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

Are prodigal of harmony. The thrush

595

And wood-lark, o'er the kind-contending throng
Superior heard, run through the fweeteft 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;
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 songsters, 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,

600

605

Aid the full concert: while the flock-dove breathes

A melancholy murmur through the whole.

610

'Tis love creates their melody, and all

This waste of mufic is the voice of love;

That ev'n to birds, and beasts, the tender arts

Of pleafing teaches. Hence the gloffy kind

Try every winning way inventive love

615

Can dictate, and in courtship to their mates

Pour forth their little fouls. Firft, 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,

620

Their colours burnish, and, by hope infpir'd,

They brisk advance; then, on a fudden struck,
Retire disorder'd; then again approach;
In fond rotation fpread the fpotted wing,
And shiver every feather with defire.

Connnbial leagues agreed, to the deep woods
They hafte away, all as their fancy leads,
Pleasure, or food, or fecret fafety 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

625

630

635

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. 640 But most in woodland folitudes delight,

In unfrequented glooms, or fhaggy banks,

Steep, and divided by a babbling brook,

Whose murmurs foothe them all the live-long day,

When by kind duty fix'd. Among the roots

645

Of hazel, pendent o'er the plaintive stream,

They frame the firft foundation of their domes;
Dry fprigs of trees, in artful fabric laid,

And bound with clay together. Now 'tis nought
But reftlefs hurry through the bufy air,

650

Beat by unnumber'd wings. The fswallow sweeps
The flimy pool, to build his hanging houfe

Intent.

Intent.

And often, from the careless back

Of herds and flocks a thousand tugging bills

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

As thus the patient dam affiduous fits,

Not to be tempted from her tender task,

Or by fharp hunger, or by fmooth delight,

660

Though the whole loosen'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

665

To pick the feanty meal. Th' appointed time
With pious toil fulfil'd, the callow young,
Warm'd and expanded into perfect life,

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

Their brittle bondage break, and come to light,
A helpless family, demanding food
With constant clamour: O what paffions then,
What melting fentiments of kindly care,

670

679

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

The fearch begins. Ev'n fo a gentle pair,

By fortune funk, but form'd of generous mold,
And ch rm'd with cares beyond the vulgar breaft,
In 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.

680

Nor

685

Nor toil alone they fcorn: exalting love, By the great Father of the Spring infpir'd, Gives inftant courage to the fearful race, And to the fimple art. With stealthy wing, Should fome rude foot their woody haunts moleft, Amid a neighbouring bufh they filent drop, And whirring thence, as if alarm'd, deceive 690 Th' unfeeling fchool-boy. Hence, around the head Of wandering fwain, the white-wing'd plover wheels Her founding flight, and then directly on

In long excurfion fkims 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.

700

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, Which, clear and vigorous, warbles from the beech. O then, ye friends of love and love-taught fong, Spare the foft tribes, this barbarous art forbear; If on your bofom innocence can win,

Mufic engage, or piety perfuade.

705,

710

But let not chief the nightingale lament

Her ruin'd care, too delicately fram'd

To brook the harsh confinement of the cage.

Oft

Oft when, returning with her loaded bill,
Th' aftonish'd mother finds a vacant neft,
By the hard hand of unrelenting clowns
Robb'd, to the ground the vain provision falls;
Her pinions ruffle, and, low-drooping, scarce
Can bear the mourner to the poplar shade;
Where, all abandon'd to despair, fhe fings

715

Her forrows through the night; and, on the bough, Sole-fitting, ftill at every dying fall

Takes up again her lamentable ftrain

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

720

725

730

But now the feather'd youth their former bounds, Ardent, disdain; 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. Unlavish'd Wisdom never works in vain. 'Tis on fome evening, funny, grateful, mild, When nought but balm is breathing through the woods, With yellow luftre bright, that the new tribes Vifit the fpacious heavens, and look abroad On nature's common far as they can fee,

735

Or wing, their range and pasture. O'er the boughs
Dancing about, ftill at the giddy verge

Their refolution fails; their pinions ftill,
In loofe libration stretch'd, to trust the void
Trembling refufe: till down before them fly
The parent-guides, and chide, exhort, command,
Or push them off. The furging air receives

740