1 76 The Poets and Nature. 



A nat'ral sign of weakness, as an ant 

 Is more laborious than an elephant ; 

 And children are more busy at their play 

 Than those that wisely pass their time away." 



Lovelace, too, is delightful on the same theme. He has 

 a poem on the ant, " Thou Miserable Ant," in which these 

 verses occur : 



" Austere and cynic, not one hour t' allow 

 To lose with pleasure what thou gett'st with pain ; 

 But drive on sacred festivals the plough, 

 Tearing highways with thy o'ercharged wain, 

 Not all thy life time one poor minute live 

 And thy o'erlaboured bulk with mirth relieve. 



Forbear thou great good husband, little ant, 

 A little respite from thy flood of sweat : 

 Thou thine own horse and cart, under this plant 

 Thy spacious tent, fan thy prodigious heat, 

 Down with thy double load of that one grain 



Cease large example of wise thrift awhile 

 (So thy example is become our law) 

 And teach thy frowns a seasonable smile 

 So Cato sometimes naked Florals saw." 



In Fancy, the sober-sided, matter-of-fact, humdrum ant 

 finds but small place. In the feast of the Fairies when flies' 

 eggs poached in moonshine, and butterflies' brains fricasseed 

 in dew, a sucking mite roasted, and a rainbow tart, formed 

 the bill of fare the place of honour is given to the whole 

 ant barbecued. A sprite riding on an ant is thrown, and 

 "under the unruly beast's proud feet" lies mangled. It 

 raises a monumental mound to the dead fay and befriends 

 unhappy stepdaughters who are kind to it. Then there is 

 the ant in amber : 



" Whilst in an amber shade the ant doth rest, 

 A gummy drop ensnares the small wild beast." 



But Clare, referring, it may be, to the fairy origin of ants, 



