Fond of the speculative height,

Thither he wings his airy flight,

And thence securely sees The bustle and the rareeshow,

That occupy mankind below,

Secure and at his ease.

You think, no doubt, he sits and muses

On future broken bones and bruises,

If he should chance to fall.
No; not a single thought like that
Employs his philosophic pate,

Or troubles it at all.

He sees that this great roundabout,

The World, with all it's motley rout,

Church, army, physic, law,

It's customs, and it's businesses,

Is no concern at all of his,

And says-what says he?-Caw.

20

30

Thrice happy bird! I too have seen
Much of the vanities of men;

1

And, sick of having seen 'em,
Would cheerfully these limbs resign

For such a pair of wings as thine,
And such a head between 'em.

36

Unius, haud secundæ,

Æstatis est chorista;

Tu carmen integratum
Reponis ad Decembrem,
Lætus per universum
Incontinenter annum.

Te nulla lux relinquit,

Te nulla nox revisit,

Non musicæ vacantem,

Curisve non solutum:

Quin amplies canendo,
Quin amplies fruendo,

Ætatulam, vel omni,
Quam nos homunciones

Absumimus querendo,
Ætate longiorem.

30

40

III. THE CRICKET.

TRANSLATION OF THE FOREGOING.

LITTLE inmate, full of mirth,

Chirping on my kitchen hearth,
Wheresoe'er be thine abode,

Always harbinger of good,
Pay me for thy warm retreat
With a song more soft and sweet;

And the mouse with curious snout,

With what vermin else infest

Ev'ry dish, and spoil the best;