The Robin. Then let not what I cannot have 9 CIBBER. THE ROBIN. SEE, mamma, what a sweet little prize I have found! A robin that lay half benumbed on the ground! I caught him and fed him, and warmed in my breast, And now he's as nimble and blithe as the best. Look, look how he flutters!-He'll slip from my hold. Ah, rogue! you've forgotten both hunger and cold! But indeed 'tis in vain, for I sha'n't set you free, For all your whole life you're a prisoner with me; Well housed, and well fed, in your cage you will sing, And make our dull winter as gay as the spring. But stay,-sure 'tis cruel, with wings made to soar, To be shut up in prison, and never fly more! And I, who so often have longed for a flight, Shall I keep you prisoner?-Mamma-is it right? No, come, pretty robin, I must set you free,For your whistle, though sweet, would sound sadly to me. ORIGINAL. THE KID. A TEAR bedews my Delia's eye Erewhile, in sportive circles, round She saw him wheel, and frisk, and bound; And on the fearful margin play. The First of April. Pleased on his various freaks to dwell, Thence eye my lawns with verdure bright, She tells with what delight he stood She tells me how, with eager speed, His every frolic, light as air, 11 SHENSTONE. THE FIRST OF APRIL. MINDFUL of disaster past, And shrinking at the northern blast, 12 The First of April. The sleety storm returning still, The morning hoar, the evening chill, Murmurs the blossom'd boughs around The beans their new-born ranks expand; India. She mounts, and, lessening to the sight, The bashful wild-duck's early brood. 13 WARTON. INDIA. WHERE sacred Ganges pours along the plain, And Indus rolls to swell the eastern main, What awful scenes the curious mind delight, What wonders burst upon the dazzled sight! There giant palms lift high their tufted heads, The plantain wide his graceful foliage spreads; Wild in the woods the active monkey springs, The chattering parrot claps his painted wings; 'Mid tall bamboos lies hid the deadly snake, The tiger couches in the tangled brake; C |