ess ought to be his own
peculiar lot. But the eagle observing that the arguments made use of to
prove their point were chiefly drawn from the disadvantages of others,
rather than from any advantage of their own, told them, 'There was too
much envy and malice amongst them, for him to pronounce any of them
deserving or capable of being happy; but I wonder,' says he, 'why the
dove alone is absent from this meeting?' 'I know of one in her nest hard
by,' answered the redbreast, 'shall I go and call her?' 'No,' says the
eagle, 'since she did not obey our general summons, 'tis plain she had
no ambition for a public preference; but I will take two or three chosen
friends, and we will go softly to her nest, and see in what manner she
is employing herself; for from our own observations upon the actions
of any one, we are more likely to form a judgment of them, than by any
boasts they can make.'

The eagle was obeyed, and, accompanied only by the linnet, the lark, the
lapwing, and the redbreast for his guide, he stole gently to the place
where the dove was found hovering over her nest, waiting the return of
her absent mate; and, thinking herself quite unobserved,

[*] While o'er her callow brood she hung,
She fondly thus address'd her young:
'Ye tender objects of my care,
Peace! peace! ye little helpless pair.
Anon! he comes, your gentle sire,
And brings you all your hearts require;
For us, his infants and his bride,
For us, with only love to guide,
Our lord assumes an eagle's speed,
And, like a lion, dares to bleed:
Nor yet by wintry skies confin'd,
He mounts upon the rudest wind,
From danger tears the vital spoil,
And with affection sweetens toil.
Ah! cease, too vent'rous, cease to dare;
In thine, our dearer safety spare.
From him, ye cruel falcons stray;
And turn, ye fowlers, far away,
--All-giving Pow'r, great source of life,
Oh! hear the parent, hear the wife:
That life thou lendest from above,
Though little, make it large in love.
Oh! bid my feeling heart expand
To ev'ry claim on ev'ry hand,
To those, from whom my days I drew,
To these in whom those days renew,
To all my kin, however wide,
In cordial warmth as blood allied.
To friends in steely fetters twin'd
And to the cruel not unkind;
But chief the lord of my desire,
My life, myself, my soul, my