Tag Archives: periodical verse

William Hayley, “A Charm for Ennui: A Matrimonial Ballad”

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[WILLIAM HAYLEY, ESQ.]

 “A CHARM FOR ENNUI: A Matrimonial Ballad”

 Ye couples, who meet under Love’s smiling star,
Too gentle to skirmish, too soft e’er to jar,
Tho’ cover’d with roses from joy’s richest tree,
Near the couch of delight lurks the daemon Ennui.

Let the Muses’ gay lyre, like Ithuriel’s bright spear,                                          5
Keep this fiend, ye sweet brides, from approaching your ear;
Since you know the squat toad’s infernal esprit,
Never listen, like Eve, to the devil Ennui.

Let no gloom of your hall, no shade of your bower,
Make you think you behold this malevolent power;                                        10
Like a child in the dark, what you fear you will see;
Take courage, away flies the phantom Ennui.

O trust me, the powers both of person and mind
To defeat this sly foe full sufficient you’ll find;
Should your eyes fail to kill him, with keen repartee                                       15
You can sink the flat boat of th’invader Ennui.

If a cool non-chalance o’er your sposo should spread,
For vapours will rise e’en on Jupiter’s head,
O ever believe it, from jealousy free,
A thin passing cloud, not the fog of Ennui.                                                          20

Of tender complainings though love be the theme,
O beware, my sweet friends, ’tis a dangerous scheme;
And tho’ often ‘tis try’d, mark the pauvre mari
Thus by kindness inclos’d in the coop of Ennui.

Let confidence, rising such meanness above,                                                   25
Drown the discord of doubt in the music of love;
Your duette shall thus charm in the natural key,
No sharps from vexation, no flats from Ennui.

But to you, happy husbands, in matters more nice,
The Muse, tho’ a maiden, now offers advice;                                                    30
O drink not too keenly your bumper of glee,
Ev’n ecstasy’s cup has some dregs of Ennui.

Though Love for your lips fill with nectar his bowl,
Though his warm bath of blessings inspirit your soul,
O swim not too far on rapture’s high sea,                                                          35
Lest you sink unawares in the gulph of Ennui.                          

Impatient of law, Passion oft will reply,
“Against limitations I’ll plead till I die;”
But Chief Justice Nature rejects the vain plea,
And such culprits are doom’d to the gaol of Ennui.                                           40

When husband and wife are of honey too fond,
They’re like poison’d carp at the top of a pond,
Together they gape o’er a cold dish of tea,
Two muddy sick fish in the net of Ennui.

Of indolence most ye mild couples beware,                                                     45
For the myrtles of Love often hide her soft snare;
The fond doves in their net from his pounce cannot flee,
But the lark in the morn ’scapes the daemon Ennui.

Let chearful good-humour, that sun-shine of life,
With smiles in the maiden, illumine the wife,                                                   50
And mutual attention, in equal degree,
Keep Hymen’s bright chain from the rust of Ennui.

To the Graces together O fail not to bend,
And both to the voice of the Muses attend,
So Minerva for you shall with Cupid agree,                                                       55
And preserve your chaste flame from the smoke of Ennui.                 

NOTES:

 5 Ithuriel’s bright spear From John Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667). The Angel Ithuriel touches Satan (disguised as a toad) with his spear “which ‘no falsehood can endure,'” and his true form thus revealed, Satan is cast out of the Garden of Eden (Oxford Dictionary of Reference and Allusion).

7 esprit Spirit.

17 sposo Spouse.

18 Jupiter Roman god of sky and thunder. Leader of the Roman gods.

23 pauvre mari Poor husband. (Oxford French-English Dictionary).

27 duette Duet.

40 gaol Jail.

52 Hymen Greek god of marriage.

55 Minerva Roman goddess of wisdom.

Source: The Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 53 (April 1783), pp. 693-94.

 Edited by Megan Kwong

Anonymous, “Song for an Amazon…”

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ANONYMOUS

 “SONG for an AMAZON
Intended to have been sung after the complaining
Pastoral Ballad in Comus”

 Swains I scorn, who, nice and fair,
Shiver at the morning air,
Rough and hardy, bold and free,
Be the man that’s made for me.

Slaves to fashion, slaves to dress,                               5
Fops themselves alone caress,
Let them without rival be,
They are not the men for me.

