ON THE PLUCKING OF GEESE. 287 



And you yourselves to-day have shown 

 That 'tis not good to be alone. 



Besides, 

 And here even patience' self derides, 

 Who is it that complains of us — 

 About his corn-fields makes such fuss ? 

 The Greatest Ravager on earth — 



Man ; man, who, from the earliest birth 

 Of ancient time, 



Hath robb'd and ransack'd every clime — 



The ocean, earth, and air, for food ! — 



In pleasure or in wanton mood 



Commands the Duck, Goose, us, to bleed ; 



Pursues the Ostrich on the steed ; — 



Of all our pangs takes little heed ! — 



The most omnivorous of all, 



What shall we such a being call? — 

 I might still further amplify 



On his august humanity: 



Might tell how, jive times in a year, 



He strips the raiment from the goose 



And then, as heartless, turns him loose ;— * 



* Since the above was written, I find the following informa- 

 tion in the Morning Herald of Sept. 15, 1826. "The farmers on 

 the moorlands in this county (Somerset) rear vast flocks of 

 geese, chiefly for the sake of the feathers, which are mercilessly 

 stripped from the suffering bird five times a year. By this 

 practice one pound of feathers is obtained from each bird 

 yearly. Yesterday week was the period of plucking for the 

 fifth time in the neighbourhood of Westmoor near Langport; the 

 geese were immediately afterwards turned out on the common : 

 6 



