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The wound: spare nor thy flesh, nordreadth'event: But skim with wanton wing th' irriguous vale
Vulcan shall save when Esculapius fails. [means
Here should the knowing Muse recount the
To stop this growing plague; and here, alas!
Each hand presents a sov reign cure and boasts
Infallibility; but boasts in vain.

On this depend-each to his sep'rate scat
Confine, in fetters bound; give each his mess
Apart, his range in open air and then
If deadly symptoms to thy grief appear,
Devote the wretch, and let him greatly fall,
A gen'rous victim for the public weal.
Sing, philosophie Muse! the dire effects
Of this contagious bite on hapless man.
The rustic swains, by long tradition taught
Of leeches old, as soon as they perceive
The bite impress, to the sca-coasts repair.
Plung'd in the briny flood, th' unhappy youth
Now journeys home secure, but soon shall wish
The seas as yet had cover'd him beneath
The foaming surge full many a fathom deep.
A fate more dismal, and superior ills,
Hang o'er his head devoted. When the moon,
Closing her monthly round, returns again
To glad the night, or when full-orb'd she shines
High in the vault of heaven, the lurking pest
Begins the dire assault. The pois'nous foam,
Thro' the deep wound instill'd with hostile rage,
And all its fiery particles saline,

Invades th' arterial fluid, whose red waves
Tempestuous heave, and, their cohesion broke,
Fermenting, boil; intestine war ensues,
And order to confusion turus embroil'd.
Now the distended vessels scarce contain
The wild uproar, but press each weaker part,
Unable to resist: the tender brain

And stomach suffer most: convulsions shake His trembling nerves, and wand'ring pungent pains

Pinch sore the sleepless wretch: his flutt'ring pulse
Oft intermits; pensive and sad, he mourns
His cruel fate, and to his weeping friends
Laments in vain; to hasty anger prone,
Resents each slight offence, walks with quick step,
And wildly stares at last with boundless sway
The tyrant phrensy reigns; for as the dog
Whose fatal bite convey'd th' infectious bane,
Raving he foams, and howls, and barks, and bites.
Like agitations in his boiling blood
Present like species to his troubled mind,
His nature and his actions all canine.
So (as old Homer sung) th' associates wild
Of wand'ring Ithacus, by Circe's charms
To swine transform'd, ran grunting thro' the
Dreadful example to a wicked world! {groves.
See there distress'd he lies! parch'd up with thirst,
But dares not drink; till now at last his soul
Trembling escapes, her noisome dungeon leaves,
And to some purer region wings away.
One labor yet remains, celestial Maid!
Another element demands thy song.
No more o'er craggy steeps, thro' coverts thick
With pointed thorn, and briers intricate,
Urge on with horn and voice the painful pack,

Where winding streams amid the flow'ry mead
Perpetual glide along, and undermine
The cavern'd banks, by the tenacious roots
Of hoary willows arch'd, gloomy retreat
Of the bright scaly kind, where they at will
On the green watry reed, their pasture gaze;
Suck the moist soil; or slumber at their case,
Rock'd by the restless brook that draws aslope
Its humid train, and laves their dark abodes.
Where rages not oppression? where, alas!
Is Innocence secure? Rapine and Spoil
Haunte'enthelowestdeeps, seas have theirsharks,
Rivers and ponds inclose the rav'nous pike;
He in his turn becomes a prey, on him
Th' amphibious otter feasts. Just is his fate
Deserv'd: but tyrants knowno bounds; nor spears,
That bristle on his back, defend the perch
From his wide greedy jaws; nor burnish'd mail
The yellow carp; nor all his arts can save
Th' insinuating eel, that hides his head
Beneath the slimy mud; nor yet escapes
The crimson-spotted trout, the river's pride,
And beauty of the stream. Without remorse
This midnight pillager, raging around,
Insatiate, swallows all. The owner mourns
Th' unpeopled rivullet, and gladly hears
The huntsman's early call, and sees with joy
The jovial crew, that march upon its banks

