THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
259 
‘ Better than all measures 
Of delightful sound, 
Better than all treasures 
That in books are found, 
Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground ! 
‘ Teach me half the gladness 
That thy brain must know, 
Such harmonious madness 
From my lips would flow. 
The world should listen then as I am listening now.’ 
“ Europe is especially blest in the number and 
excellence of its singing birds, many of which 
should long before this have been naturalized 
in our groves and fields ; but we must pass by 
others unnoticed, as there are many of our own 
sweet singers awaiting proper recognition. 
“ If we must yield the palm to the nightin¬ 
gale and lark of the Old World on the score 
of sweetness, we can with perfect confidence 
assert the pre-eminence of our peerless mock¬ 
ing-bird for vivacity and variety. He is such 
a polyglot that it is hard to determine the key 
of his own natural song. So delicate is his ear, 
and so flexible and imitative his vocal organs, 
that so soon as he is able to chirp in his own 
proper cadences he catches up, with almost in- 
