Natural Hiftory of the Ancients. 1 87 



This concludes the lift of birds which were dear 

 to Virgil. A few more lines relate to their 

 economy, their ufe in augury, and the like. Thus 

 a pretty picture gives us the woodman felling 

 ancient trees, and deftroying in their fall the 

 time-honoured nefts of birds ; and another, the 

 lonely thickets enlivened in fpring with their fong. 

 Occafionally fome virulent difeafe attacks them, and 

 then " the very air is inhofpitable, headlong in 

 death they drop from the lofty clouds ;" or 

 winters ftorm, and the approach of night drifting 

 downwards from the mountains, drives them in 

 thoufands to take fhelter in their leafy coverts; 

 while at times thefe troops of birds (perhaps 

 ftarlings were in Virgil's mind), fettle down on 

 the thick plantations, and hoarfe flocks of fwans, 

 in the noify fwamps of fifhy Po, make the fky 

 refound with their cries ("^neid," xi. 456, etc.). 

 In order to adorn the lowly home of Evander 

 (".flineid," viii. 456), a touch is added which 

 nearly approaches the poetic feeling of modern 

 times ; " the morning fongs of early birds beneath 

 his roof-tree" awake him. The finenefs of 

 Virgil's genius, the poetic colouring which he gives 

 to all that he touches, are very apparent in thefe 

 ftudies of his birds. It is very true, indeed, that 

 moft of his fimiles are drawn from Homer ; but 

 how often does he lend them a graceful turn 

 which is wanting in the rough vigour of the 

 original ! " Take from Virgil," fays Coleridge in 

 the "Table Talk," "his melody and diftion, and 

 what is there of him?" A novel and enlarged 



