236 The Poets and Nature. 



Byron has it " carolling," and others call it a " blithe singer" 

 cheering the mower and the rustic at their tasks. Both 

 Leyden and Lovelace are worth quoting, but what the latter 

 means is past comprehension. 



"And pittering grasshoppers, confusedly shrill, 

 Pipe giddily along the glowing hill ; 



Sweet grasshopper, who lov'st at noon to lie 

 Serenely in the green-ribbed clover's eye, 

 To sun thy filmy wings and emerald vest', 

 Unseen thy form, and undisturbed thy rest ! 

 Oft have I, listening, mused the sultry day, 

 And wondered what thy chirping song might say ; 

 When nought was heard along the blossomed lea 

 To join thy music, save the listless bee." 



" Oh ! thou that swing'st upon the waving hair 

 Of some well-filled oaten beard, 

 Drunk ev'ry night with a delicious tear 

 Dropp'd thee from heaven. 



The joys of earth and air are thine entire, 

 That with thy wings and feet dost hop and fly, 

 And when thy poppy works thou dost retire 

 To thy carved acorn bed to lie." 



" Hoarse " is an epithet frequently applied, but, as a rule 

 for instance Southey's, 



" Hoarse grasshoppers their evening song 

 Sang careless as the dews of night descended," 



and Leydon's, 



1 ' The tuneful birds suppress the cheerful lay, 

 And to hoarse grasshoppers resign the day," 



in relation to the insect at nightfall. Is there really any 

 change in its tone, as in that of frogs ? I have myself 

 thought that its vespers differed from its matins in being 

 deeper and less sprightly. At any rate, it is certain that the 

 creature constantly modulates its tones, and, listening to it, 

 it seems as if the small scraper got tired or inattentive ; its 