In

gay parade, with bearded lances arm'd. This subule spoiler, of the beaver kind, Far off perhaps, where antient alders siade The deep still pool, within some hollow trunk Contrives his wicker couch, whence he surveys His long purlieu, lord of the stream, and all The finny shoals his own. But you, brave youths! Dispute the felon's claim; try ev'ry root, And ev'ry reedy bank; encourage all The busy spreading pack, that fearless plunge Into the flood, and cross the rapid stream. Bid rocks and caves, and each resounding shore, Proclaim your bold defiance! loudly raise Each cheering voice, till distant hills repeat The triumphs of the vale. On the soft sand See there his seal impress'd! and on that bank Behold the glitt'ring spoils, half-caten fish, Scales, fins, and bones, the leavings of his feast. Ah! on that yielding sag-bed, see, once more His scal I view. O'er yon dank rushy marsh The sly goose-footed prowler bends his course, And seeks the distant shallows. Huntsman,bring Thy eager pack, and trail him to his couch. Hark! the loud peal begins, the clam'rous joy, The gallant chiding, loads the trembling ait:

Ye Naiads fair, who o'er these floods preside, Raise up your dripping heads above the wave, And hear our melody. The harmonious notes Float with the stream, and ev'ry winding creck And hollow rock, that e'er the dimpling flood Nods pendant, still improve from shore to shore Our sweet reiterated joys. What shouts ! What clamor loud! what gay heart-cheering

sounds

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Not choirs of Tritons gald with sprightlier strains
The dancing billows, when proud Neptune rides
In triumph o'er the deep. How greedily
They snuff the fishy steam that to each blade
Rank-scenting clings! See how the morning dews
Theysweep, that from their feet besprinkling drop
Dispers'd, and leave a track oblique behind.
Now on firm land they range; then in the flood
They plunge tumultuous, or thro' reedy pools
Rustling they work their way: no hole escapes
Their curious search. With quick sensation now
The fuming vapor stings; flutter their hearts,
And joy redouble bursts from ev'ry mouth
In louder symphonies. Yon hollow trunk,
That with its hoary head incurv'd salutes
The passing wave, must be the tyrant's fort,
And dread abode. How these impatient climb,
While others at the root incessant bay!
They put him down. See, there he dives along!
Th' ascending bubbles mark his gloomy way.
Quick fix the nets, and cut off his retreat

Nor Titan's lively tints, adorn our walls?
Yet these the meanest of us may behold,
And at another's cost may feast at will
Our wond'ring eyes: what can the ownermore?
But vain, alas! is wealth not grac'd with pow'r.
The flow'ry landscape and the gilded dome,
And vistas op'uing to the wearied eye.
Thro' all his wide domain; the planted grove,
The shrubby wilderness, with its gay
choir
Of warbling birds, can't lull to soft repose
Th' ambitious wretch, whose discontented soul
Is harrow'd day and night he mourns, he pines,
Until his prince's favor makes him great.
See there he comes, th' exalted idol comes!
The circle's form'd, and all his fawning slaves
Devoutly bow to earth; from ev'ry mouth
The nauseous flatt'ry flows, which he returns
With promises that die as soon as born.
Vile intercourse! where Virtue has no place.
Frown but the monarch, all his glories fade;
He mingles with the throng, outcast, undone,
Into the shelt'ring deeps. Ah! there he vents!The pageant of a day; without one friend
The pack plunge headlong, and protendedspears
Menace destruction, while the troubled surge
Indignant foams, and all the scaly kind
Affrighted hide their heads. Wild tumult reigns,
And loud uproar. Ah! there once more he vents!
See! that bold hound has seis'd him ; down they
sink,

Together lost; but soon shall he repent
His rash assault. See! there escap'd he flies
Half drown'd, and clambers up the slippery bank,
With ouze and blood distain'd. Of all the brutes,
Whether by nature form'd, or by long use,
This artful diver best can bear the want
Of vital air. Unequal is the fight
Beneath the whelming element: yet there
He lives not long, but respiration needs
At proper intervals. Again he vents;
Again the crowd attack. That spear has pierc'd
His neck, the crimson waves confess the wound,
Fix'd is the bearded lance, unwelcome guest,
Where'er he flies; with him it sinks beneath,
With him it mounts; sure guide to ev'ry foe.
Inly he groans, nor can his tender wound
Bear the cold stream. Lo! to yon sedgy bank
He creeps disconsolate: his num'rous foes
Surround him, hounds and men. Piere'd thro'

and thro'

On pointed spears they lift him high in air ;
Wriggling he hangs, and grins, and bites in vain.
Bid the loud horns, in gaily-warbling strains,
Proclaim the felon's fate. He dies! he dies!
Rejoice ye scaly tribes! and leaping dance
Above the wave, in sign of liberty
Restor'd; the cruel tyrant is no more.
Rejoice, secure and blest, did not as yet
Remain some of your own rapacious kind,
And man, fierce man! with all his various wiles
O happy, if ye knew your happy state,
Ye rangers of the fields! whom Nature boon
Cheers with her smiles, and ev'ry element
Conspires to bless. What if no heroes frown
From uarble pedestals, nor Raphael's works,

To sooth his tortur'd mind; all, all are fled;
For tho' they bask'd in his meridian ray,
The insects vanish as his beams decline.

