THE LINNET AND THE CAT. Helen Maria Williams Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. 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.

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THE LINNET AND THE CAT . WHEN fading Autumn's latest hours Strip the brown wood , and chill the flowers , — When evening , wint'ry , short , and pale , Expires in many a hollow gale , — And only morn herself looks gay , When first she throws her quiv'ring ray Where the light frost congeals the dew , Flushing the turf with purple hue ; Gay bloom , whose transient glow can shed A charm like Summer when 'tis fled ! — A Linnet among leafless trees Sung , in the pauses of the breeze , His farewell note , to fancy dear , That ends the music of the year . The short'ning day , the sadd'ning sky , With frost and famine low'ring nigh ; The Summer's dirge he seem'd to sing , And droop'd his elegiac wing . Poor Bird ! he read amiss his fate , Nor saw the horrors of his state : A prowling Cat , with jetty skin , — Dark emblem of the mind within , — Who feels no sympathetic pain , Who hears unmov'd the sweetest strain , — Fit but " for stratagem and spoil , " Mischief his pleasure and his toil , Drew near — and shook the wither'd leaves ; — The Linnet's flutt'ring bosom heaves — Alarm'd he hears the rustling sound ; He starts — he pauses — looks around ; Too late — more near the savage draws , And grasps the victim in his jaws ! The Linnet's muse , a tim'rous maid , Saw , and to Molly A maid-servant . scream'd for aid ; A tear then fill'd her earnest eye , Useless as dews on desarts lie ; But Molly's pity fell like showers That feed the plants , and wake the flowers ; Heroic Molly dauntless flew , And , scorning all his claws could do , Snatch'd from Grimalkin's teeth his prey , And bore him in her breast away . His beating heart and wings declare How small his hope of safety there ; Still the dire foe he seem'd to see , And scarce could fancy he was free . Awhile he cow'rd on Molly's breast , Then upward sprung , and sought his nest . Dear Molly ! for thy tender speed , Thy fearless pity's gentle deed , A ribbon-garland , " rosy red , " My votive gift , shall deck thy head ; That garland at the village fair Shalt thou , dear maid , in triumph wear ; And may the blooming wreath obtain The youth thy heart desires to gain . And thou , sweet Bird , whom rapture fills , Who feel'st no sense of future ills , — That sense which human peace destroys , And murders all our present joys , — Still soothe with song th' autumnal hours ; And when the wint'ry tempest lowers , When snow thy shiv'ring plumes shall fill , And icicles shall load thy bill , Come fearless to my friendly shed , This careful hand the crumbs shall spread , Then peck secure , these watchful eyes Shall guard my Linnet from surprise .