And sent abroad his unmistaken thrill.

That honor’d oak bore up a motley throng

Of feathery warblers, lively with their song;

Beneath the tree the chickens ’wait the hour,

Then rush like steeple-chasers to the door:

And, helter-skelter, forth the bristled beast

With usual manners begg’d their usual feast:

(Could they have known their mistress sigh’d and cried,

No doubt the cloven group would have denied

Themselves one meal at least; and would have mourn’d