The gnat-flies dance their sunny ring;

Thou art already on the wing.

Joanna Baillie.

TO THE MOCKING-BIRD.

Wing’d mimic of the woods! thou motley fool,

Who shall thy gay buffoonery describe?

Thine ever-ready notes of ridicule

Pursue thy fellows still with jest and gibe:

Wit, sophist, songster, Yorick of thy tribe,

Thou sportive satirist of Nature’s school,