THE HOUSE-SPARROW's SPEECH. 293 



'Mongst which, the savage horde canine, 



Kept hungry by sedate design — 



Those Hounds that, now and then, contrive 



To eat their keepers up alive — 



I here might aptly introduce 



To shew man's wisdom and its use ; 



But the horrific theme is such 



It proves, I fear, almost too much ;* 



Talk of a heart ! prate to the wind ! 



The storm, the waves, are far more kind ! 



Have we not homes and children too ? 



How often he doth these destroy, 



In all the glee of savage joy, 

 I need not here relate to you. 

 Talk of a heart! — what I have said 

 Will prove what are both heart and head; 



Of Man, our Master, these are deeds 

 At which the heart revolting bleeds : 

 Of man, too, who is said to be, — 

 Of all God's creatures only he, — 



The HIGHLY-CIVILIZED ! 



Of man who, vainly proud of name, 

 Asks guerdon of immortal Fame! 



By fame such deeds are duly prized ! 



Might I now here advice presume 



This Lord's thick darkness to illume, 



I'd say — If thy penchant be still 



The fowls of air, in Sport, to kill, 



* The circumstance here alluded to occurred in Somerset- 

 shire about twenty years ago. — See my Observations on the Dia- 

 lects of the West of England, article Fanny Fear. 



