"The stately sailing swan

Gives out its snowy plumage to the gale,
And arching proud his neck, with oary feet
Bears forward fierce and guards his osier isle,
Protective of his young."-Thomson.

Or the swan domestic:

"Along the wild meandering shore to view
Obsequious grace the winding swan pursue;
He swells his lifted chest and backward flings
His bridling neck beneath his tow'ring wings.
On as he floats, the silvered waters flow,

Proud of the varying arch and moveless form of snow.
While tender cares and mild domestic loves,
With furtive watch pursue her as she moves,
The female with a meeker charm succeeds,
And her brown little ones around her leads,
Nibbling the waterlilies as they pass,
Or playing wanton with the floating grass.
She, in a mother's care, her beauty's pride
Forgets, unwearied watching every side;
Alternately they mount her back, and rest
Close by her mantling wings' embraces prest."

What admirable passages these are, and how strangely they emphasise my complaint against the poets, that when they err from truth they err from beauty also.

THE BIRDS.

Order of Quotations-Their variety-Their habits and haunts-The Song of birds-The Beauty of their plumage-In the Morning and during the day-In the Evening and during the night-" Birds obscene"-In Spring; pairing time-In Summer; birds' nests and young-In Autumn; the emigration of birds-In Winter; their desolation.

Meanwhile the tepid caves, and fens, and shores,

Their brood as numerous hatch, from the egg that soon
Bursting with kindly rapture forth disclos'd

Their callow young; but feather'd soon and fledge

They summ'd their pens, and soaring th' air sublime
With clang despis'd the ground, under a cloud
In prospect; there the eagle and the stork
On cliffs and cedar-tops their eyries build:
Part loosely wing the region, part more wise
In common, rang'd in figure, wedge their way,
Intelligent of seasons, and set forth

Their aery caravan, high over seas

Flying, and over lands, with mutual wing,
Easing their flight so steers the prudent crane
Her annual voyage, borne on winds; the air
Flotes as they pass, fann'd with unnumber'd plumes:
From branch to branch the smaller birds with song
Solac'd the woods, and spread their painted wings
Till ev'n nor then the solemn nightingale
Ceas'd warbling, but all night tun'd her soft lays :
Others on silver lakes and rivers bath'd
Their downy breast: the swan, with arched neck,
Between her white wings, mantling proudly rows
Her state with oary feet; yet oft they quit
The dank, and, rising on stiff pennons, tower

The mid aerial sky; others on ground

Walk'd firm; the crested cock, whose clarion sounds
The silent hours; and th' other, whose gay train
Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue

Of rainbows starry eyes.-Milton: Paradise Lost.

The winged dwellers on the leas, and moors,

And mountain cliffs, the woods, the stream themselves,

The sweetly rural and the savage scene

Haunts of the plumy tribes.-Grahame: Birds of Scotland.

Birds birds! ye are beautiful things,

With your earth-treading feet and your cloud-cleaving wings!

Ye have nests on the mountains all rugged and stark,

Ye have nests in the forest all tangled and dark;

Ye build and ye brood 'neath the cottager's eaves,

And ye sleep on the sod 'mid the bonnie green leaves.

Ye hide in the heather, ye lurk in the brake,

Ye dive in the sweet flags that shadow the lake;

Ye skim where the stream parts the orchard-decked land,

Ye dance where the foam sweeps the desolate strand.

Beautiful birds! ye come thickly around

When the bud's on the branch and the snow's on the ground:

Ye come when the richest of roses flush out,

And ye come when the yellow leaf eddies about !—Cook: Birds.

Birds, small and great, of endless shapes and colours,

Here flew and perched, there swam and dived at pleasure,
Watchful and agile, uttering voices wild

And harsh, yet in accordance with the waves
Upon the beach, the winds in caverns moaning,
Or winds and waves abroad upon the water.
Some sought their food among the finny shoals,
Swift darting from the clouds, emerging soon
With slender captives glittering in their beaks;
There in recesses of steep crags constructed
Their eyries inaccessible, and trained
Their hardy broods to forage in all weathers.
Others, more gorgeously apparelled, dwelt
Among the woods, on Nature's dainties feeding,
Herbs, seeds, and roots; or ever on the wing,
Pursuing insects through the boundless air :

In hollow trees or thickets these concealed
Their exquisitely woven nests, where lay
Their callow offspring, quiet as the down

On their own breasts, till from her search the dam
With laden bill returned, and shared the meal
Among her clamorous suppliants all agape;
Then, cowering o'er them with expanded wings,
She felt how sweet it is to be a mother.
Of these, a few, with melody untaught,
Turned all the air to music within hearing,
Themselves unseen; while bolder quiristers
On loftiest branches strained their clarion pipes,
And made the forest echo to their screams
Discordant, yet there was no discord there,
But tempered harmony, all tones combining,
In the rich confluence of ten thousand tongues,

To tell of joy and to inspire it.-Montgomery: Pelican Island.

All birds that in the stream their pinion dip,

Or from the brink the liquid crystal sip,

Or show their beauties to the sunny skies,

Here wav'd their plumes that shone with varying dyes.

-Jones: Seven Fountains.

Others there are, that make their home
Where the white billows roar and foam,
Around the o'erhanging rock;
Fearless they skim the angry wave,
Or, sheltered in their sea-beat cave,

The tempest's fury mock.-Hemans: Birds.

Mariner! mariner! thou mayest go

Far as the strongest wind can blow,

But much thou'lt tell when thou comest back

Of the sea running high and the sky growing black,

Of the mast that went with a rending crash,

Of the lee-shore seen by the lightning's flash,

And never shalt thou forget to speak

Of the white gull's cry and the petrel's shriek.-Cook: Birds.

Where Afric's burning realm expands,

The ostrich haunts the desert sands,

Parched by the blaze of day;

The swan, where northern rivers glide,
Through the tall reeds that fringe their tide
Floats graceful on her way.-Hemans: Birds.

Wearied pilgrim! thou hast marched
O'er the desert dry and parched,

Where no little flower is seen,

No dewdrop, no oasis green,

What saw'st thou there? the ostrich, fast
As Arab steed or tempest blast,
And the stately pelican

Wondering at intrusive man.—Cook: Birds.

Far other scenes, remote, sublime,
Where swain or hunter may not climb,

The mountain eagle seeks;

Alone he reigns, a monarch there,

Scarce will the chamois' footstep dare

Ascend his Alpine peaks.—Hemans: Birds.

The tow'ring eagles to the realms of light
By their strong pounces claim a regal right;
The swan, contented with an humbler fate,
Low on the fishy river rows in state;
Gay starry plumes thy length of train bedeck,
And the green em'rald twinkles on thy neck;
But the poor nightingale, in mean attire,
Is made chief warbler of the woodland choir.
These various bounties were disposed above,
And ratify'd th' unchanging will of Jove.
Discern thy talent and his laws adore;
Be what thou wert design'd, nor aim at more.
-Fenton: Peacock.