Not such our friends; for here no dark design,
No wicked int'rest, bribes the renal heart;
But inclination to our bosoms leads,
And weds them there for life; our social cups
Smile as we smile; open and unreserv'd,
We speak our inmost souls; good-humor, mirth,
Saft complaisance, and wit from malice free,
Smooth ev'ry brow, and glow from ev'ry cheek.

O happiness sincere! what wretch would groan
Beneath the galling load of pow'r, or walk
Upon the slipp'ry pavements of the great,
Who thus could reign unenvied and secure?

Ye guardian Pow'rs, who make mankind your

care,

Give me to know wise Nature's hidden depths,
Trace each mysterious cause, withjudgementread
Th' expanded volume, and submiss adore
That great creative Will, who at a word
Spoke forth the wond'rous scene. But if my soul,
To this gross clay confin'd, flutters on earth
With less ambitious wing, unskill'd to range
From orb to orb, where Newton leads the way,
And view with piercing eyes the grand machine,
Worlds above worlds; subservient to his voice
Who, veil'd in clouded majesty, alone
Gives light to all, bids the great system move,
And changeful seasons in their turns advance,
Unmov'd, unchang'd, himself; yet this at least
Grant me propitious-an inglorious life
Calm and serene, nor lost in false pursuits
Of wealth or honors; but enough to raise
My drooping friends, preventing modest want
That dares not ask: and if, to crown my joy,
Ye grant me health, that, ruddy in my cheeks,
Blooms in my life's decline; fields, woods, and

streams,

Each tow'ring hill, each humble vale below,
Shallhearmycheeringvoice: myhounds shall wake.
The lazy morn, and glad th' horizon round.

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You, who the sweetsof rural life have known,
Despise th' ungrateful hurry of the town;
In Windsor groves your easy hours employ,
And, undisturb'd, yourself and Muse enjoy.
Thames listens to thy strains, and silent flows,
And no rude wind through rustling osier blows;
While all his wond'ring nymphs around thee
To hear the Syrens warble in thy song. [throng,
But I, who ne'er was blest by fortune's hand,
Nor brighten'd ploughshare in paternal land,
Long in the noisy town have been immur'd,
Respir'd its smoke, and all its cares endur'd;
Where news and politics divide mankind,
And schemes of state involve th' uneasy mind;
Faction embroils the world; and ev'ry tongue
Is mov'd by flatt'ry, or with scandal hung:
Friendship, for sylvan shades, the palace flies,
Where all must yield to int'rest's dearer ties;
Each rival Machiavel with envy burns,
And honesty forsakes them all by turns;
While calumny upon each party's thrown :
Which both promote, and both alike disown:
Fatigued at last, a calm retreat I choose,
And sooth'd the harass'd mind with sweet repose,
Wherefields and shades, and the refreshing clime,
Inspire the sylvan song, and prompt my rhyme,
My Muse shall rove through flow'ry meads and
plains,

When heifers seek the shade and cooling lake,
And in the middle path-way basks the snake;
O lead me, guard ine from the sultry hours,
Hide me, ye forests, in your closest bow'rs,,
Where the tall oak his spreading arms entwines,
And with the heech a mutual shade combines ;
Where flowsthemurm'ringbrook inviting dreams
Where bordering hazel overhangs the streams,
Whose rolling current winding round and round,
With frequent falls makes all the wood resound;
Upon the mossy couch my limbs I cast,
And e'en at noon the sweets of ev'ning taste.
Here I peruse the Mantuan's Georgie strains,
And learn the labors of Italian swains;
In ev'ry page I see new landscapes rise,
And all Hesperia opens to my eyes;
I wander o'er the various rural toil,
And know the nature of each diffrent soil:
This waving field is gilded o'er with corn,
That spreading trees with blushing fruit adorn :
Here I survey the purple vintage grow,
Climb round the poles, and rise in graceful row:
Now I behold the steed curvet and bound,
And paw with restless hoof the smoking ground:
The dewlapp'd bull now chafes along the plain,
While burning love ferments in ev'ry vein;
His well-arm'd front against his rival aims,
And by the dint of war his mistress claims:
The careful insect 'midst his works I view,
Now from the flow'rs exhaust the fragrant dew;
With golden treasures load his little thighs,
And steer his distant journey through the skies;
Some against hostile drones the hive defend;
Others with sweets the waxen cells distend:
Each in the toil his destin'd office bears,
And in the little bulk a mighty soul appears.
Or when the ploughman leaves the task of day,
And trudging homeward whistles on the way;
When the big-udder'd cows with patience stand,
Waiting the strokings of the damsel's hand;
No warbling cheers the woods; the feather'dchoir,
To court kind slumbers, to the sprays retire:
When no rude gale disturbs the sleeping trees,
Nor aspen leaves confess the gentlest breeze;
Engag'd in thought, to Neptune's bounds I stray,
To take my farewell of the parting day;
Far in the deep the sun his glory hides,
A streak of gold the sea and sky divides:
The purple clouds their amber linings show,
And edg'd with flame rolls ev'ry wave below :
Here pensive I behold the fading light,
And o'er the distant billow lose my sight.

