«iPi- 
 
 ■•^t**-
 
 tf i;','';'v*-»3. 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 W I N G E 1^ W R D S 
 
 ON 
 
 CHANTUEY'S WOODCOCKS.
 
 LONIION" : WOOPFaLL and KlNDKIt, ANGKT, COURT, SKINNKU STKF.KT.
 
 -» 
 
 xteil
 
 TWO W[70DC0CKS 
 
 KXLI.EB AT H01.KHAM 
 
 HOVfllBSO 
 
 BY EEAMCtS CHAUTfiEy SCULPTOR , 
 
 .4T ONE SHOT 
 
 f ■KESENTED TO THO? "fnf COKE ES0»1«3 i 
 
 -Jn/nnreJ Tn- J. Rftlnmay .
 
 WINGED WORDS 
 
 ON 
 
 
 CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 
 
 
 EDITED 
 
 By 
 
 JAMES PATEICK MUIEHEAD, M.A. 
 
 
 WITH ETCHINdl. 
 
 
 •» 
 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 
 MDCCCLVII.
 
 .viV
 
 
 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. 
 
 Adair, the late Sib Egbert. 
 Alderson, the late Sir Edward Hall. 
 Anson, the Hon. Frederica. 
 
 Bacon, the late R. M. 
 
 Boulton, Matthew Piers Watt. 
 
 Bowles, the late Eev. 'NVilijam Lisle, Canon of Salisbury. 
 
 Campbell, the Eev. J. J., M.A. 
 Children, J. G. 
 
 COLLYER, the EeV. EoBERT, M.A. 
 COOKESLEY, THE EeV. W. C, M.A. 
 
 Cunningham, the late Allan. 
 
 Duncan, the late John Shute, D.C.L., Fellow of New College, 
 
 Oxford. 
 Duncan, Philip B., D.C.L. 
 
 FeltoNj C. C, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. 
 
 Glover, the Yen. Archdeacon. 
 Gurney, Hudson. 
 
 Jeffrey, the late Hon. Lord. 
 
 Jekyll, the late Joseph. 
 
 Jelf, the Eev. William Edward, B.D. 
 
 8G17G: 
 
 >^i^'y^
 
 vi LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. 
 
 Leycestee, the late Hugh. 
 
 Maltby, the Eight Rev. Bishop. 
 
 MiLMAN, the very Rev. Henry Hart, Dean of St. Paul's. 
 
 MoBERLY, the Eev. George, D.C.L., Head-Master of Winchester School. 
 
 Monro, David Binning, Scholar of Balliol College, Oxford. 
 
 BIuiRHEAD, James Patrick, M.A. 
 
 Otter, the late Right Rev. Edward, Bishop of Chichester. 
 Oxford, the Eight Rev. the Bishop of. 
 
 Petit, the Rev. John Louis, M.A. 
 
 Po^vER, THE Eev. Joseph, M.A., Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. 
 
 EiDDELL, THE Eev. Jajies, 51. A., Felloav OF Bai.liol College, Oxford. 
 
 Scott, the Eev. Egbert, D.D., Master of Balliol College, Oxford. 
 Selwyn, the Eev. William, Canon of Ely, Margaret Professor of 
 
 DrviNiTY in the University of Cambridge. 
 Shute, the Eev. Hardwicke, M.A. 
 Stanhope, John Spencer. 
 Statter, the Eev. J., M.A. 
 
 T., W. 
 
 Tenterden, the late Lord. 
 
 Verral, C. 
 
 Vivian, the late Lieutenant-General Sir Hussey. 
 
 Wellesley, the late Marquis, K.G. 
 Williams, the late Sir John. 
 Wrangham, the late \eh. Archdeacon.
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 I LATE 
 
 I. Monument to " Two Woodcocks, killed at Holkham, Nov. 
 " 1830, BY Feancis Chantrey, Sculptor, at One Shot ; tke- 
 " sented to Thos. Wm. Coke, Esq., 1834." Engraved by J. 
 Eedaway, from a DRA^VI^•G of the birds, presented by Sir 
 Francis Chantrey to the late William Yarrell, Esq., and 
 
 A SKETCH OF THE MONUMENT BY MiSS WaLL . . . Froilthpkcc. 
 
