18 



and fly off again to their little ones, to feed them, before 

 they eat any themseves ? 



TO A CANARY BIRD. 



God bless thee and thy joyous throat 

 Thy trill, thy churr, thy piercing note 



My tweet Canary. 

 Thou gush of song, thou vvaterbrook 

 Of joy, thou poem, doctrine, boock. 



Vocabulary : 

 Thou caged up treasure of delight ! 

 That knowst to make a prison bright, 



Through music's mystery ; 

 To — swell thy rich notes in full tide 

 Anon, the highest reach of sound divide 



Like Paganini. 

 Where did'st thou gain this wondrous lore ? 

 Where that, which I admire yet more. 



The glad Philosophy. 

 That smiles at iron bars and doors, — 

 In loneliness a spirit pours 

 Of mirthful minstrelsy. 



LINES ON A BIRD'S NESS. 

 „ But most of all it wins my admiration, 

 To wiew the structure of this little wot k, 

 A bird's Nest. Mark it well, within, without : 

 No tool had he that wrought, no knife to cut, 

 No neil to fix, no bodkin to insert, 

 No glue to join : his little beak was all ; 

 And yet how neatly finished! What nice hand, 

 Whit every implement and means of art, 

 An twenty years' apprenticeship to boot. 

 Could make me such another ? Fondly, then. 

 We boast of excellence, whose noblest skill 

 Instinktive genius foils." 



