Should still no fancy prompt return,
Explore the source of Ravensbourne
At KESTON; HOLWOOD's manse around,
Where sylvan beauties wild abound,
Now wander, whither from the strife
Of faction-stir of public life,

Once oft retir'd that WILLIAM PITT,
Much more a statesman than a wit;
He who, with Fox, shook senates proud;
Whose voice once echoed long and loud.
Oh, had he been less fond of WAR!

What fame exists without a scar

?*

Now, LADY! having hither brought-
Beguil'd you into rural thought,

I will not ask your audience long,

But list a moment to my song,

A SONG of BIRDS-their HOPES, their FEARS,

Their LOVES, their PLEASURES, and their TEARS;

In which, I trust, some seeds of TRUTH

Are sown, to serve both age and youth.
You, LADY! when that smiling BOY,
Of promise bright—his parents' joy,

*The Right Honourable WILLIAM PITT, for many years prime minister of this country, and son of the first Lord CHATHAM, mentioned above. HOLWOOD PARK and HOUSE are on a very elevated, yet well-wooded spot. The mansion has been, I understand, rebuilt since the time Mr. Pitt inhabited it. It is altogether a very delightful situation, and does credit to the taste of the late prime minister as a country residence. There is a public footpath quite through the park. The present occupier is JOHN WARD, Esq.

Shall upward grow, will prompt his mind
To all that's good and great-refin'd;
And when, perhaps, my voice is mute,
When silent hangs my minstrel lute,
Awaking only to the breeze

Some fitful strains, not such as these;
When ALL that may remain of me,
You in my thought, my song shall see,
You will remind him, that 'twas I
Who struck these chords of minstrelsy.
Simple, in sooth, they are, and trite,
Yet will, I hope, the mind excite
To pleasures simple as my lay,
Yet pure as truth-as sunshine gay.
You will remind your favourite BOY
I lov'd him-wish'd him every joy;
And, should he listen to my strain,
I, LADY! have not liv'd in vain.

Oh teach him, when you will know best,
To love, admire the WARBLERS' NEST ;*

The structure of the NESTS of BIRDS affords, perhaps, one of the most agreeable lessons in Natural History.

Among the most curious nests of our English birds may be named that of the Wren, the Long-tailed Titmouse, the Thrush, the Goldfinch, the Chaffinch, the Magpie, and the House Sparrow; to these may also be added the Swallow's, the Martin's, the Wood Pigeon's, and the Wood-Pecker's. Of the nests of Rooks, it may be sufficient to observe, that they are often found to the number of six, or even more, in a cluster. Crows' nests are always solitary; they are similar in structure to those of the rook.

Mark the DESIGN their nests among,-
Observe the wonders of their song,—
Their habits, their intelligence,-

And say not, Man alone has sense,

But, SEE THE STEPS of PROVIDENCE!

The Wren's nest is globular, and very often made of green moss, both within and without; it has a small hole on the side of it, just large enough to admit the bird. It is generally affixed to some tree, and behind it, at a few feet from the ground, so as not to be immediately in sight. The wren seems very partial to trees having ivy growing about them, most probably as, by its leaves, the nest is more effectually concealed. It does not seem to prefer any particular tree: the nest will be found very often attached to the elm or the ash; sometimes against an ivied wall, sometimes in the thatch of a house, and sometimes in a hay-rick. In such cases the materials of the nest will often also be varied. See more relative to the Wren in the note attached to the Redbreust's Gong

The Long-tailed Titmouse makes a nest similar in shape to the wren's, but considerably larger in external appearance: it by no means looks so neat as the wren's; its exterior is composed of dead leaves, interspersed with white moss, &c. Interiorly it is, however, much more curious than the wren's, being almost full of small, soft, and generally white feathers. It is rarely, if ever, appended, like the wren's, to trees; its usual site is in a hedge, on some bush, either of the thorn or wild plum, a few feet only from the ground.

The nest of the Thrush is exteriorly composed of green or other moss, and a few straws; interiorly it is plastered all over with some paste, apparently composed of rotten wood, with something to cement it; it is generally of a light buff colour. When dry it is quite hard, so that the eggs, if moved, rattle in the nest. The statement, in many of our books of natural history, that it is lined with clay, is, as far as my experience goes,

Teach him a sympathy to feel

For NATURE, for the GENERAL WEAL.
Grave this a lesson on his heart;

May he the precept wide impart,

founded in mistake. The Blackbird's nest, although it belongs to the same genus, is a very different one, and has nothing remarkable in it, except that it is plastered within with clay, over which some fine straw or dry grass is laid. The usual situation of a thrush's nest is behind some ivied tree; sometimes, however, it is found in bushes, particularly of thorn; I have seem a thrush's nest in a yew-tree. The blackbird seems to prefer the thorn for its nest, particularly if it happens to be growing over water; it prefers, too, that part of the bush which is least accessible.

The Goldfinch's nest is composed exteriorly of white moss, interiorly of light-coloured wool and hair; it is one of the neat. est of our English bird's nests. The goldfinch, during its nidification, is a very domestic bird; it appears to prefer a garden near a dwelling-house to almost any other spot for its nest. It builds either on young olme, so which it is particularly partial. on an apple, a pear tree, or a cypress. If not disturbed, it will build sometimes so low that you may look into the nest; and, during incubation, you may pass within a few feet of it without its evincing the least alarm.

The Chaffinch builds a neat nest, although not so neat as that of the goldfinch; its habits are also in many respects similar; it prefers gardens and apple-trees, but is not choice in the site for a nest. It will build on fir-trees, against a wall on a grapevine, on apple and many other trees, but rarely, if ever, in hedges.

The Magpie's nest is similar in its lower exterior to that of the rook and the crow, but it is covered over with thorns, so that access to the interior can only be had by two open spaces,

BE KIND TO ALL-to man, to beast,
Bird, fish, worm, insect; thus a feast
Of happiness will be partake,

And happy other beings make.

not very regularly marked, one on each side of its covering. This covering is an irregular kind of lattice-work, formed of thorns, and is evidently designed as a defence from some birds of prey; it is no shelter from the weather. The magpie always builds a solitary nest, either in a thorn-bush or on some lofty elm, and sometimes on an apple-tree; it does not often build very near dwelling-houses, but a remarkable exception to this has lately occurred in Somersetshire, at Huntspill: a magpie not only having built its nest on a tree a very short distance from a dwelling-house, but it occupied the same nest two years successively. We may be tolerably certain that this bird was not disturbed during the first year, or it would not, most probably, have returned to the same nest a second time. I apprehend the magpie, as well as its neighbours, the rook and crow, to be a very useful bird in the destruction of worms, of which it partakes as food.

The House-Sparrow, as its name indicates, builds very often beneath the eaves of the thatch, as well as of the tiles of dwelling-houses. Its nest is composed of straw and feathers; it has usually a hole for an entrance, similar to the wren's. The housesparrow is, however, no churl in the choice of a site for a nest. I once saw a house-sparrow's nest in that of a deserted magpie's nest. They will sometimes take possession of the martin's nest; and some curious facts have been stated concerning the battles of these two very different birds. In the neighbourhood of London, and indeed in Hoxton-square in London, the housesparrow's nest will be seen on the Lombardy poplar; the only kind of nest which I ever saw on that tree,-it does not seem a favourite of any of the tribe of birds. WILSON informs us that