 II. Medal of the late Sir Francis Chantrey, R. A., by W. Wyon. 
 Obverse : engraved by C. Chabot. Legend : " Chantrey, 
 "Sculptor et Artium Fautor" To face paijc iyi. 
 
 III. Tail-piece to Introduction: a Erace of Pheasants: en- 
 
 graved ON Wood from a drawing by the late Sir Francis 
 Chantrey, E.A .To face 2^a(je xxxvi. 
 
 IV. " They were lovely and pleasant in their Lives." Drawn 
 
 AND ETCHED BY J. PiEDAWAY To Jhrc Jituje 7. 
 
 Y. " In their Death they were not divided." Drawn and 
 
 ETCHED BY THE SAME T'o fucc p(l(je 4!). 
 
 VI. " The PLACE thereof shai.l know them no more." Drawn 
 
 AND etched by THE SAME To fucc p(l(jc ] 1 I .
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " ilovcmur enim ncscio quo pacto locis ijisis, in qnibus corum, quos di- 
 
 " ligimus, aut admiramur, adsunt vestigia studioseque eorum 
 
 '•' etiam Sepulck.v contemplor." — Cic. de Leg. II. 2. 
 
 " For wc arc strangely affected, even by tlic places wherein are the foot- 
 " steps of those whom we love, or admire. ..... and tlicir very 
 
 " Sepulchres I contemplate with emotion," 
 
 The occurrence in which the following collection oH jeux- 
 d'esprit had its origin, although perhaps not unknown to 
 some of our readers^ may to others stand in need of ex- 
 planation. Having been at first an instance of very curious 
 success in one of the sports of the fields it became much 
 more remarkable when embodied in one of the most graceful 
 triumi)hs of modern sculpture; and when celebrated, under 
 that doubly-pleasing aspect, by the pens of many eminent 
 scholars. The subject which could win from the chisel of 
 Chantrey its best exertions in a labour of beauty and love, 
 and then receive from a "Wrangham, a INIaltby, a Selwyn, 
 a Tcnterden, a Williams, an Alderson, a "Wilberforce, a Scott, 
 and a Welleslej', the tribute of their classical homage, is one 
 " which Fame would not willingly let die."
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Tlic late Sir Francis Chantrey was^ it is well known, 
 much attached to two at least of the sports of the field ; 
 having loved shooting much, and fishing, perhaps, still more. 
 Born near the windings of " the gentle Dove," he early 
 acquired and always retained an affectionate fondness for 
 "flowing rivers'^ and their "blameless sport;" delighting, 
 to the last of his days, like their own bright and animated 
 
 waters, 
 
 " To wind about, and in and out, 
 
 " With liere a blossom sailing, 
 " And here and there a lusty trout, 
 
 " And here and there a grayling." * 
 
 Friends of his still survive, who have shared with him in 
 the enchantment of rural rambles, rod in hand, by the water- 
 side; and many of them may, like the writer of these pages, 
 remember having partaken, at his hospitable board, of mag- 
 nificent trout, the produce of his piscatory skill ; — trout of 
 which " the very shape and the enamelled colour liath been 
 "such as hath joyed me to look on him;"t <iii<l <5f which 
 
 » Tennyson, " Tlie Brooh" 
 
 t "The Complete Angler; by Izaak AValton:" London. J. Major, 1833, 
 p. 129. In that charming edition of " The Contemplative JNIan's IJecrcation," 
 the Tail-pieces at p. 341, " View in Dove-dale of a remarkable Cave called 
 " Reynard's Hall, nearly opposite the rocks called the Brothers ;" at p. 343, 
 " View from the top of Dove-dale, looking up the stream ;" at p. 356, " View 
 '• from the Northern Extremity of Dove-dale, looking down the stream;" at 
 p. 3G1, "View of the Exit from Dove-dale, looking up the stream; the 
 '•great stone on the left being the boundary of the Izarn estate;" and a 
 Vignette at p. 362, " View of Iladdon Hall in the county of Derby, taken
 
 INTRODUCTION. xi 
 
 the flavour was usually heiglitencd by lively details of the 
 " particular meadow " and manner of the capture. 
 
