Imatges de pàgina
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THE FILBERT.

NAY, gather not that Filbert, Nicholas,
There is a maggot there,—it is his house,—
His castle,-oh, commit no burglary!
Strip him not naked,—'tis his clothes, his shell,
His bones, the case and armour of his life,
And thou shalt do no murder, Nicholas !
It were an easy thing to crack that nut
Or with thy crackers or thy double teeth,
So easily may all things be destroyed!
But 'tis not in the power of mortal man
To mend the fracture of a filbert shell.
There were two great men once amus'd themselves,
Watching two maggots run their wriggling race,
And wagering on their speed; but, Nick, to us
It were no sport to see the pamper'd worm
Roll out, and then draw in his folds of fat,
Like to some barber's leathern powder-bag,
Wherewith he feathers, frosts, or cauliflowers
Spruce beau, or lady fair, or doctor grave.
Enough of dangers and of enemies

Hath Nature's wisdom for the worm ordain'd:
Increase not thou the number! Him, the Mouse,
Gnawing with nibbling tooth the shell's defence,
May from his native tenement eject;

Him may the Nut-hatch piercing with strong bill
Unwittingly destroy; or to his hoard

The Squirrel bear, at leisure to be crack'd.
Man also hath his dangers and his foes
As this poor maggot hath; and when I muse
Upon the aches, anxieties, and fears,
The maggot knows not, Nicholas, methinks

It were a happy metamorphosis

To be enkernel'd thus: never to hear
and of invasions, and of plots;

Of
wars,
To feel no motion but the wind that shook
The Filbert Tree, and rock'd us to our rest;
And in the middle of such exquisite food
To live luxurious! The perfection this
Of snugness! It were to unite at once
Hermit retirement, Aldermanic bliss
And Stoic independence of mankind.

SOUTHEY.

The

Every one who eats nuts must have observed, that they are very often inhabited by a small white grub; this is the offspring of a weevil, Balaninus nucum, remarkable for its slender and horny beak, with which it drills a hole in the shell of the nut, when young and soft, and there deposits its egg. grub feeds first upon the pulp, and afterwards upon the kernel of the nut, carefully preserving the original hole made by the parent-beetle, by gnawing away the inner edges, in order to facilitate its escape This it effects, when the nut falls to the ground in September or October. The grub then buries itself in the ground, changes into a chrysalis, and in the following Spring assumes its beetle-form. We have noticed that nuts which have been attacked by the weevil, have been invariably rejected by the squirrel and the dormouse, an opinion contrary to that entertained by our admired Poet.

THE SHAMROCK.

THROUGH Erin's isle

To sport awhile,

As Love and Valour wander'd,

With Wit, the sprite,

Whose quiver bright

A thousand arrows squander'd;

Where'er they pass,

A triple grass,

Shoots up with dewdrops streaming,

As softly green

As emeralds seen

Through purest crystal gleaming!

P

Oh! the Shamrock, the green, immortal Shamrock!

Chosen leaf

Of Bard and Chief,

Old Erin's native Shamrock !

Says Valour, "See

They spring from me
Those leafy gems of morning!”
Says Love, "No, no,
For me they grow,

My fragrant path adorning !"

But Wit perceives

The triple leaves,

And cries, "Oh ! do not sever
A type that blends
Three godlike friends;

Love, Valour, Wit, for ever.

Oh! the Shamrock, the green, immortal Shamrock!

Chosen leaf

Of Bard and Chief,

Old Erin's native Shamrock!

MOORE.

The national cognizance of the Irish is supposed to have been derived from St. Patrick; who, when preaching in Ireland, convinced his incredulous hearers of the Trinity in Unity, by exhibiting to them a Shamrock or Trefoil, on which plant grow three leaves attached to a single stalk. Anciently the inscription of the Order of the Bath was, Tria numina juncta in uno, taken from the Holy Trinity. At the coronation of James I. numina was omitted, and the motto is now looked upon, as an allusion to the union of England, Scotland, and Ireland, the word regna being understood.-The botanical name of the Shamrock, like that of the Scotch Thistle, is a matter of dispute. Mr. Bicheno, in an amusing paper read before the Linnæan Society, has, with great ingenuity, endeavoured to show that the Wood-sorrel, Oxalis acetosella, is the true Shamrock; while Dr. Withering and Prof. Rennie point out the White Clover, Trifolium repens, and Mr. Loudon marks the Black Medick, Medicago lupulina, as the genuine national emblem of Ireland.

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STAY thee, thou bird of nimblest wing,
Herald and harbinger of Spring,
As round and round in airy ring,
Thou wheel'st thy flight;

Or dart'st right on, as if to meet
My pensive steps, when lo! more fleet
Than bowyer's shaft, thy turnings cheat
The following sight.

Stay, Swallow, stay! I fain would view

Thy glossy plumes of changeful hue,

Where black, and brown, and green, and blue

Conflicting vie ;

Fain would I view thy belted chest,

Thy sable robe, thy snowy vest,

Thy front and chin in 'kerchief dress'd,

Of reddish dye!

The steerage of thy forked tail,
Thy dusky legs so short and frail,
Each pointed wing's expansive sail,
I fain would mark :-

Thou wilt not well then, onward go ! Well deem'st thou, thou hast tasks enow, To hold thee through the Summer's glow, 'Till Winter dark.

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Go! and beneath yon rafter'd shed,
Hang thy clay house and procreant bed;
Or the strait chimney downward thread,
Safe place to lay

Thy six white eggs, with red besprent ;
Now hovering o'er the steep descent,
Now in the murky chamber pent
The livelong day.

Go! and the mead or hedge-row skim,
Or, passing, sip the water's brim ;

Or plunge thee in the dimpling stream
Thy wing to prune :

Or with thy mate, now low, now high,
In sport thy viewless pinions ply;
And catch with sounding beak the fly,
Thy nestlings' boon.

Go! and abroad thy nestlings lead,
Perch'd on the chimney-top to feed,
And train'd the quivering wing to spread
For doubtful flight :

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