Why, stooping from the noon of day, Too covetous of drink, Apollo, hast thou stolen away A poet's drop of ink? Upborne into the viewless air, It floats a vapour now, Impell'd through regions dense and rare By all the winds that blow. Ordain'd perhaps ere summer flies, To form an iris in the skies, Illustrious drop! and happy then Phoebus, 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. 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, 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, And doubtless one in thine. That wish on some fair future day, 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 forestal sweet St. Valentine, In many an orchard, copse, and grove, Assembled on affairs of love, And with much twitter and much chatter 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? PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED. Entreated, opening wide his beak, ye The subject upon which we meet ; treat A Finch, whose tongue knew no control, By his good will would keep us single Till death exterminate us all. I marry without more ado, My dear Dick Redcap, what say you? 231 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, |