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Are content with acorn husks;
Robber whose exploits ne'er soared
O'er the bees' or squirrels' hoard:
Whiskered chin and feeble nose,
Claws of steel on baby toes,
Here in solitude and shade;
Shambling, shuffling plantigrade,
By thy courses undismayed!

Here, where Nature makes thy bed,
Let thy rude, half-human tread
Point to hidden Indian springs
Lost in ferns and fragrant grasses
Hovered o'er by timid wings,
Where the wood-duck lightly passes,
Where the wild bee holds her sweets,
Epicurean retreats,

Fit for thee and better than
Fearful spoils of dangerous man.

In thy fat-jowled deviltry

Friar Tuck shall live in thee;

Thou mayst levy tithe and dole;

Thou shalt spread the woodland cheer,
From the pilgrim taking toll:

Match thy cunning with his fear;
Eat and drink and have thy fill:

Yet remain an outlaw still!

EVENING IN PARADISE.

JOHN MILTON.

Now came still Evening on, and Twilight gray Had in her sober livery all things clad; Silence accompanied; for beast and bird — They to their grassy couch, these to their nests Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale; She all night long her amorous descant sung; Silence was pleased: now glowed the firmament With living sapphires: Hesperus, that led The starry host, rode brightest, till the Moon, Rising in clouded majesty, at length Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light, And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.

MUSIC BY MOONLIGHT.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. EXTRACT.

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!

Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears; soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony.

Sit, Jessica Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;

There's not the smallest orb, which thou behold'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins!
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.

HOLIDAYS AND HOLY DAYS.

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