From "WINDSOR FOREST"

WITH slaughtering guns the unwearied fowler roves,
When frosts have whiten'd all the naked groves;
Where doves in flocks the leafless trees o'ershade,
And lonely woodcocks haunt the watery glade.
He lifts the tube, and levels with his eye;
Straight a short thunder breaks the frozen sky.
Oft, as in airy rings they skim the heath,
The clamorous lapwings feel the leaden death :
Oft, as the mounting larks their notes prepare,
They fall, and leave their little lives in air.

POPE.

From "ESSAY ON MAN"

EPISTLE III.

HAS God, thou fool! work'd solely for thy good, Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food?

Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings?

Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings.

TWELFTH-NIGHT

Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat?
Loves of his own and raptures swell the note.

Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain ?
The birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain.

461

From "TWELFTH-NIGHT"

POPE.

ACT IV. SCENE II.

Clown. What is the opinion of Pythagoras concerning wild-fowl?

Malvolio. That the soul of our grandam might haply inhabit a bird.

Clo. What thinkest thou of his opinion?

Mal. I think nobly of the soul, and no way approve his opinion.

Clo. Fare thee well. Remain thou still in darkness thou shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras, ere I will allow of thy wits; and fear to kill a woodcock, lest thou dispossess the soul of thy grandam. Fare thee well.

SHAKESPEARE.

COMPANIONS MIGRATION

WINTER