The poetical works of Alexander Wilson: also his miscellaneous prose writings: illustr. by notes [&c.].

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Page 419 - ... it to be in the most extreme agonies of fear. I had intended to kill it, in order to fix it in the claws of a stuffed owl, but happening to spill a few drops of water near where it was tied, it lapped it up with such eagerness, and looked in my face with such an eye of supplicating terror, as perfectly overcame me. I immediately untied it, and restored it to life and liberty. The agonies of a prisoner at the stake, while the fire and instruments of...
Page 473 - Tringse coursing along the sands ; trains of Ducks streaming over the surface ; silent and watchful Cranes, intent and wading ; clamorous Crows ; and all the winged multitudes that subsist by the bounty of this vast liquid magazine of Nature. High over all these hovers one whose action instantly arrests all his attention.
Page 278 - Soon as the sun, great ruler of the year, Bends to our northern clime his bright career, And from the caves of ocean calls from sleep The finny shoals and myriads of the deep; When freezing tempests back to Greenland ride, And day and night the equal hours divide : True to the season, o'er our sea-beat shore. The sailing osprey high is seen to soar...
Page 474 - Down, rapid as an arrow from heaven, descends the distant object of his attention, the roar of its wings reaching the ear, as it disappears in the deep, making the surges foam around ! At this moment the eager looks of the eagle are all...
Page xxvi - I sometimes smile to think that while others are immersed in deep schemes of speculation and aggrandizement — in building towns, and purchasing plantations, I am entranced in contemplation over the plumage of a lark, or gazing like a despairing lover, on the lineaments of an owl.
Page 155 - Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates, and men decay: Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade ; A breath can make them, as a breath has made: But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, When once destroyed, can never be supplied.
Page 88 - But touch me, and no minister so sore. Whoe'er offends, at some unlucky time Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme, Sacred to ridicule his whole life long, And the sad burthen of some merry song.
Page 419 - ... and looked in my face with such an eye of supplicating terror, as perfectly overcame me. I immediately untied it, and restored it to life and liberty. The agonies of a prisoner at the stake, while the fire and instruments of torment are preparing, could not be more severe than the sufferings of that poor mouse; and, insignificant as the object was, I felt at that moment the sweet sensations that mercy leaves on the mind when she triumphs over cruelty.
Page 42 - twill pierce thee to the heart ; A broken reed, at best ; but, oft, a spear ; On its sharp point peace bleeds, and hope expires.
Page 275 - When winter's cold tempests and snows are no more, Green meadows and brown furrow'd fields re-appearing, The fishermen hauling their shad to the shore, And cloud-cleaving geese to the Lakes are a-steering; When first the lone butterfly flits on the wing; When red glow the maples, so fresh and so pleasing, O then comes the Blue-bird, the HERALD or armso!

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