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[Page 225][Page 228]
THE LINNET AND THE CAT.
1 WHEN fading Autumn's latest hours
2 Strip the brown wood, and chill the flowers, —
3 When evening, wint'ry, short, and pale,
4 Expires in many a hollow gale, —
5 And only morn herself looks gay,
6 When first she throws her quiv'ring ray
7 Where the light frost congeals the dew,
8 Flushing the turf with purple hue;
9 Gay bloom, whose transient glow can shed
10 A charm like Summer when 'tis fled! —
11 A Linnet among leafless trees
12 Sung, in the pauses of the breeze,
[Page 226]13 His farewell note, to fancy dear,
14 That ends the music of the year.
15 The short'ning day, the sadd'ning sky,
16 With frost and famine low'ring nigh;
17 The Summer's dirge he seem'd to sing,
18 And droop'd his elegiac wing.
19 Poor Bird! he read amiss his fate,
20 Nor saw the horrors of his state:
21 A prowling Cat, with jetty skin, —
22 Dark emblem of the mind within, —
23 Who feels no sympathetic pain,
24 Who hears unmov'd the sweetest strain, —
25 Fit but "for stratagem and spoil,"
26 Mischief his pleasure and his toil,
27 Drew near — and shook the wither'd leaves; —
28 The Linnet's flutt'ring bosom heaves —
29 Alarm'd he hears the rustling sound;
30 He starts — he pauses — looks around;
31 Too late — more near the savage draws,
32 And grasps the victim in his jaws!
[Page 227]33 The Linnet's muse, a tim'rous maid,
34 Saw, and to Molly*
* A maid-servant.
scream'd for aid;35 A tear then fill'd her earnest eye,
36 Useless as dews on desarts lie;
37 But Molly's pity fell like showers
38 That feed the plants, and wake the flowers;
39 Heroic Molly dauntless flew,
40 And, scorning all his claws could do,
41 Snatch'd from Grimalkin's teeth his prey,
42 And bore him in her breast away.
43 His beating heart and wings declare
44 How small his hope of safety there;
45 Still the dire foe he seem'd to see,
46 And scarce could fancy he was free.
47 Awhile he cow'rd on Molly's breast,
48 Then upward sprung, and sought his nest.
49 Dear Molly! for thy tender speed,
50 Thy fearless pity's gentle deed,
51 A ribbon-garland, "rosy red,"
52 My votive gift, shall deck thy head;
53 That garland at the village fair
54 Shalt thou, dear maid, in triumph wear;
55 And may the blooming wreath obtain
56 The youth thy heart desires to gain.
57 And thou, sweet Bird, whom rapture fills,
58 Who feel'st no sense of future ills, —
59 That sense which human peace destroys,
60 And murders all our present joys, —
61 Still soothe with song th' autumnal hours;
62 And when the wint'ry tempest lowers,
63 When snow thy shiv'ring plumes shall fill,
64 And icicles shall load thy bill,
65 Come fearless to my friendly shed,
66 This careful hand the crumbs shall spread,
67 Then peck secure, these watchful eyes
68 Shall guard my Linnet from surprise.
Source edition
Williams, Helen Maria, 1759-1827. Poems on various subjects: with introductory remarks on the present state of science and literature in France. London: G. and W. B. Whittaker, 1823, pp. 225-228. (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [8º W 229 BS].)
Editorial principles
Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.