He whose nervous arm can dart,
The javelin to the tyger’s heart,                                  10
From all sense of danger free,
He’s the man that’s made for me.

While his speed outstrips the wind,
Lovely wave his locks behind,
From his fantastic foppery free,                                 15
He’s the man that’s made for me.

Nor simpering smile, nor dimple sleek
Spoil his manly sun-burnt cheek,
By weather let him painted be,
He’s the man that’s made for me                                20

If false he prove my javelin can
Revenge the perjury of man,
And soon another, brave as he,
Shall be found the man for me.

NOTES:

 Title Comus A masque written by John Milton (1608-1674), first performed in 1634 and published in 1637.

1 Swains Young lovers or suitors.

6 Fops Men overly concerned with their appearance.

17 sleek “(Of hair, fur, or skin) smooth and glossy” (OED).

22 perjury “The offense of willfully telling an untruth in a court after having taken an oath or affirmation” (OED).

Source: The Gentleman’s Magazine (January 1741), p. 45.

Edited by Robin Jang

Anonymous, “A Picture taken from the Life”

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ANONYMOUS

 “A PICTURE taken from the LIFE”

 NATURE and Fortune one day meeting
Each other hail’d with courteous greeting.
And Fortune first, “Where have you been,
Sister! that you’re so seldom seen?
What youth, or what romantic fair,                                              5
Is now the object of your care?”
Nature reply’d, with accent grave,
“A fav’rite charge indeed I have.
A maid with every virtue grac’d,
Is in a calm retirement plac’d.                                                      10
Her heart with goodness is replete,
Her wit is keen, her temper sweet.
Good-humour brightens ev’ry feature;
She is a most engaging creature.”
“Indeed, cries Fortune, with a sneer,                                  15
You know not what you say, my dear.
You cannot think, in these our days,
Virtue a modern female’s praise.
Send her to me, and I’ll engage
Three months shall fit her for the age.                                      20
The glare of dress, the charms of play,
Shall chace her sober thoughts away.
Wealth and ambition shall combine
To make this fair-one wholly mine.”
Says Nature, “You have my permission,                              25
But it must be on this condition:
If, as I trust, she shall refine,
And from temptation brighter shine,
To me henceforth you’ll quit the field,
And Fortune shall to Nature yield.”                                             30
Things thus agreed, th’ accomplish’d maid
To distant regions is convey’d.
Drawn from her scene of private life,
The virgin soon became a wife:
Her consort’s brow, with laurel crown’d,                                    35
In chains the vanquish’d Nabob bound:
Like Philip’s son in warlike state,
Thrice conquer’d India, owns him great.
Returning home, what triumphs rise!
Enough to dazzle female eyes:                                                    40
His riches Poland’s crown would buy,
His glories with his riches vie.
Fortune enrag’d, to Nature hies,
“I thought your paragon was wise;
Sure such a mother, such a wife,                                                45
Was never seen in courtly life.
When I bestow’d a son and heir,
I never dreamt ‘twould be her care,
That he not only should inherit
His father’s fortune, but his merit.                                              50
She’d rather wipe the widow’s tears,
Than wear a province at her ears.”
Nature reply’d, “The contest end,
Be Fortune once true Virtue’s friend:
And let it be our mutual care                                                        55
To bless thro’ life this matchless pair.
From us they must their joys derive:
Nature and Fortune join for CLIVE.”

NOTES:

36 Vanquished Nabob A reference to Indian vassals under British rule.

37 Philip’s son A reference to Alexander the Great (356 BC-323 BC), who ruled Macedonia and conquered a large amount of land stretching from eastern Europe into Asia.

38 Thrice conquer’d India Reference to the exploits of Robert Clive (1725-1774), known as “Clive of India,” who established British colonial power in India.

58 CLIVE This final statement implies that Robert Clive was the embodiment of all the best virtues given by Nature and Fortune.

Source: The Gentleman’s Magazine (February, 1780), p. 91.

