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Within that cavity aloft

Their roofless home they fix'd,

Form'd with materials neat and soft, Bents, wool, and feathers mix'd.

Four iv'ry eggs soon paved it's floor,
With russet specks bedight-
The vessel weighs, forsakes the shore,
And lessens to the sight.

The mother-bird is gone to sea,
As she had chang'd her kind;
But goes the male? Far wiser he
Is doubtless left behind?

No-soon as from ashore he saw

The winged mansion move, He flew to reach it by a law Of never-failing love.

Then perching at his consort's side,
Was briskly born along,
The billows and the blast defied,
And cheer'd her with a song.

The seaman with sincere delight
His feather'd shipmates eyes,
Scarce less exulting in the sight

Than when he tows a prize.

For seamen much delight in signs,

And, from a chance so new,

Each some approaching good divines,-
And may his hopes be true!

Hail, honour'd land! a desert where
Not even birds can hide,

Yet parent of this loving pair
Whom nothing could divide.

And, ye, who, rather than resign
Your matrimonial plan,

Were not afraid to plough the brine
In company with Man;

For whose lean country much disdain
We English often shew,
Yet, from a richer, nothing gain

But wantonness and woe;

Be it your fortune, year by year,

The same resource to prove,
And may ye, sometimes landing here,
Instruct us how to love!

This tale is founded on an article of intelligence which the Author found in the Buckinghamshire Herald, for Saturday, June 1, 1793, in the following words:

Glasgow, May 23.

"In a block, or pulley, near the head of a mast of a gabert, now lying at the Broomielaw, there is a chaffinch's nest and four eggs. The

nest was built while the vessel lay at Greenock, and was follow'd hither by both birds. Though the block is occasionally lowered for the inspection of the curious, the birds have not forsaken the nest. The cock however visits the nest but seldom, while the hen never leaves it, but when she descends to the hull for food.

FABLE XLVIII.

THE MAHOMETANS AND THE HOG,

OR THE LOVE OF THE WORLD REPROVED.

By William Cowper.

THUS says the prophet of the Turk,
́ Good mussulman, abstain from pork :
There is a part in every swine

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No friend or follower of mine

May taste, whate'er his inclination,
'On pain of excommunication.'

Such Mahomet's mysterious charge,
And thus he left the point at large.
Had he the sinful part express'd,
They might with safety eat the rest;
But, for one piece, they thought it hard
From the whole hog to be debarr'd;
And set their wit at work to find
What joint the prophet had in mind.
Much controversy straight arose,
These chuse the back, the belly those;

By some 'tis confidently said

He meant not to forbid the head

;

While others at that doctrine rail,
And piously prefer the tail.

Thus, conscience freed from ev'ry clog,
Mahometans eat up the hog.

You laugh-'tis well-The tale applied May make you laugh on t'other side. 'Renounce the world'-the preacher cries. 'We do'-a multitude replies.

While one as innocent regards

A snug and friendly game at cards;
And one, whatever you may say,
Can see no evil in a play;

Some love a concert, or a race;

And others shooting, and the chase.

Revil'd and lov'd, renounc'd and follow'd, Thus, bit by bit, the world is swallow'd; Each thinks his neighbour makes too free, Yet likes a slice as well as he :

With sophistry their sauce they sweeten, 'Till quite from tail to snout 'tis eaten.

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FABLE XLIX.

THE DOVES.

By Cowper.

REASONING at ev'ry step he treads,
Man yet mistakes his way,
While meaner things, whom instinct leads,
Are rarely known to stray.

One silent eve' I wander'd late,

And heard the voice of love,

The Turtle thus address'd her mate,
And sooth'd the list'ning Dove;

'Our mutual bond of faith and truth
'No time shall disengage,
Those blessings of our early youth
'Shall cheer our latest age:

• While innocence without disguise,
'And constancy sincere,

'Shall fill the circles of those eyes,

And mine can read them there;

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