Other works by Helen Maria Williams
- AN ADDRESS TO POETRY. ()
- AN AMERICAN TALE. ()
- THE BASTILLE, A VISION. ()
- THE CHARTER; ADDRESSED TO MY NEPHEW ATHANASE C. L. COQUEREL, ON HIS WEDDING DAY, 1819. ()
- THE COMPLAINT OF THE GODDESS OF THE GLACIERS TO DOCTOR DARWIN. ()
- DULCE DOMUM, AN OLD LATIN ODE. ()
- DUNCAN, AN ODE. ()
- EDWIN AND ELTRADA, A LEGENDARY TALE. (); EDWIN AND ELTRUDA. ()
- ELEGY ON A YOUNG THRUSH, WHICH ESCAPED FROM THE WRITER'S HAND, AND FALLING DOWN THE AREA OF A HOUSE, COULD NOT BE FOUND. ()
- EUPHELIA, AN ELEGY. ()
- HYMN, IMITATED FROM THE FRENCH. ()
- HYMN, WRITTEN AMONG THE ALPS. ()
- A HYMN. ()
- IMITATION OF LINES ADDRESSED BY M. D—, A YOUNG MAN OF TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OF AGE, THE NIGHT BEFORE HIS EXECUTION, TO A YOUNG LADY TO WHOM HE WAS ENGAGED. — 1794. ()
- IMITATION OF LINES WRITTEN BY ROUCHER, BELOW HIS PICTURE, WHICH A FELLOW-PRISONER HAD DRAWN, AND WHICH HE SENT TO HIS WIFE AND CHILDREN THE DAY BEFORE HIS EXECUTION. — 1794. ()
- LINES ADDRESSED TO A. C., AN INFANT, ON HIS FIRST NEW-YEAR'S DAY, 1821. ()
- LINES ON THE TOMB OF A FAVOURITE DOG. ()
- LINES TO HELEN, A NEW-BORN INFANT, 1821. ()
- LINES WRITTEN IN THE ALBUM OF THE BARONESS D' H——, TO HER TWO DAUGHTERS. ()
- LINES WRITTEN ON THE PILLAR ERECTING TO THE MEMORY OF MR. BARLOW, Minister of the United States at Paris, WHO DIED AT NAROWITCH IN POLAND, ON HIS RETURN FROM WILNA, DEC. 26, 1812. ()
- THE MORAI. ()
- ODE TO PEACE. ()
- ON THE BILL WHICH WAS PASSED IN ENGLAND FOR REGULATING THE SLAVE-TRADE; A SHORT TIME BEFORE ITS ABOLITION. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PARAPHRASE. ()
- PART OF AN IRREGULAR FRAGMENT. ()
- PERUVIAN TALES. ()
- QUEEN MARY'S COMPLAINT. ()
- SCOTCH BALLAD. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONG. ()
- SONNET ON READING BURNS' “MOUNTAIN DAISY.” ()
- SONNET TO DISAPPOINTMENT. ()
- SONNET TO EXPRESSION. ()
- SONNET TO HOPE. ()
- SONNET TO LOVE. ()
- SONNET TO MRS. BATES. ()
- SONNET TO MRS. SIDDONS. ()
- SONNET TO PEACE OF MIND. ()
- SONNET TO SIMPLICITY. ()
- SONNET TO THE CALBASSIA-TREE. ()
- SONNET TO THE CURLEW. ()
- SONNET TO THE MOON. ()
- SONNET TO THE STRAWBERRY. ()
- SONNET TO THE TORRID ZONE. ()
- SONNET TO THE WHITE-BIRD OF THE TROPIC. ()
- SONNET TO TWILIGHT. ()
- TO A FRIEND, WHO SENT ME FLOWERS, WHEN CONFINED BY ILLNESS. ()
- TO DR. MOORE, IN ANSWER TO A POETICAL EPISTLE WRITTEN TO ME BY HIM IN WALES, SEPTEMBER 1791. ()
- TO JAMES FORBES, ESQ. Author of “The Oriental Memoirs,” WHO ASKED FOR SOME LINES OF MY HAND-WRITING ON LEAVING FRANCE, AFTER HIS CAPTIVITY AT VERDUN. ()
- TO JAMES FORBES, ESQ. ON HIS BRINGING ME FLOWERS FROM VAUCLUSE, AND WHICH HE HAD PRESERVED BY MEANS OF AN INGENIOUS PROCESS IN THEIR ORIGINAL BEAUTY. ()
- TO MRS. K—, ON HER SENDING ME ENGLISH CHRISTMAS PLUMB-CAKE, AT PARIS. ()
- TO SENSIBILITY. ()
- TO THE BARON DE HUMBOLDT, ON HIS BRINGING ME SOME FLOWERS IN MARCH. ()
- THE TRAVELLERS IN HASTE; ADDRESSED TO THOMAS CLARKSON, ESQ. IN 1814, WHEN MANY ENGLISH ARRIVED AT PARIS, BUT REMAINED A VERY SHORT TIME. ()
- VERSES ADDRESSED TO MY TWO NEPHEWS, ON SAINT HELEN'S DAY, 1809. ()