The FLIGHTS.
37
Not ballad-finger plac'd above the croud[1]
Sings with a note so thrilling sweet and loud,
Nor parish clerk who calls the psalms so clear,
Like Bowzybeus sooths th' attentive ear. 50
Of nature's laws his carrols first begun,[2]
Why the grave owl can never face the sun;
For owls, as swains observe, detest the light,
And only sing and seek their prey by night.
How turnips hide their swelling heads below, 55
And how the closing coleworts upwards grow;
How Will-a-wisp misleads night-faring clowns,
O'er hills, and sinking bogs, and pathless downs:
Of stars he told that shoot with shining trail,
And of the glow-worm's light that gilds his tail. 60
He sung where wood-cocks in the summer feed,
And in what climates they renew their breed;
Some think to northern coasts their flight they tend,
Or to the moon in midnight hours ascend.
Where swallows in the winter's season keep, 65
And how the drowsie bat and dormouse sleep.
How nature does the puppy's eyelid close,
Till the bright sun hath nine times set and rose.
For huntsmen by their long experience find,
That puppys still nine rolling fans are blind. 70
Now he goes on and sings of fairs and shows,
For still new fairs before his eyes arose.
How pedlars stalls with glitt'ring toys are laid,
The various fairings of the country maid.
Sings with a note so thrilling sweet and loud,
Nor parish clerk who calls the psalms so clear,
Like Bowzybeus sooths th' attentive ear. 50
Of nature's laws his carrols first begun,[2]
Why the grave owl can never face the sun;
For owls, as swains observe, detest the light,
And only sing and seek their prey by night.
How turnips hide their swelling heads below, 55
And how the closing coleworts upwards grow;
How Will-a-wisp misleads night-faring clowns,
O'er hills, and sinking bogs, and pathless downs:
Of stars he told that shoot with shining trail,
And of the glow-worm's light that gilds his tail. 60
He sung where wood-cocks in the summer feed,
And in what climates they renew their breed;
Some think to northern coasts their flight they tend,
Or to the moon in midnight hours ascend.
Where swallows in the winter's season keep, 65
And how the drowsie bat and dormouse sleep.
How nature does the puppy's eyelid close,
Till the bright sun hath nine times set and rose.
For huntsmen by their long experience find,
That puppys still nine rolling fans are blind. 70
Now he goes on and sings of fairs and shows,
For still new fairs before his eyes arose.
How pedlars stalls with glitt'ring toys are laid,
The various fairings of the country maid.
Long