 But none of his exploits with tlie Rod could rival that with 
 the GuUj commemorated in this little volume; of which the 
 history is simply this : — That Chantrc}', being, in November 
 1829, on a visit at llolkham, the seat of Mr. Coke (afterwards 
 created Earl of Leicester), and having joined a shooting-party 
 organized by his distinguished host, had the good-fovtune, at 
 the very commencement of the day^s sport, to kill Two Wood- 
 cocks AT OxE Shot. 
 
 The author of some " Memorials " of Chantrey has in that 
 work thought fit to express a suspicion, (without, however, 
 supporting it by any proof,) that the great sculptor's '• profi- 
 " ciency wdth both the rod and the gun has been over-rated.'' 
 How far such a statement could be well-founded, it might 
 seem unnecessary to enquire, in the face of the fact which 
 forms the subject of these "Winged Words;" and which 
 effectually contradicts one-half at least of Mr. Holland's doubt ; 
 while other testimony has been given by very competent wit- 
 nesses, sufficient to disprove the whole of it. " Chantrey," 
 says his intimate friend and companion Jones, " was an excel- 
 " lent shot ; examples of this are numerous ; .... he 
 
 '■from between Eowesley and Upper Haddon;" are all engraved, on Avood, 
 from original drawings by Chantrey. For engravings, (twenty-nine in 
 number), on a larger scale, of other i^roductions of Iiis elegant and iaeile 
 pencil, see " Ehodes' Peak Scenery, or Excursions in Derliyshire."
 
 xii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " did well all things he undertook, and some things pre-emi- 
 " nently ; . . . . the sports^ the pleasures, and the la- 
 " hours of the iield he well understood ; . . . . he was 
 " as indefatigahle in his sports as in his profession : and, as a 
 " fowler or fisher, he evinced a perseverance which ensured 
 " success/'* But love of truth compels us to add, and Chan- 
 trey's entire candour prevented his ever attempting to conceal, 
 that when he fired his memorahle shot, he saw not the two 
 cocks which it brought down, but only the further one of the 
 couple ; the other having risen into the line of fire just as he 
 })ulled the trigger. 
 
 This circumstance, of course, reduces the apparent miracle 
 to something neai'er the level of the achievements of or- 
 dinary mortals; and we have even heard of at least one in- 
 stance in which the occurrence, as so modified, is stated to 
 have been paralleled. 
 
 " My dear B ," wrote Colonel Sands to a friend on the 
 
 4th of November, 1853, " as you are fond of a sporting 
 " anecdote, I may tell you what occurred to me yesterday, in 
 " making my first beat of the season, after woodcocks, in 
 " Haywood. I was walking towards a large clump of hollies, 
 " with the keeper about twenty yards on my right, when two 
 " cocks got up together; one Hying to the left of tlie cluuiji, 
 
 * " Sir Francis Cliantrcy, E.A. Recollections of his Life, Practice, and 
 " Opinions; by George Jones, R.A." London, 1849, pp. 175, 170, and 155.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xiii 
 
 " and the other to the right. I fired at the left bird^ and 
 " brought him down, calling out to the kcejicr to mark the 
 " other ; when he replied, ' I saw only one bird, which you 
 " ' killed.' This surprised me, as I had picked up my bird 
 " considerably to the left of the clump, and quite out of sight 
 " of the keeper. But while we were discussing the matter, 
 " and trying to account for the extraordinary disappearance 
 " of the second cock, my old bitch ' Belle ' was observed at 
 " a dead point, about forty yards beyond the clump of hollies j 
 " and there we found the missing bird under her nose ! The 
 '' only way in which I can account for the circumstance is, 
 " that the right-hand bird must have crossed the line of sight 
 "just as I fired at the bird on the left; which, by the way, 
 " fell within twenty yards of the gun. 
 
