1 88 The Poets and Nature. 



If won, to equal ills betray'd 

 Woe waits the insect and the maid, 

 A life of pain, the loss of peace, 

 From infant's play, and man's caprice ; 

 The lovely toy so fiercely sought, 

 Hath lost its charm by being caught, 

 For every touch that woo'd its stay 

 Hath brush'd its brightest hues away." 



Several butterflies and moths are individually specified 

 without any loss of beauty to the verse. Thus Hurdis' 

 insect, "with saffron wing superb," that "zigzag dances 

 o'er the flowery dell;" Clare's "plain-drest butterfly of 

 russet dye," which 



" As if awakened by the scythe's shrill sound 

 Soon as the bent with ripeness 'gan to die, 

 Was constant with the mower in the meadow-ground 

 Flitting the with'ring swathe and unmown blossom round." 



Or the other 



" Lo ! the arching heavenly bow 

 Doth all his dyes on thee bestow, 

 Crimson, blue, and watery green, 

 Mixed with azure shade between, 

 These are thine thou first in place, 

 Queen of all the insect race." 



Which Jean Ingelow more pointedly particularises : 



' ' Open velvet butterflies 

 That swing and spread their peacock eyes 

 As if they cared no more to rise 

 From off their bed of camomile." 



Crabbe is delightful : 



" From the sweet bower, by nature form'd, arise 

 Bright troops of virgin moths and fresh-born butterflies ; 

 Who broke that morning from their half-year's sleep 

 To fly o'er flowers where they were wont to creep, 

 Above the sovereign oak, a sovereign, skims 

 The purple emp'ror, strong in wing and limbs, 

 There fair Camilla takes her flight serene, 

 Adonis blue, and Paphia silver queen ; 



