100 POETICAL NOTICES 



Cowper, if his own opinion coincides wnth that of 

 Bourne, from whom he translates, did not deem it 

 unworthy of 



" Such a song as he could g^ive ;" 

 and considers it superior to the grasshopper : — 



"Thou surpassest, happier fai", 

 Happiest grasshoppers that are ; 

 Their's is but a summer song. 

 Thine endures the winter long, 

 Unimpair'd, and shrill and clear, 

 Melody throughout the year." 



Yet Milton did not consider this mirth inconsistent 

 with contemplation ; for " il Penseroso" desires to be 



" Far from all resort of mirth, 

 Save the cricket on the hearth." 



It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the accord- 

 ance, thus generally admitted, of the chirp of the 

 cricket with gaiety and mirth, it is occasionally em- 

 ployed by our poets in scenes of a completely oppo- 

 site character. Its fitness for such scenes may be 

 inferred from the manner in which it is introduced in 

 Wharton's " Pleasures of Melancholy" : — 



" Far remote 



From mirth's mad shouts, that through the illumined roof 



Resound with festive echo, let me sit. 



Blest with the lowly cricket's drowsy dirge." 



Lady Macbeth, in replying to the question of her 

 husband after the murder of Duncan, says — 

 " I heard the owls scream, and the crickets cry." 



