Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Loc^ists. 243 



Ye have kindred voices clear, 



Ye alike unfold the wing, 

 Migrate hither, sojourn here, 



Both attendant on the Spring. 



Ah ! for pity drop the prize ; 



Let it not with truth be said 

 That a songster gasps and dies, 



That a songster may be fed." 



Once, and once only, in Garth, I find it called " sinister," 

 which is quite in keeping with homely superstitions. As 

 a rule Clare's domestic cricket that "by the fireside un- 

 molested sings " 



" Blithe as the lark, as crickets gay, 

 That chirrup on the hearth " 



finds more distinctive notice, and is universally a favourite. 

 "Crickets chirrup on the hearth, As if they shared the 

 children's mirth." The poet of the Pleasures of Melancholy 

 is "blest with the lowly cricket's drowsy dirge;" but Barry 

 Cornwall, referring to contemporary credulities, calls it the 

 "chilly midnight cricket" with "warning" voice. The 

 idea and one not altogether without foundation that 

 the superior comforts of fireside life lengthen the insect's 

 life, is often hinted at, and in the following from Charlotte 

 Smith, explicitly set forth : 



" Little inmate full of mirth, 

 Chirping on my humble hearth, 

 Wheresoe'er be thy abode, 

 Always harbinger of good. 



Though in voice and shape may be, 

 Form'd as if akin to thee, 

 Thou surpasses!, happier far, 

 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. 



Neither night nor dawn of day 

 Puts a period to thy lay." 