 " Yours sincerely, H. C. Sands."* 
 
 Still, however, the achievement at Holkham might well re- 
 main to the sportsman matter of very excusable self-congratu- 
 lation, and to his friends a natural theme of epigrammatic 
 remark and compliment ; for, although different gunners have 
 usually their respective " extraordinary shots " to remember 
 and recount, — many of them clever and enviable enough, — yet 
 we apprehend that Chantrey's will always remain, though not 
 
 * Commnnicated by W. C. Alston, Esq., of Elmdon Hall, AVarwickshire.
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 altogether unique, at least conspicuous for its rarity, and 
 almost " alone in its glor3\" 
 
 Of single shots not unworthy to follow, — although at long 
 interval, — behind that of Chantrey, the following are only a 
 few of the instances which have come under our notice ; — 
 many of our readers may be able to make additions to the 
 list, from the personal experience of themselves or their 
 friends : — 
 
 The late Lieutenant Kirkes, U.N., brought down, at one 
 shot, six snipes out of a wisp of seven. His son. Captain 
 Kirkes, by a still more wonderful chance, killed (in 185G) 
 with one barrel, a grouse on the wing, and two hares sitting ; 
 the hares having been '' forme cV together, on a rising ground 
 towards which the grouse was flying when the shot was fired. 
 
 As we write, we sec it announced that " the other day 
 " there were killed at Keith Hall, by Alexander Strachan, 
 " keeper to the Earl of Kintorc, six snipes, all on the wing, 
 " at one shot." * 
 
 " The finest shot of the season," says a Correspondent of 
 the " Hlustrated London News" for November, 1850, "has 
 " yet to be recorded. We learn from Scotland that a shooter 
 " lately stalked up to four black-cocks, caught them in a line 
 " on the rise, and killed them all. Three fell at once, and the 
 " fourth one hundred yards from his fellows." 
 * " The Field," Gth December, 1856.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xv 
 
 We ourselves, in the days of our early (and then not very 
 great) proficiency with the gun, aiming with youtliful haste at 
 a brace of birds as they rose together from some long wlicat- 
 stid)blcs, and bringing them down at one shot just as they 
 got on the wung, discovered^ on advancing with the keeper 
 to pick up the game, — {" Nescio qua prseter solitum dulcedine 
 "capti!^') — fluttering among the stubble beside the dead 
 parti'idges, three others, all mortally wounded by the shot, 
 whicli had thus struck them before they rose. It may be 
 supposed that the capture of those two brace and a half long- 
 lived in our memory, as the very cpiintessence of sporting. 
 But, at a later date, our exultation was reduced within its due 
 bounds, on learning from a worthy friend that on one occa- 
 sion, by a wild shot at a covey as they turned over a low 
 part of a hedge, there were bagged, to one barrel, nine 
 birds ! 
 
 Dr. Sandwith mentions that in a brilliant day's shooting in 
 an enormous marsh, (of about fifty square miles in extent), 
 on a branch of the Euphrates near Erzeroom, full of an 
 endless variety of water-birds, birds of prey, &c., " too nu- 
 " merous for comfortable shooting," * he bagged, at one shot, 
 four of those beautiful birds the spoonbills. 
 
 '* " Blue, night, black, and cream-coloured squacco lierons, large and small 
 " bustards, egrets, wild-geese, ducks, and plover, curlews, ibis, bitterns, black 
 " storks, crested, red-necked, and eared grebes, coots and dabchicks, godwits, 
 " tringas, sandpijicrs, dunlins, reeves, red-shanks, green-shanks, water-rails,
 
 During the frost and snow of December, 185G, a man of 
 the name of Croft is said to have killed on the banks of 
 the river Wyrc, near the Shard, Ilambleton, no fewer than 
 one hundred and eighteen gray plovers at one shot; and at 
 another shot, on the same day, sixteen ducks ; using, however, 
 a sort of large swivel-gun, fixed in a boat, and loaded with 
 5 lb. of powder, and lib. of shot. 
 
