Night-Butterflies and Day-Moths. 1 89 



With every filmy fly from mead or bower, 



And hungry Sphinx who threads the honey'd flower 



She o'er the larkspur's bed, where sweets abound, 



Views ev'ry bell, and hums th f approving sound ; 



Poised on her busy plumes, with feelings nice 



She draws from every flower, nor tries a flow'ret twice." 



Eliza Cook, whose butterflies are beyond all sober concep- 

 tion, has " blue " moths flit past in poem after poem, and to 

 leave no room for doubt, she sometimes refers to the insect 

 as " moth with azure wings." Moreover, her moths are the 

 companions of the bee. Thus, { ' the moth is full dressed 

 and the bee is about," " the golden moth and the shining 

 bee Will seldom rest on the willow-tree," " aspen stalks move 

 with the moth and the bee," and so on. But, I suppose, 

 Eliza Cook ought never to be taken seriously. Other poets, 

 however, see " happy moths sporting in the sunny summer's 

 sheen," meaning, no doubt, "midges." 



And what Darwin may mean by the lines 



" Ye painted moths, your gold-eyed plumage furl, 

 Bow your wide horns, your spiral trunks uncurl," 



I am at a loss to imagine. Clare was a nice observer, and 

 the " ermine " and the " ghost " moths " that live in the silence 

 and sweetness of night " met with frequent notice in his verse, 

 flitting along the meadows, " climbing up the tall grasses " 



" Dancing with lily-white wings o'er the dew, 

 Perched on the down-headed grass like a fairy." 



" Tender-speckled " is Bloomfield's epithet for, no doubt, 

 the " ermine." And Keats admirably speaks of a painted 

 window as 



" Diamonded with panes of quaint device, 

 As are the tiger-moth's deep-damasked wings." 



Many have "silver" moths an epithet which is admissible, 

 seeing that the white or very light-cloured sorts are the only 



