Class IT. RED-BREAST. 37S 



In joylefs fields, and thorny thickets, leaves 

 His Ihivering mates, and pays to trufted Man 

 His annual vifit. Half afraid, he fir ft 

 Againft the window beats ; then, brifk, alights 

 On the warm hearth ; then, hopping o'er the floor, 

 Eyes all the fmiling family afkance. 

 And pecks, and ftarts, and wonders where he is : 

 'Till more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 

 Attract his flender feet. 



The great beauty of that celebrated poet confifts in 

 his elegant and juft defcriptions of the ceconomy of 

 animals; and the happy ufe* he hath n:iade of 

 natural knowlege, in defcriptive poetry, fhines 

 through almoft every page of his Seafons. The 

 afFedion this bird has for mankind, is alfo record- 

 ed in that antient ballad, f The babes in the wood ; 

 a compofition of a moft beautifuU and pathetic 

 fimplicity. It is the firft tryal of our humanity : 

 the child that refrains from tears on hearing that 

 read, gives but a bad prefage of the tendernefs of 

 his future fenfations. 



In the fpring this bird retires to breed In the 

 thickeft covers, or the moft concealed holes of walls 

 and other buildings. The eggs are of a dull white, 

 fprinkled with reddifh fpots. Its fong is remark- 

 ably fine and foft •, and the more to be valued, as 

 we enjoy it the greateft part of the winter, and ear- 

 ly in the fpring, and even through great part of 



* Vide our Preface. 



t Rdi^ues of antient EngUfi Poetry, Vol. III. p. 170. 



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