 So much for what may be done by the opportune use of 
 one barrel, on land, by day; and the eight hooper swans, 
 " seven old ones and a brown one,'^ knocked down at one 
 shot "and averaging above 19 lbs. each;" — the thirty-five 
 wild-geese killed at one discharge of a single-barrelled punt- 
 gun; — the five hundred starlings, at that of a double gun 
 of the same species ; — the twenty widgeon, ducks, pintail, and 
 plover, bagged at once with " a common shoulder-gun that 
 "carried only 5 oz. of shot;" — the "forty-three knots and 
 " godvvits, at one discharge of 3 oz. of No. 4 shot," by a 
 gunner who " during the night had three shots, and brought 
 "home one hundred and nine birds;" — showing what deeds 
 can be done on nnid or water at night, — may be seen all duly 
 I'ccorded in " The Book of Instructions to Young Sportsmen 
 
 " Austrian pratincoles, terns, eagles, falcons, kites, buzzards, henharriers, 
 " silver and Numidian cranes, double snipes and common snipes." ITowsuch 
 a bill of fare makes a sportsman's mouth Avatcr ! AVcU might the learned and 
 gallant Doctor declare that "the sight was exhilarating in the extreme!" 
 Narrative of the Siege of Kars, by Humpliry Sandwith, M.D., 1856, pp. 51. 55.
 
 INTRODUCTION". 
 
 xvii 
 
 '' in all that relates to Guns and Shooting/' * by the late 
 Colonel Peter Hawker of popular memory. 
 
 Somewhat similar instances may have occurred within the 
 observation of many of our readers. But who among modern 
 sportsmen or ornithologists can read, without a thrill of wonder 
 or shudder of regret, the following tale of " 'Tis Sixty Years 
 " since," among the Bustards ? It is told by the Rev. Bichard 
 Lubbock, Vicar of Eccles, in his interesting little work, " Ob- 
 " servations on the Fauua of Norfolk:" — an unpretending 
 contribution to sylvan science, replete with accurate and ju- 
 dicious observation : — 
 
 " Some fifty years back," — (Mr. Lubbock's work was pub- 
 lished in 1845), — " a keeper of the name of Turner, in the 
 '' employ of the Colquhoun family at Wretham, used to kill 
 '' many bustards in the snow, by looking out for their tracks, 
 " and then feeding them for a day or two with cabbages. He 
 " next constructed a battery of three large duck guns, bearing 
 " on the spot where the food lay, and, coming before day- 
 " light, seated himself in a hole dug some hundred and fifty 
 " yards from the guns. By means of a long string to the 
 '^ triggers, he used to effect a general discharge on the first 
 
 * See pp. 274, 271, 269-70, 411, and 243, ed. 1844. Of the fourth of those 
 shots, the Author honestly remarks, — " this, however, is such a shot, with a 
 " small gun, as I never heard of before, and perhaps may never hear of 
 
 again.
 
 xviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " opportunity, and in tins way he once obtained Seven 
 " Bustards at a shot." ! ! ! * 
 
 A-propos of Bustards and their capture, we may mention 
 for the amusement of our readers, that the famous and fa- 
 cetious General George Hanger, after recommending sportsmen 
 to go out at night in search of snipes and wild-fowl, {inld- 
 geese especially, we presume), somewhat in the manner of 
 the Indians, bearing in one hand a lantern with a great re- 
 flector behind and a convex lens in front of the flame, and 
 in the other a loaded gun, quietly observes ; — " ^^ hy may 
 " not this method be tried on Bustards, when you see them 
 " settling for the night, to roost ? " 
 
 Why not, indeed ? We should suppose that to be an ex- 
 cellent time for such a diversion ! 
 
 With equal ingenuity the General adds ; — " In soft places 
 " where springs are, near to woods, where you know 
 " woodcocks feed at night, what reason have you to imagine 
 " that, by means of this bright light, you may not approach 
 "them? Tlie light, to a certainty, will shew them to you; 
 " for, at that time feeding, they will be walking about.'^ f 
 
 * " Observations on the Fauna of Norfolk, and more particularly of the 
 District of the Broads." By the llev. llichard Lubbock. Norwich, 1845, 
 p. 42. 
 