Edited by Serena McNair

Anonymous, “Evening and Night”

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       ANONYMOUS

“EVENING and NIGHT”

NOW all is calm, and through the ambient air
The breathing zephyrs, on their balmy wings,
Ambrosial odours waft, that glad the heart
And to the nerves relax’d on their tone restore,
The sun, just hovering on the giddy verge,                                           5
‘Twixt world and world, faint and oblique, emits
His blunted rays; that tinge with golden dye
The lofty mountain’s russet head from far,
Mean while he opes on some far distant realm
The chrystal portals of the joyful morn,                                               10
Proclaiming, as he moves, returning day.
As more to these he lends his chearing beams,
Night, from the east, in majesty sedate,
And slow progression comes, with shade o’er shade
Of growing darkness; and with silent force                                         15
Expels the last reluctant ling’ring ray.
Where art thou busy world? and in what cave
Profound and dark, now hush’d to silence deep,
Sleeps your loud noise, your tumult, and confusion
That lately beat the yielding air; and where                                          20
That soft harmonious change of various notes?
Now only the sad nightingale disturbs
The solemn silence while thro’ awful shades,
Sad as the night she sings, the warbler pours
Her plaintive notes. Or from his lonely haunt,                                     25
The tott’ring ruins of some antient dome,
The midnight owl, bent on black deeds, steals forth
And with dread cries, and harsh discordant notes,
To the drear hour adds horrors not its own.
Hail! sacred silence, thou who first of things                                 30
Erst held thro’ all th’ ilimitable void,
An universal sway, ere circling worlds
Were form’d, ere yon caerulean arch began
T’ expand its recent shape, and ere the sun
Was from blended mass, formless and rude,                                       35
Sever’d, and fix’d the lucid central point
Of fair creation’s wide extended round.
Blest pow’r, I feel thy sacred influence now,
Thine is the gen’rous plan that patriots form;
Thine is the glow that warms the poet’s mind;                                     40
Led forth by thee he wanders forth, beneath
The silver moon, and conscious satyrs, to view
The gloomy night, whose dusky horrors please
And wake in studious minds the lofty thought.
Not to the sons of riot spend their hours,                                            45
Sworn foes at once to silence and to peace,
These to ill deeds the midnight revel fires
To rude intemp’rance and to lawless love.
See o’er the north a blaze of meteors spread,
In mystic dance, and convolutions wild;                                               50
Dilated now, how dens’d, now brightness all,
Now stain’d with sanguine dye, swiftly they mix,
They thwart, extinguish, and renew. On these
Pale Superstition turns her eye aghast,
And sees, or thinks she sees, portended fate.                                     55
Yet these, and whate’er else the worlds above
Meteor or storm, produce, are but thy path
Father of light and life; whate’er we see,
Whate’er we know, is but the varied God,
He in black darkness oft, and thickest gloom,                                     60
Involves his awful brow, or mounts the blaze,
Of unextinguish’d light, and round the world,
The wond’ring world, displays Almighty pow’r,
And love, which, unconfin’d, sustains, directs,
Whatever is—to him be endless praise.                                        65
Sheerness, Dec. 11, 1760

NOTES:

2 zephyrs A soft, gentle breeze (OED). Wind that blows from the west.

3 Ambrosial Something very pleasing to taste or smell (OED).

22 nightingale A small bird known for its rich song (OED). In literature and poetry, the nightingale and its nocturnal song are often used as symbols of love and loss.

31 Erst Formerly (OED).

33 caerulean A sky-blue color.

 42 satyrs Woodland figures of Classical mythology who resemble men with horse or goat-like physical features. Typically represented as lustful and hedonistic.

 52 sanguine Optimistic, especially in an apparently difficult situation. In medieval science,     “sanguine” referred to a ruddy complexion and an optimistic disposition symptomatic of an excess of blood in the bodily humors (OED).

66 Sheerness A coastal town in Southeast England that began as a naval fort and dockyard in the seventeenth century (BBC).

SOURCE: The Gentleman’s Magazine (December, 1760), pp. 586-87.

 Edited by Ariana Balagtas

Anonymous, “Sonnet to Mr. Herschel, on his many Astronomical Discoveries”

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ANONYMOUS

 “SONNET to Mr. Herschel, on his many Astronomical Discoveries”

 Herschel, all hail! For thee the tuneful Nine
Joyous to add to thy increasing fame
(As thou to Newton’s and to George’s name)
Of choicest flowers a chaplet shall entwine.
Haste then, and fly to Windsor’s air benign                              5
Fair Avon bartering for silver Thame:
Long teach, if length there be to human frame,
New stars to glitter, and new suns to shine.
And when the day shall come, as come it must,
Which by degrees shall dim thy piercing eye,                   10
Bid Vision, Science, Reason, Herschel, die,
And consecrate his mortal part to dust;
Then may thy spirit, with new glory crown’d,
Inherit all the worlds which thou hast found.

