The busy partridge beats her woodland drum.

The frost has tipt the trees with lovelier tints

Than pencil ever gave to forest scene;

There, green and gold in various hues combine,

Spotted with crimson where the maple stands,

And when the sun upon the hoar-frost shines,

The foliage sparkles, as though crystals hung

On every leaf, and trembled in the air.

The eye now penetrates the half-clad trees,

And spies the squirrel in his leafy house,