Page:Beachy Head and Other Poems.pdf/78

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Esop assures us that the maxim's wise; And by a tale illustrates his advice:

When April's bright and fickle beams Saw every feather'd pair In the green woodlands, or by willowy streams, Busied in matrimonial schemes; A Lark, amid the dewy air, Woo'd, and soon won a favourite fair; And, in a spot by springing rye protected, Her labour sometimes shared; While she, with bents, and wither'd grass collected, Their humble domicile prepared; Then, by her duty fix'd, the tender mate Unwearied prest