NOTES:

Title Mr. Herschel Sir William Herschel was a German-born, British astronomer (1738-1822). He discovered the planet Uranus in 1781 (Encyclopaedia Britannica online). The Gentleman’s Magazine’s editors provide the source for this poem: “From Maty’s Review,” which was also titled A New Review with Literary Curiosities and Literary Intelligence. This periodical was published from 1782-1786 by Henry Maty, the under librarian at the British Museum (Google Books).

1 the tuneful nine The nine muses of arts and sciences in Greek mythology.

3 Newton’s Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1726/7), the famous British physicist and mathematician; George’s George III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain (1738-1820), who reigned as king from 1760 until his death. In 1782 George III appointed Herschel the King’s Astronomer (Encyclopaedia Britannica online).

 4 chaplet “A wreath for the head, usually a garland of flowers or leaves, also of gold, precious stones, etc.; a circlet, coronal” (OED).

5 Windsor “The Round Tower at Windsor is said to be intended for Mr. Herschel’s observatory, whose studies hitherto have been prosecuted at Bath” [Author’s Note]. Windsor Castle, a royal residence, was renovated by George III.

6 Avon Herschel lived in Bath, on the Avon River; Thame Windsor Castle is located on the Thames River.

 Source: The Gentleman’s Magazine (February, 1783), p. 161.

Edited by Miriam deQuadros White

Anonymous, “An Invocation to Poverty”

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ANONYMOUS

 An INVOCATION to POVERTY. By an HONOURABLE COMMONER,
After the Reflection on his PENURY, thrown out in the House of Commons last Sessions.

 

Oh! Poverty! of pale, consumptive hue,
If thou delight’st to haunt me, still in view;
If still thy presence must my steps attend,
At least continue as thou art — my Friend!
When Scotch example bids me be unjust,                                                                  5
False to my word — or faithless to my trust,
Bid me the baneful error quickly see,
And shun the world, to find Repose with thee;
When Vice to Wealth would turn my partial eye,
Or Int’rest shut my ear to Sorrow’s cry,                                                                         10
Or Courtier’s custom would my reason bend,
My Foe to flatter, — or desert my Friend:
Oppose, kind Poverty, thy temper’d shield,
And bear me off unvanquish’d from the field.
If giddy Fortune e’er return again,                                                                           15
With all her idle — restless, wanton train, —
Her magic glass should false Ambition hold,
Or Av’rice bid me put my trust in Gold,
To my relief, thou virtuous Goddess, haste,
And with thee bring thy daughters ever chaste,                                                           20
Health! Liberty! and Wisdom! sisters bright,
Whose charms can make the worst condition light,
Beneath the hardest fate the mind can chear,
Can heal Affliction — and disarm Despair!
In chains, in torments, pleasure can bequeath,                                                             25
And dress in smiles the tyrant hour of Death!

NOTES:

Title Honourable Commoner Someone not born of nobility, but who possesses nobility; Penury Poverty; House of Commons The lower house of England’s legislative branch.

 1 Consumptive Pale, as if dying of tuberculosis.

 5 Scotch The Scottish people.

 8 Repose Rest.

 11 Courtier Attendant of the royal court.

SOURCE: The Gentleman’s Magazine, Vol. 46 (September 1776), p. 428. [J. Paul Leonard Library]

Edited by George Griffith

“I.O.,” “Reason’s Expostulation with Love”

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“I. O.”

 “REASON’S Expostulation with LOVE”

