The honours of his ebon poll Were brighter than the sleekest mole, With which Aurora decks the skies, When piping winds shall soon arise Above, below, in all the house, No cat had leave to dwell; And Bully's cage supported stood Well-latticed-but the grate, alas! Not rough with wire of steel or brass, But smooth with wands from Ouse's side, With which, when neatly peeled and dried, The swains their baskets make. LADY THROCKMORTON'S BULFINCH. Night veiled the pole: all seemed secure- Subsistence to provide, A beast forth-sallied on the scout, 341 Long-backed, long-tailed, with whiskered snout, And badger-coloured hide. He, entering at the study-door, And something in the wind Conjectured, sniffing round and round, Just then, by adverse fate impressed, A rat, fast-clinging to the cage, And screaming at the sad presage, For, aided both by ear and scent, Right to his mark the monster went- Minute the horrours that ensued; His teeth were strong, the cage was woodHe left poor Bully's beak. Oh had he made that too his prey, Might have repaid him well, I wote, Maria Fast stuck within his own. weeps- the Muses mourn― So, when by Bacchanalians torn, On Thracian Hebrus' side The tree enchanter Orpheus fell; The cruel death he died. THE ROSE. THE rose had been washed, just washed in a shower, Which Mary to Anna conveyed, The plentiful moisture encumbered 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 I hastily seized it, unfit as it was, For a nosegay, so dripping and drowned, And such, I exclaimed, is the pitiless part Regardless of wringing and breaking a heart 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. REASONING at every step he treads, While meaner things, whom instinct leads, One silent eve I wandered late, Our mutual bond of faith and truth Those blessings of our early youth |