FAVOURITE FABLES. 33

Dick heard; and tweedling, ogling, bridling,
Turning short round, strutting, and sidling,
Attested glad his approbation
~ Of an immediate conjugation.
Their sentiments so well express’d,
Influenced mightily the rest;
All pair’d, and each pair built a nest.

But though the birds were thus in haste,
The leaves came on not quite so fast;
And destiny, that sometimes bears
An aspect stern on man’s affairs,

Not altogether smil’d on theirs.

The wind, that late breath’d gently forth,
Now shifted east, and east by north;
Bare trees and shrubs but ill, you know,
Could shelter them from rain or snow;
Stepping into their nests, they paddled,
Themselves were chill’d, their eggs were addled;
Soon every father bird, and mother,
Grew quarrelsome, and peck’d each other ;
Parted without the least regret,
Except that they had ever met;
And learn’d in future to be wiser

Than to neglect a good adviser.
D