 FOND, feverish boy, why madly feed
A restless love, without an end?
Say, to what good those wishes lead,
Or whither does thy passion tend.
The flame you nurse, that very flame                                                                               5
Shall prove a serpent in your breast;
Of strength shall rob your sickly frame,
Your days of work, your nights of rest.
Say that thy love can’t injure thee,
Yet, for her sake, oh! quench the fire;                                                                       10
Think how you’d wrong the maid and me,
If once you kindled soft desire!
Thou know’st the nymph can ne’er be thine,
Then why thus every art essay?
How canst thou first her hand resign,                                                                               15
Then try to steal her heart away?
Grant that heart be all thine own,
Grant that her love thy love exceed —
‘Twere better far t’ endure alone,
Than teach the maid like thee to bleed.                                                                    20
Would’st thou for this her heart obtain?
E’en like a wanton puling boy,
Who first a play-thing cries to gain,
And, when he’s gain’d it, breaks the toy.
Would love, did love do her no harm,                                                                                 25
From passion’s ills thy soul release?
Would that which made her bosom warm,
Restore thy long-forgotten peace?
Thou canst not bear th’ averted cheek,
Thou canst not bear her silent eye:                                                                             30
How could’st thou bear those eyes that speak,
How could’st thou bear th’ impassion’d sigh?
Nought that she does thy soul can please:
Tho’ Scorn may make thy fetters grind,
No smiles can make them fit with ease,                                                                              35
And Scorn itself can ne’er unbind.
The cold indifference of her looks
Thy love-sick heart can ill endure;
And if her frown thy flame rebukes,
The pain it gives admits no cure.                                                                                  40
If she be kind, what boots it more?
It tells how Fate thy doom has fixt,
And wider sets the distant shore,
And clearer shews the gulf betwixt.
Why wilt thou rush to certain pain?                                                                                      45
To her thy foot why madly flies?
So seeks the silly moth her bane,
And courts the blaze by which she dies.
Say, can the bliss her presence brings
Reward an absent lover’s woe?                                                                                    50
Oft hast thou felt how parting stings,
And curst the cause that bade thee go.
And wilt thou seek her mansion yet?
Back shalt thou still return to Care;
To waste thine hours in vain regret;                                                                                   55
To wish thou ne’er hadst enter’d there.

NOTES:

Title REASON’S Expostulation with LOVE. A companion poem answering this one titled “LOVE’S Answer to REASON” was published on the same page in this issue.

22 puling “Crying querulously or weakly, as a child; whining, feebly wailing” (OED).

41 boots To boot: old English for use, profit, to be of advantage (Online Etymology Dictionary).

Source: The Gentleman’s Magazine (July, 1788), p. 640. [Hathi Trust]

 Edited by Annika Thiem

“I.O.,” “Love’s Answer to Reason”

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“I.O.”

“LOVE’S Answer to REASON”

INTRUDER bold, whose impious tongue
Presumes to chide my hallow’d flame,
Art thou of earthly parents sprung?
Whence dost thou come? or what thy name?
Not earthly thou: some Hell-born foe,                                                                   5
Or sure some stranger from above:
Its nature well thou seem’st to know,
But ne’er did’st feel what ‘tis to love.
Give me a breast as cold as thine,
Or teach the maid to frown like thee;                                                              10
Then shall this soul no longer pine,
And thou alone shalt govern me.
But, whilst I view that eye so sweet,
And in that eye a sweeter mind,
Still may’st thou ever idly prate,                                                                               15
And preach thy lessons to the wind.
Go, tell the Sun to hide his fire,
And tell the stars to shine no more;
Go, bid the surges back retire,
Nor dare to lash the bellowing shore.                                                               20
Seek Bedlam’s din and mingled yells;
There, if thou canst, resume thy reign;
Bid Madness leave her iron cells,
And drag no more the clanking chain.
Go call her wand’ring senses home,                                                                          25
Her frantic rage and storms allay;
Or teach her fixt and sullen gloom
To laugh and dance the hours away.
Could’st thou but view my charmer’s form,
Or hear the music of her tongue,                                                                        30
Thine icy soul might then grow warm,
And Age itself once more be young.
Alas! I fear that hoary hair
Is not the badge of creeping Time;
Those locks from endless days you wear,                                                                  35
And never felt youth’s glowing prime.
That lifted eye, whose sharp rebuke
Still points to yonder starry pole —
It never knew the down-cast look,
Which marks the Lover’s pensive soul.                                                                40
The front sublime, whose angry lour
Would kill the flame I nourish here —
It never stoopt to Beauty’s pow’r,
Or fondly smooth’d the frown severe.
That trumpet tongue, whose harsher noise                                                              45
Would from this breast her image scare —
It never us’d the dulcet voice
Which Love employs to woo the Fair.
Till Grace itself can please no more,
Shall I not feel those charms divine?                                                                     50
How can I learn thy rigid lore,
Or leave her face to gaze on thine?
Oh! had my love that ugly frame,
Thy furrow’d brow, thine haggard eye,
This heart had never known a flame,                                                                           55
This breast had never learnt to sigh!