And deck with rural sports her native strains;
And the same road ambitiously pursue,
Frequented by the Mantuan swain and you.
"Tis not that rural sports alone invite,
But all the grateful country breathes delight;
Her blooming health exerts her gentle reign,
And strings the sinews of th' industrious swain.
Soon as the morning lark salutes the day,
Through dewy fields I take my frequent way,
Where I behold the fariner's early care
In the revolving labors of the year.
When the fresh Spring in all her state is crown'd,
And high luxuriant grass o'erspreads the ground,
The laborer with a bending scythe is seen,
Shaving the surface of the waving green;
Of all her native pride disrobes the land,
And meads lays waste before his sweeping hand;
While with the mounting sun the meadow glows,
The fading herbage round he loosely throws:
But, if some sign portend a lasting show'r,
Th' experienc'd swain foresees the coming hour.
His sun-burnt bands the scatt'ring fork forsake,
And ruddy damsels ply the saving rake;
In rising hills the fragrant harvest grows,
And spreads along the field in equal rows.
Now when the height of heaven bright
bus gains,
Who reins the winds, gives the vast ocean bounds,
And level rays cleave wide the thirsty plains; Andcircumscribesthe floating worlds their rounds

Now Night in silent state begins to rise,
And twinkling orbs bestrew th' uncloudy skies;
Her borrow'd lustre-growing Cynthia lends,
And on the main a glitt'ring path extends ;
Millions of worlds hang in the spacious air;
Which round their suns their annual circles steer;
Sweet contemplation elevates my sense,
While I survey the works of Providence.
O could the Muse in loftier strains rehearse
Pho-The glorious Author of the universe,

This Poem received many material corrections from the Author after it was first published.

Ce

My

My soul should overflow in songs of praise,
And my Creator's name inspire my lays!

As in successive course the seasons roll,
So circling pleasures recreate the soul.
When genial spring a living warmth bestows,
And o'er the year her verdant mantle throws,
No swelling inundation hides the grounds,
But crystal currents glide within their bounds;
The finny brood their wonted haunts forsake,
Float in the sun, and skim along the lake:
With frequentleaptheyrange the shallow streams,
Their silver coats reflect the dazzling beams.
Now let the fisherman his toils prepare,
And arm himself with ev'ry wai'ry snare;
His hooks, his lines, peruse with careful eye;
Increase his tackle, and his rod re-tie.
When floating clouds their spongy fleeces drain,
Troubling thestreams with swiftdescending rain;
And waters, tumbling down the mountain's side,
Bear the loose soil into the swelling tide;
Then, soon as vernal gales begin to rise,
And drive the liquid burthen thro' the skies,
The fisher to the neighb'ring current speeds,
Whose rapid surface purls unknown to weeds :
Upon a rising border of the brook

He sits him down, and ties the treach'rous hook;
Now expectation cheers his eager thought,
His bosom glows with treasures yet uncaught;
Before his eyes a banquet seems to stand,
Where ev'ry gnest applaudes his skilful hand.
Far up the stream the twisted hair he throws,
Which down the murm'ring current gentlyflows;
When, if or chance or hunger's powerful sway
Directs the roving trout this fatal way,
He greedily sucks in the twining bait,
And tugs and nibbles the fallacious meat :
Now, happy fisherman, now twitch the line!
How thy rod bends! behold, the prize is thine!
Cast on the bank, he dies with gasping pains,
And trickling blood his silver mail distains.