 + " General George Hanger to all Sportsmen, Farmers, and Gamekeepers;" 
 London, 1814, pp. 112-115. In the present work it deserves to be noticed 
 that General Hangers very original and entertaining volume is dedicated
 
 INTKODUCTION. xix 
 
 The General's idea of thus approaching woodcocks on their 
 nocturnal promenades is by no means so purely fanciful as at 
 first sight it appears to be ; the Indians use the " blaze " 
 with great success in their chase of elk and various species of 
 deer; and in Dr. Lewis' "American Sportsman/' (Philadelphia, 
 1857), an account is given of the very sport recommended 
 by General Hanger, which is there termed the " Fire Hunting 
 " of Cocks," and is said to be practised in Louisiana and 
 Mississippi, frequently with great success, one gun sometimes 
 killing fifty couple in a single night. 
 
 But, — to return from these luminous ideas of the heroic 
 General, — perhaps the most extraordinary shot on record is 
 that which killed a brace of birds less than nothing ; — a shot 
 which, however strange it may appear, is nevertheless true. 
 For the lively author of " Maxims and Hints on Shooting and 
 " other Matters," recounts how, after he had been out partridge- 
 shooting with two other persons, at the close of the day one 
 of his friends said he had killed twelve brace, and the other 
 claimed eleven brace ; in all, twenty-three brace, or forty-six 
 birds. On counting the birds, their number proved to be but 
 forty- four. " I therefore concluded," very modestly, and, at 
 the same time, very rationally adds INIr. Penn, " that the brace 
 
 "To Thomas Coke, Esq., of Holkham, Korfolk;" ia acknowledgment of that 
 gentleman's patriotic zeal as a legislator and agriculturist, his liberality as a 
 sportsman, and sumptuous hospitality as a host.
 
 XX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " which was wanting must have been considered as my share 
 " of the day's sport." 
 
 Thus might INIr. Penn boast of having exceeded even the 
 exploits of that memorable Triumvirate, who, at Clumber in 
 1784, laid a bet with another party of three, who should 
 kill most game in a whole day's shooting. Each man of the 
 six was judged to have had, on an average, sixty shots ; making 
 a total of three hundred and sixty shots. Out of their half of 
 that nmnber, or one hundred and eighty shots, the three 
 gentlemen who u-on the bet killed, together, Thr'ee Birds. 
 What must have been " the bag " made by the losers ! The 
 names of those who were able to perform so remarkable a piece 
 of sporting, have been handed down, (as they well deserved to 
 be), to the admiration of posterity ; they were Lord Lincoln, 
 
 General Philips, Captain Lascellcs, the Rev. Lascelles, 
 
 Mr. Cotton, and Lieutenant-Colonel Strickland.* 
 
 One fact in connection with the chasse of woodcocks, re- 
 corded by the same ingenious and observant gentleman who 
 contrived to bag, (or, at least, to reckon as " Ms birds "), the 
 forty-fifth and forty-sixth birds out of the forty-foui', certainly 
 deserves attention : — viz. that '' a singular species of delusion 
 " often takes place in the case of a man shooting at a wood- 
 " cock in a thick cover. According to the impression said to 
 " be made upon the shooter's eye, the bird apiiears to fall dead 
 
 * Daniels " Rural Sports," vol. ii., Part II. p. 313.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxi 
 
 " more frequently than he can afterwards he foundJ' How far 
 the woodcock can fairly be said to differ in this respect from 
 all other birds or beasts of game, our sporting readers may 
 judge for themselves^ from their own experience; but, although 
 the fact in question may have been first publicly announced 
 by Mr. Penn, we think we can venture to vouch for it having 
 been observed by some others before he discovered it ! 
 
 That we may not, however, run the risk of ajjpcaring to 
 trifle on so serious a subject as British Field-sports, we shall 
 express our firm conviction, that any true sportsman would 
 gladly have exchanged his own " pet vanity '' in that depart- 
 ment for a triumph like that of Chantrey, cleverly achieved in 
 the open light of day, and in the presence, or the immediate 
 vicinity, of an ample array of witnesses, able and willing to 
 vouch for its occurrence. For Bufi'on was quite correct in 
 saying, that " La Becasse est peut-etre de tons les oiseaux 
 " de passage cclui dont les chasseurs font le plus de cas;" 
 although modern sportsmen, accustomed to the use of the 
 fowling-piece rather than of the springe, would doubtless feel 
 disposed to question the justice of his further assertion, that 
 one of the principal reasons of this high estimation is '' la 
 " facilite qu'ils trouvent a se saisir de ce bon oiseau stupide." 
 The woodcock's reputation for stupidity, however, is main- 
 tained also by AVillughby, who says, " Apud nos, ob stolidi- 
 " tatem infamis est hecc avis, adeo ut scolopax pro stolido pro-
 
 xxii mTRODUCTION. 
 
