THE POET'S NEW-YEAR'S GIFT. To MRS. (now LADY) THROCKMORTON. MARIA! I have ev'ry good For thee wish'd many a time, To wish thee fairer is no need, More prudent, or more sprightly, In wedded love already blest, To thy whole heart's desire? None here is happy but in part: There dwells some wish in ev'ry heart, That wish, on some fair future day, ODE TO APOLLO. ON AN INKGLASS ALMOST DRIED IN THE SUN. PATRON of all those luckless brains, That, to the wrong side leaning, Ah why, since oceans, rivers, streams, Pay tribute to thy glorious beams, Too covetous of drink, It floats a vapour now, Impell'd through regions dense and rare, By all the winds that blow. Ordain'd perhaps ere summer flies, Combin'd with millions more, To form an Iris in the skies, Though black and foul before. Phœbus, if such be thy design, To place it in thy bow, Give wit, that what is left may shine PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED. A FABLE. ISHALL, not ask Jean Jacques Rosseau*, 'Tis clear, that they were always able Must have a most uncommon skull. 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 * 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? 226 PAIRING TIME ANTICIPATED. And, silence publickly enjoin'd, Deliver'd briefly thus his mind: My friends! be cautious how ye treat A Finch, whose tongue knew no control, By his good will would keep us single 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. 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, The wind, of late breath'd gently forth, PAIRING TIME ANTICAPATED. 227 Bare trees and shrubs but ill, you know, Stepping into their nests, they paddled, Soon ev'ry father bird and mother Grew quarrelsome, and peck'd each other, MORAL. Misses! the tale that I relate This lesson seems to carry- |