NOTES:

 Title: LOVE’S Answer to REASON This poem is the answer to “REASON’S Expostulation with LOVE,” which was published on the same page in this issue.

21 Bedlam Place or state of confusion or madness; reference to the Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem in London which was an asylum from the 1400s through the eighteenth century (Online Etymology Dictionary).

 33 hoary Old, grey-haired (Online Etymology Dictionary).

41 lour Form of lower, a frown, scowl, dark and threatening appearance (Online Etymology Dictionary).

 48 dulcet Soothing, pleasant, sweet (OED).

Source: The Gentleman’s Magazine (July, 1788), p. 640. [Hathi Trust]

 Edited by Annika Thiem

Anonymous, “All in Vanity!”

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Anonymous

“All is Vanity!”

Whilst happy youths lead up the merry dance,
And musick’s charms invade the silent air,
Whilst sprightly nymphs spontaneously advance,
Lo! Here I sit, sad victim to despair.

But why should I complain? My day is o’er:                                            5
I’ve bid adieu to pleasure’s flow’ry stream;
My steady heart shall be enslav’d no more;
Such transient joys are like an empty dream.

Forgive, ye fair, this rude, unpolish’d verse,
Dread destiny has deeply pierc’d my heart;                                  10
Too certain truths unwilling I rehearse,
Ye, lovely maids, shall feel the vengeful dart.

Beauty and youth in which ye now delight,
Shall leave precipitate life’s giddy stage;
There charms shall sink in everlasting night,                                        15
And leave behind vexation and old age.

To day ye triumph with despotic power,
But Oh! to-morrow all your power is lost;
Like you to day appears the blushing flower,
Like you to-morrow nipt by death’s cold frost.                                20

O say, can dancing stop the hand of death,
Or musick’s charms extend life’s narrow page?
Can courtly balls recall the fleeting breath,
Or sooth the burning fever’s glowing rage?

If not, ye fair ones, listen to a friend,                                                        25
Exalt each thought to pure and endless joys;
With caution due to Damon’s muse attend,
None can be happy, but the good and wise.

NOTES:

3 nymphs A mythological spirit imagined as a beautiful maiden (Oxford Classical Dictionary).

23 courtly balls Political and social events attended by European nobility in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Later evolves into ballroom dancing. (DeMello, Feet and Footwear: A Cultural Encyclopedia, p. 89).

27 Damon Earliest reference to this name was found in a Greek story of Damon and Pythias. The myth exhibited the idea of a perfect friendship (Osborn, What’s in a Name?, p. 174).

Source: The Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 33 (London, 1763), p. 40.

Edited by Lok Yi Lo

“Posthumous,” “Morning Stanzas in October”

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“POSTHUMOUS”

 “MORNING STANZAS in October”

 The spreading oak and silver poplar tall,
Now feel the approach of winter’s dreary hour;
And from on high their faded honours fall,
In many a silent melancholy shower.

Still is each feather’d songster in the grove,                               5
Unless the Robin swell his little throat;
Still is the Blackbird, still the plaintive dove;
Nor floats aloft the Sky Lark’s bolder note.

Pleas’d with the calmness of the rising morn,
Faint spreading o’er the east it’s milder light;                   10
The healthful huntsman winds his early horn,
And sounds a farewell to the ling’ring night.

The sluggish mist now leaves the low, dank vale,
And slowly climbs the distant mountain’s side;
Whilst the blithe milkmaid sings beneath her pail                   15
And welcomes morn, whatever it betide.

The shepherd’s fleecy charge his fold forsakes;
The nightly-plundering fox, and timorous hare,
The coverts seek: And man once more awakes
To grief, to joy; to pleasure, or to care.                                20

NOTES:

5 feather’d songster Birds that sing.

7 plaintive “Afflicted by sorrow; grieving, lamenting” (OED).

8 Sky Lark “The common lark of Europe, Alauda arvensis, so called from its habit of soaring towards the sky while singing” (OED).

18 timorous “Full of or affected by fear (either for the time or habitually)” (OED).

19 coverts “A covering” (OED).

Source: The Gentleman’s Magazine (November, 1768), p. 536.

Edited by Jasmine Lopez