, Who long had mark'd her airy lodge,
And destin'd all the treasure there
A gift to his expecting fair, Climb'd like a squirrel to his dray, And bore the worthless prize away.
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