The day was nam'd, the next that should be fair:
All to the general rendezvous repair,
They try their fluttering wings and truft themselves
in air.
But whether upward to the moon they go,
Or dream the winter out in caves below,
Or hawk at flies elsewhere, concerns us not to know.
Southwards, you may be fure, they bent their flight,
And harbour'd in a hollow rock at night:
Next morn they rofe, and fet up every fail;
The wind was fair, but blew a Mackrel gale:
The fickly young fat fhivering on the shore,
Abhor'd falt-water never feen before,
And pray'd their tender mothers to delay
The paffage, and expect a fairer day.
With thefe the Martin readily concurr'd,
A church-begot, and church-believing bird;
Of little body, but of lofty mind,
Round-belly'd, for a dignity defign'd,
And much a dunce, as Martins are by kind.
Yet often quoted canon-laws, and Code,
And fathers which he never understood:
But little learning needs in noble blood.
For, footh to fay, the Swallow brought him in,
Her houfhold chaplain, and her next of ki:
In fuperftition filly to exces,
And cafting fchemes by planetary guess:
In fine, fhort-wing'd, unfit himself to fly,
His fear foretold foul weather in the fky.
Befides, a Raven from a wither'd oak,
Left of their lodging, was obferv'd to croak.
That omen lik'd him not; fo his advice
Was prefent fafety, bought at any price;
A feeming pious care, that cover'd cowardice.
To ftrengthen this he told a boding dream,
Of rifing waters, and a troubled ftream,
Sure figns of anguish, dangers and distress,
With fomething more, not lawful to exprefs:
By which he flily feem'd to intimate
Some fecret revelation of their fate.
For he concluded, once upon a time,
He found a leaf infcrib'd with facred rhyme,
Whose antique characters did well denote
The Sibyl's hand of the Cumean grot :
The mad divinerefs had plainly writ,
A time should come, but many ages yet,
In which, finifter deftinies ordain,
A dame should drown with all her feather'd train,
And feas from thence be call'd the Chelidonian main.
At this, fome fhook for fear, the more devout
Arofe, and blefs'd themselves from head to foot.
'Tis true, fome ftagers of the wiser fort
Made all thefe idle wonderments their sport,
They faid, their only danger was delay,
And he, who heard what every fool could fay,
Would never fix his thought, but trim his time away.
The paffage yet was good; the wind 'tis true,
Was fomewhat high, but that was nothing new,
No more than usual equinoxes blew.
The fun, already from the fcales declin'd,
Gave little hopes of better days behind,
But change from bad to worfe of weather and of wind.
Nor need they fear the dampness of the sky
Should flag their wings, and hinder them to fly,
'Twas only water thrown on fails too dry.
But, leaft of all, philofophy prefumes
Of truth in dreams, from melancholy fumes:
Perhaps the Martin hous'd in holy ground,
Might think of ghofts that walk their midnight round, "Till groffer atoms tumbling in the stream
Of fancy, madly met, and clubb'd into a dream:
As little weight his vain prefages bear,
Of ill effect to fuch alone who fear:
Moft prophecies are of a piece with these,
Each Noftradamus can foretel with ease:
Not naming perfons and confounding times,
One casual truth fupports a thousand lying rhymes.
Th' advice was true; but fear had feiz'd the moft,
And all good counsel is on cowards loft.
The question crudely put to fhun delay,
'Twas carry'd by the major part to ftay.
His point thus gain'd, Sir Martin dated thence His power, and from a priest became a prince. He order'd all things with a busy care, And cells and refectories did prepare, And large provifions laid of winter fare: But now and then let fall a word or two Of hope, that heaven fome miracle might show, And for their fakes the fun should backward go; Against the laws of nature upward climb, And mounted on the Ram, renew the prime : For which two proofs in facred ftory lay, Of Ahaz' dial, and of Joshua's day. In expectation of fuch times as thefe, A chapel hous'd them, truly call'd of eafe: For Martin much devotion did not afk; They pray'd fometimes and that was all their task. It happen'd, as beyond the reach of wit Blind prophecies may have a lucky hit, That this accomplish'd, or at least in part, Gave great repute to their new Merlin's art. Some Swifts, the giants of the Swallow kind, Large-limb'd, ftout-hearted, but of ftupid mind, (For Swiffes, or for Gibeonites defign'd,) These lubbers, peeping thro' a broken pane, To fuck fresh air, furvey'd the neighbouring plain; And faw (but fcarcely could believe their eyes) New bloffoms flourish, and new flowers arife; F
As God had been abroad, and, walking there,
Had left his footsteps, and reform'd the year:
The funny hills from far were seen to glow
With glittering beams, and in the meads below
The burnish'd brooks appear'd with liquid gold to flow.
At laft they heard the foolish Cuckow fing,
Whofe note proclaim'd the holy-day of spring.
No longer doubting, all prepare to fly,
And repoffefs their patrimonial sky.
The priest before them did his wings display;
And that good omens might attend their way,
As luck would have it, 'twas St. Martin's day.
Who but the Swallow now triumphs alone?
The canopy of heaven is all her own:
Her youthful offspring to their haunts repair,
And glide along in glades, and fkim in air,
And dip for infects in the purling fprings,
And stoop on rivers to refresh their wings.
Their mothers think a fair provision made,
That ev'ry fon can live upon his trade:
And, now the careful charge is off their hands,
Look out for husbands, and new nuptial bands:
The youthful widow longs to be supply'd;
But firft the lover is by lawyers ty'd
To fettle jointure-chimnies on the bride.
So thick they couple in fo fhort a space,
That Martin's Marriage-offerings rife apace.
Their ancient houses running to decay,
Are furbish'd up and cemented with clay;
They teem already; ftore of eggs are laid,
And brooding mothers call Lucina's aid.
Fame spreads the news, and foreign fowls appear
In flocks to greet the new returning year,
To bless the founder, and partake the cheer.
And now 'twas time (so fast their numbers rife)
To plant abroad and people colonies.
The youth drawn forth, as Martin had defir'd, (For fo their cruel deftiny requir'd)
Were fent far off on an ill-fated day;
The reft would needs conduct them on their way,
And Martin went, because he fear'd alone to stay.
So long they flew with inconfiderate hafte,
That now their afternoon began to wafte;
And, what was ominous, that very morn
The fun was enter'd into Capricorn;
Which by their bad aftronomer's account,
That week the virgin balance should remount.
An infant moon eclips'd him in his way,
And hid the fmall remainders of his day.
The crowd, amaz'd, purfu'd no certain mark;
But birds met birds, and justled in the dark :
Few mind the public in a panic fright;
And fear increas'd the horror of the night.
Night came, but unattended with repofe;
Alone she came, no fleep their eyes to close :
Alone, and black fhe came; no friendly ftars arose.
What should they do, befet with dangers round,
No neighbouring dorp, no lodging to be found,
But bleaky plains, and bare unhofpitable ground.
The latter brood, who juft began to fly,
Sick-feather'd, and unpractis'd in the sky,
For fuccour to their helpless mother call;
She fpread her wings; fome few beneath them crawl;
She spread them wider yet, but could not cover all.
T'augment their woes, the winds began to move
Debate in air for empty fields above,
'Till Boreas got the fkies, and pour'd amain
His rattling hailstones mix'd with fnow and rain.
The joyless morning late arose, and found
A dreadful defolation reign around,
Some bury'd in the fnow, fome frozen to the ground.
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