The honours of his ebon poll

Were brighter than the fleekeft mole,
His bofom of the hue,

With which Aurora decks the skies,

When piping winds fhall foon arise
To fweep up all the dew.

Above, below, in all the house,
Dire foe alike to bird and mouse,

No cat had leave to dwell;
And Bully's cage fupported ftood
On props of fmootheft-fhaven wood,
Large-built and latticed well.

Well-latticed-but the grate, alas!
Not rough with wire of fteel or brafs,
For Bully's plumage fake,

But smooth with wands from Oufe's fide,
With which, when neatly peeled and dried,
The fwains their baskets make.

Night veiled the pole. All feemed fecure.
When led by inftinct sharp and fure,
Subfiftence to provide,

A beaft forth-fallied on the scout,

Long-backed, long-tailed, with whiskered fnout, And badger-coloured hide.

LADY THROCKMORTON'S BULFINCH.

261

He, entering at the ftudy-door,

Its ample area 'gan explore;

And fomething in the wind

Conjectured, fniffing round and round,
Better than all the books he found,
Food chiefly for the mind.

Just then, by adverse fate impreffed,
A dream disturbed poor Bully's reft;
In fleep he seemed to view

A rat, faft-clinging to the cage,
And fcreaming at the fad prefage,
Awoke and found it true.

For, aided both by ear and fcent,
Right to his mark the monster went-
Ah, mufe! forbear to speak

Minute the horrors that enfued;

His teeth were ftrong, the cage was wood-
He left poor Bully's beak.

He left it but he fhould have ta'en;
That beak, whence iffued many a strain
Of fuch mellifluous tone,

Might have repaid him well, I wote,

For filencing fo fweet a throat,

Faft fet within his own.

Maria weeps-the Mufes mourn→→
So, when by Bacchanalians torn,
On Thracian Hebrus' fide

The tree-enchanter Orpheus fell;
His head alone remained to tell
The cruel death he died.

THE ROSE.

THE rose had been washed, juft washed in a shower,
Which Mary to Anna conveyed,

The plentiful moisture incumbered the flower,
And weighed down its beautiful head.

The cup was all filled, and the leaves were all wet,

And it seemed to a fanciful view,

To weep for the buds it had left with regret,
On the flourishing bush where it grew.

I haftily feized it, unfit as it was,

For a nofegay, fo dripping and drown'd,
And fwinging it rudely, too rudely, alas!
I fnapped it, it fell to the ground.

And fuch, I exclaimed, is the pitiless part
Some act by the delicate mind,

Regardless of wringing and breaking a heart
Already to forrow refigned.

This elegant rose, had I shaken it less,
Might have bloomed with its owner a while,
And the tear, that is wiped with a little address,
May be followed perhaps by a smile.

THE DOVES:

I.

REASONING at every ftep he treads,

Man yet miftakes his way,

While meaner things, whom inftinct leads,

Are rarely known to stray.

II.

One filent eve I wandered late,
And heard the voice of love;
The turtle thus addreffed her mate,
And foothed the liftening dove;

III.

Our mutual bond of faith and truth

No time fhall difengage,

Those bleffings of our early youth

Shall cheer our lateft age:

IV.

While innocence without difguife,
And conftancy fincere,

Shall fill the circles of thofe eyes,
And mine can read them there;

V.

Thofe ills, that wait on all below,

Shall ne'er be felt by me,

Or gently felt, and only fo,

As being fhared with thee.

VI.

When lightnings flash among the trees,

Or kites are hovering near,

I fear left thee alone they feize,

And know no other fear.

VII.

'Tis then I feel myfelf a wife, And prefs thy wedded fide, Refolved an union formed for life

Death never fhall divide.