Why, stooping from the noon of day, Upborne into the viewless air, Impell'd through regions dense and rare, Ordain'd perhaps, ere summer flies, To form an iris in the skies, Illustrious drop! and happy then Phœbus, if such be thy design, To place it in thy bow, Give wit, that what is left may shine A COMPARISON. THE lapse of time and rivers is the same, And a wide ocean swallows both at last. A difference strikes at length the musing heart; ANOTHER. ADDRESSED TO A YOUNG LADY. SWEET stream, that winds through yonder glade, Apt emblem of a virtuous maid— Silent and chaste she steals along, Far from the world's gay busy throng; With gentle yet prevailing force, Intent upon her destined course; THE POET'S NEW YEAR'S GIFT. TO MRS. (NOW LADY) THROCKMORTON. MARIA! I have every good For thee wish'd many a time, Both sad, and in a cheerful mood, But never yet in rhyme. To wish thee fairer is no need, What favour then not yet possess'd In wedded love already blest, To thy whole heart's desire? None here is happy but in part: There dwells some wish in every heart, That wish on some fair future day, ('Tis blameless, be it what it may,) PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED. A FABLE. I SHALL not ask Jean Jaques Rousseau * 'Tis clear, that they were always able Must have a most uncommon skull. To forestall sweet St. Valentine, In many an orchard, copse, and grove, And with much twitter and much chatter Began to agitate the matter. At length a Bullfinch, who could boast * 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? 204 PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED. Entreated, opening wide his beak, My friends! be cautious how ye treat A Finch, whose tongue knew no control, By his good will would keep us single Or (which is likelier to befall) Till death exterminate us all. 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. Influenced 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, |