The stately sailing swan

Gives out his snowy plumage to the gale,
And arching proud his neck, with soary feet
Bears forward fierce, and guards his osier isle,
Protective of his young. THOMSON.

445 Adorns him, colour'd with the florid hue
Of rainbows and starry eyes

450

This beautiful bird, the peacock, is of eastern origin, a native of India, they are particularly fine in the vicinity of the river Ganges. A fowl so eminent for the beauty of his feathers could not remain long a stranger in the more distant parts in which they were produced'; for so early as the days of Solomon, we find them among the articles imported in his Tarshish navies.

How rich the peacock! what bright glories run
From plume to plume, and vary in the sun!
He proudly spreads them to the golden ray,
Gives all his colours, and adorns the day;
With conscious state the spacious round dis-
plays,

And slowly moves amid the waving blaze.

When God said

YOUNG.

Let the earth bring forth soul living in her kind. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping. thing, and beast after his kind. Gen. i. 24.

485 The parsimonious emmet, provident

Of future, in small room large heart inclos'd

Go to the ant thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise which, having no guide, or ruler,

provideth her meat in summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. Prov. vi. 6, 7, 8.

490 The female bee, that feeds her husband drone

The bee is a well known winged insect, remarkable for its skill in collecting honey and wax from flowers, &c. These little animals in a wild state form their nests in the hollow of some tree, or the cleft of a rock; in which situation they were frequently seen and described by the Greek and Latin poets.

Describe we next the nature of the bees,
Bestow'd by Jove, for secret services,

When, by the tinkling sound of timbrels led,
The king of heav'n in Cretan caves they fed.
Of all the race of animals, alone

The bees have common cities of their own,
And common sons: beneath one law they live,
And with one common stock their traffic drive.
Each has a certain home, a sev'ral stall;
All is the states; the state provides for all.
Mindful of coming cold, they share the pain,
And hoard for winters use the summers gain.
Some o'er the public magazines preside,
And some are sent new forage to provide.
These drudge in fields abroad, and those at home
Lay deep foundations for the labor'd comb,
With dew, narcissus leaves, and clammy gum.
To pitch the waxen flooring some contrive ;
Some nurse the future nation of the hive;
Sweet honey some condense; some purge the
grout;

The rest in cells apart, the liquid nectar shut:

All with united force, combine to drive
The lazy drones from the laborious hive:

With envy stung, they view each other's deeds:

With diligence the fragrant work proceeds.
As, when the Cyclops, at th' Almighty nod,
New thunder hasten for their angry god,
Subdu'd in fire the stubborn metal lies;
One brawny smith the puffing bellows plies,
And draws and blows reciprocating air;
Others to quench the hissing mass prepare;
With lifted arms they order ev'ry blow,
And chime their sounding hammers in a row,
With labor'd anvils Etna groans below.
Strongly they strike; huge flakes of flames ex-

pire;

"}

With tongs they turn the steel, and vex it in

the fire.

If little things with great we may compare,
Such are the bees, and such their busy care;
Studious of honey, each in his degree,
The youthful swain, the grave experienc'd bee,
That in the field; this, in affairs of state
Employ'd at home, abides within the gate,
To fortify the combs, to build the wall,
To prop the ruins, lest the fabric fall:
But late at night, with weary pinions come
The lab'ring youth, and heavy laden, home.
Plains, meads, and orchards, all the day he
plies;

The gleans of yellow thyme distends his thighs:
He spoils the saffron flow'rs, he sips the blues
Of vi❜lets, wilding blooms, and willow dews.

Their toil is common, common is their sleep; They shake their wings when morn begins to

peep;

Rush through the city gates without delay, Nor ends their work, but with declining day. Then having spent the last remains of light, They give their bodies due repose at night, When hollow murmurs of their ev❜ning bells Dismiss the sleepy swains, and toll them to their cells.

When once in beds their weary limbs they steep,

No buzzing sounds disturb their golden sleep.
'Tis sacred silence all. Nor dare they stray,
When rain is promis'd, or a stormy day;
But near the city walls their wat❜ring take,
Nor forage far, but short excursions make.
Thus make they kings to fill the regal seat,
And thus their little citizens create,

And waxen cities build, the palaces of state.
And oft on rocks their tender wings they tear,
And sink beneath the burdens which they
bear:

Such rage of honey in their bosom beats;
And such a zeal they have for flow'ry sweets.
Thus through the race of life they quickly run,
Which in the space of seven short years is done :
Th' immortal line in sure succession reigns;
The fortune of the family remains;

And grandsires grandsires the long list contains.
Besides not Egypt, India, Media, more
With servile awe their idol king adore :
While he survives, in concord and content

The commons live, by no divisions rent:
But the great monarch's death dissolves the

government.

All goes to ruin; they themselves contrive

To rob the honey, and subvert the hive.

The king presides, his subjects' toil surveys, The servile rout their careful Cæsar praise: Him they extol; they worship him alone; They crowd his levees and support his throne: They raise him on their shoulders with a shout; And when their sov'reigns quarrel calls them out,

His foes to mortal combat they defy,

And think it honour at his feet to die.
Induc'd by such examples, some have taught
That bees have portions of etherial thought—
Endued with particles of heavenly fires:
For God the whole created mass inspires.
Through heav'n, and earth, and ocean's depth,
he throws

His influence round, and kindles as he goes. Hence flocks, and herds, and men, and beasts, and fowls,

With breath are quicken'd, and attract their

souls ;

Hence take the forms his prescience did ordain,
And into him at length resolve again.

No room is left for death: they mount the sky,
And to their own congenial planets fly.
Now, when thou hast decreed to seize their
stores,

And by prerogative to break their doors,