ELEGY XXI. THE PARTRIDGES. WRITTEN ON THE LAST OF AUGUST. BY THE REV. MR. PRATT. HARD by yon copse, that skirts the flowery vale, And notes of sorrow echo'd through the trees. Touch'd by the pensive sound, I nearer drew But my rude step increas'd the cause of pain : Soon o'er my head the whirring Partridge flew, Alarm'd; and with her flew an infant train. But short the excursion ;-for, unus'd to play, Feebly the unfledg'd wings th' essay could make: The parent, shelter'd by the closing day, Lodg'd her lov'd covey in a neighb'ring brake. 10 Her cradling pinions there she amply spread, And closer to their feathery friend they press'd. She, wretched parent! doom'd to various woe, O thou! who e'en the sparrow dost befriend, For soon as dawn shall dapple yonder skies, O may the sun, unfann'd by cooling gale, Parch with unusual heat th' undewy ground; So shall the pointer's wonted cunning fail, So shall the sportsman leave my babes unfound. 210 Then shall I fearless guide them to the mead, But if some victim must endure the dart, And Fate marks out that victim from my race, Strike, strike the leaden vengeance through this heart; Spare, spare my babes; and I the death embrace. ELEGY XXII. THE GOLDFINCHES. BY THE REV. RICHARD JAGO, M.A. ---------Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes To you, whose groves protect the feather'd quires, Το you, whom pity moves, and taste inspires, 'Twas gentle spring, when all the tuneful race, By nature taught, in nuptial leagues combine: A goldfinch joy'd to meet the warm embrace, And hearts and fortunes with her mate to join. Through Nature's spacious walks at large they rang'd, No settled haunts, no fix'd abode their aim; As chance or fancy led, their path they chang'd, Themselves, in every vary'd scene, the same. Till on a day to weighty cares resign'd, With mutual choice, alternate they agreed, On rambling thoughts no more to turn their mind, But settle soberly, and raise a breed. All in a garden, on a currant-bush, With wond'rous art they built their waving seat, In the next orchard liv'd a friendly thrush, Not distant far, a woodlark's soft retreat. 20 Here blest with ease, and in each other blest, And now what transport glow'd in either's eye But ah! what earthly happiness can last ? The most ungentle of his tribe was he; No gen'rous precept ever touch'd his heart: With concords false and hideous prosody He scrawl'd his task, and blunder'd o'er his part. |