You must not ev'ry worm promiscuous use;
Judgement will tell the proper bait to choose:
The worm that draws along immoderate size
The trout abhors, and the rank morsel flies:
And, if too small, the naked fraud's in sight,
And fear forbids, while hunger does invite.
Those baits will best reward the fisher's pains,
Whose polish'd tails a shining yellow stains ;
Cleanse them from filth, to give a tempting gloss,
Cherish the sullied reptile race with moss;
Amid the verdant bed they twine, they toil,
And from their bodies wipe their native soil.
But when the sun displays his glorious beams,
And shallow rivers flow with silver streams,
Then the deceit the scaly breed survey,
Bask in the sun, and look into the day:
You now a more delusive art must try,
And tempt their hunger with a curious fly.
To frame the little animal, provide
All the gay hues that wait on female pride;
Let nature guide thee; sometimes golden wire
The shining bellies of the fly require;
The peacock's plumes thy tackle must not fail,
Nor the dear purchace of the sable's tail.

Each gaudy bird some slender tribute brings,
And lends the growing insect proper wings:
Silks of all colors must their aid impart,
And ev'ry fur promote the fisher's art.
So the gay lady, with expensive care,
Borrows the pride of land, of sea, and air; [plays,
Furs, pearls, and plumes, the glitt'ring thing dis
Dazzles our eyes, and easy hearts betrays.

Mark well the various seasons of the year,
How the succeeding insect race appear;
In this revolving moon one color reigns,
Which in the next the fickle trout disdains.
Oft have I seen a skilful angler try
The various colors of the treach'rous fly:
When he with fruitlesspainhasskimm'dthebrook,
And the coy fish rejects the skipping hook,
He shakes the boughs that on the margin grow,
Which o'er the stream a waving forest throw;
When if an insect fall (his certain guide)
He gently takes him from the whirling tide;
Examines well his form with curious eyes,
His gaudy vest, his wings, his horns, and size;
Then round his hook the chosen fur he winds,
And on the back a speckled feather binds;
So just the colors shine through ev'ry part,
That Nature seems again to live in Art.
Let not thy wary step advance too near,
While all thy hope hangs on a single hair;
The new-form'd insect on the water moves,
The speckled trout the curious snare approves;
Upon the curling surface let it glide:
With natural motion from thy hand supplied,
Against the stream now gently let it play,
Now in the rapid eddy roll away.
The scaly shoals float by, and, seis'd with fear,
Behold their fellows tost in thinner air;
But soon they leap, and catch the swimmingbait,
Plunge on the hook, and share an equal fate.

When a brisk gale against the current blows, And all the wat'ry plain in wrinkles flows, Then let the fisherman his art repeat, Where bubbling eddies favor the deceit. If an enormous salinon chance to spy The wanton errors of the floating fly; He lifts his silver gills above the flood, And greedily sucks in th' unfaithful food; Then downward plunges with the fraudful preș, And bears with joy the little spoil away : Soon in smart pain he feels the dire mistake, Lashes the wave, and beats the foamy lake ; With sudden rage he now aloft appears, And in his eye convulsive anguish bears: And now again, impatient of the wound, He rolls and writhes his shining body round; Then headlong shoots beneath the dashing tide, The trembling fins the boiling wave divide. Now hope exalts the fisher's beating heart; Now he turns pale, and fears his dubious art; He views the tumbling fish with longing eyes, While the line stretches with th' unwieldly prize; Each motion humors with his steady hands, And one slight hair the mighty bulk commands. Till tir'd at last, despoil'd of all his strength, The game athwart the stream unfolds his length,

He

He now with pleasure views the gasping prize
Gnashhis sharp teeth, and roll his blood-shoteyes;
Then draws him to the shore with artful care,
And lifts his nostrils in the sick'ning air:
Upon the burthen'd stream he floating lies,
Stretches his quiv'ring fins, and gasping dies.
Would you preserve a num'rous finny race,
Let your fierce dogs the rav'nous otter chase
(The amphibious monster ranges all the shores,
Darts thro' the waves, and ev'ry haunt explores):
Or let the gin his roving steps betray,
And save from hostile jaws the scaly prey.

1 never wander where the bord'ring reeds
O'erlook the muddy stream, whose tangling weeds
Perplex the fisher; I nor choose to bear
The thevish nightly net, nor barbed spear;
Nor drain I ponds, the golden carp to take;
Nor trowle for pikes, dispeoplers of the lake:
Around the steel no tortur'd worm shall twine,
No blood of living insect stain my line.
Let ine,

less cruel, cast the feather'd hook, With pliant rod, athwart the pebbled brook, Silent along the mazy margin stray, And with the fur-wrought fly delude the prey.

CANTO II.

Now, sporting Muse, draw in the flowing reins,
Leave the clear streams awhile for funny plains,
Should you the various arms and toils rehearse,
And all the fishermen adorn thy verse;
Should you the wide encircling net display,
And in its spacious arch inclose the sea;
Then haul the plunging load upon the land,
And with the sole and turbot hide the sand;
It would extend the growing theme too long,
And tire the reader with the wat'ry song.
Let the keen hunter from the chace refrain,
Nor render all the ploughman's labor vain,
When Ceres pours out plenty from her horn,
And clothes the fields with golden ears of corn.
Now, now, ye reapers, to your task repair,
Haste! save the product of the bounteous year:
To the wide gathering hook long furrows yield,
And rising sheaves extend thro' all the field.

Yet, if for sylvan sports thy bosom glow,
Let thy fleet greyhound urge his flying foe.
With what delight the rapid course I view !
How does my eye the circling race pursue!
He snaps deceitful air with empty jaws;
The subtle hare darts swift beneath his paws;
She flies, he stretches, now with nimble bound
Eager he presses on, but overshoots his ground;
She turns; he winds, and soon regains the way,
Then tears with goary mouth the screaming prey.
What various sport does rural life afford!
What unbought dainties heap the wholesome
board!

Nor less the spaniel, skilful to betray, Rewards the fowler with the feather'd prey, Soon as the laboring horse with swelling veins, Has safely hous'd the farmer's doubtful gains, To sweet repast th' unwary partridge flies, With joy amid the scatter'd harvest lies;

Wand'ring in plenty, danger he forgets, Nor dreads the slav'ry of entangling nets. The subtle dog scours with sagacious nose Along the field; and snuffs each breezethat blows; Against the wind he takes his prudent way, While the strong gale directs him to the prey. Now the warm scent assures the covey near; He treads with caution, and he points with fears Then (lest some sentry-fowl the fraud descry, And bid his fellows from the danger fly) Close to the ground in expectation lies, Till in the snare the flutt'ring covey rise, Soon as the blushing light begins to spread, And glancing Phoebus gilds the mountain's head, His early flight th' ill fated partridge takes, And quits the friendly shelter of the brakes. Or, when the sun casts a declining ray, And drives his chariot down the western way; Let your obsequious ranger search around, Where yellow stubble withers on the ground: Nor will the roving spy direct in vain, But numm'rous coveys gratify thy pain. When the meridian sun contracts the shade, And frisking heifers seek the cooling glade; Or when the country floats with sudden rains, Or driving mists deface the moisten'd plains; In vain his toils th' unskilful fowler tries, While in thick woods the feeding partridge lies.

Nor must the sporting verse the gun forbear,
But what's the Fowler's be the Muse's care.
See how the well-taught pointer leads the way:
The scent grows warm; he stops; he springs
the prey:

The flutt'ring coveys from the stubble rise,
And on swift wing divide the sounding skies;
The scatt'ring lead pursues the certain sight,
And death in thunder overtakes their flight.
Cool breathes the morning air, and Winter's hand
Spreads wide her hoary mantle o'er the land;
Now to the copse thy lesser spaniel take,
Teach him to range the ditch, and forcethebrake;
Not closest coverts can protect the game:
Hark! the dog opens, take thy certain aim.
The woodcock flutters; how he wav'ring flies!
The wood resounds: he wheels, he drops, he
dies.

The tow'ring hawk let future poets sing,
Who terror bears upon his soaring wing:
Let them on high the frighted hera survey,
And lofty numbers paint their airy fray.
Nor shall the mountain lark the Muse detain,
That greets the morning with his early strain a
When, 'midst his song, the twinkling glass
betrays,

While from each angle flash the glancing rays,
And in the sun the transient colors blaze,
Pride lures the little warbler from the skies:
The light enamor'd bird deluded dies.

But still the chace, a pleasing task, remains;
The hound must open in these rural strains.
Soon as Aurora drives away the night,
And edges eastern clouds with rosy light,
The healthy huntsman with the cheerful horn,
Summons the dogs, and greets the dappled morn;
Cc 2
The

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