 " verbiulitcr accipiatur :" — by Bclon, who lionours the poor 
 bird witli the appellation of "moult sotte bete:" — and by- 
 Shaw^ who tells us that it is called, in Barbary, " hammar-cl- 
 " gadjel/' or " the ass-partridge/^ In French, indeed, the 
 phrase " une Becasse " has passed into a proverb, meaning " a 
 "silly woman;"* as we should say in English, (without, 
 however, ungallantly limiting the application of the term to 
 one of the sexes), " a goose." And in an ancient biographical 
 poem on Hubert, Earl of Essex, printed in the Miscellany of 
 the Camden Society, wc find these lines; — 
 
 " They are but woodcockes that do frown 
 " At Robbyn's hap soo good."t 
 
 The epithet used by Buffon had reference, doubtless, to the 
 
 mode of capturing woodcocks usually practised before the 
 
 art of shooting flying had attained that perfection, to which 
 
 the aids of improved gunpowder, percussion lochs, and 
 
 double-barrelled guns, have now raised it. Pennant, in 
 
 describing the springes for woodcocks which he saw set on 
 
 the hills near Windermere, says that they were " laid between 
 
 " tufts of heath, with avenues of small stones on each side, to 
 
 " direct tltesc foolish birds into the snares/^ The scene and its 
 
 * " Une Becasse, uuc femme sans esprit." Diet, de I'Acad. v. Becasse. See 
 also the verses of Beaumarchais, given in De Lomcnie, vol. i. p. 93. 
 '■ Je voudrais qu'avcc tant de grfice 
 " Elle edt I'osprit de la Becasse." 
 t Camden Miscellany, vol. iii. p. 21. See also Shakespeare, " The Taming 
 " of the Shrew," Act I., Scene ii. 1. 418.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxiii 
 
 accompaniments, thus witnessed by Pennant, are forcibly re- 
 called in the description given by the great Poet of the Lakes 
 of his favourite boyish sport : — • 
 
 " Ere I had told 
 " Teu birth-days, when among the mouutain-slopcs 
 " Frost, and the breath of frosty wind, had snapped 
 " The last autumnal crocus, 'twas my joy 
 " With store of springes o'er my shoulder hung, 
 " To range the open heights where woodcocks run 
 " Along the smooth green turf. Through half the night, 
 '•■ Scudding away from snare to snare, I plied 
 " That anxious visitation ; — moon and stars 
 " Were shining o'er my head. I was alone, 
 " And seem'd to be a trouble to the peace 
 '• That dwelt among them. Sometimes it befell 
 " In these night-wanderings, that a strong desire 
 " O'erpower'd my better reason, and the bird 
 " Which was the captive of another's toil 
 " Became my prey ; and when the deed was done, 
 " I heard among the solitary hills 
 " Low breathings coming after me, and sounds 
 " Of undistinguishable motion, steps 
 " Almost as silent as the turf they trode." * 
 
 Whatever share accident may have had in the single-double 
 shot, now so famous, it is fortunate that nothing can interfere 
 to deprive the Sculptor of the glory due to that artistic skill 
 which enabled him to represent, in his own imperishable 
 material, the victims to his feat of arms; and the birds, 
 sculptured by him on their monument at llolkhamt with 
 
 * Wordsworth, " The Prelude," pp. 12, 13, ed. 1851. 
 
 + The original model is preserved in the L'liantrey Gallery in Oxford. Sec 
 below, p. XXX.
 
 XXIV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the utmost beauty, truth, and tenderness, at the moment and 
 in the attitude of their unlooked-for death, tell their tale in 
 language " quae, quanquam silet, eloquitur." 
 
 " Yerre in morte tamcn, quales jacuere sub alta 
 
 " Ilice, jamque anima dcficiente pares; 
 " Aspice, languentes deflexo in mannore pennas ! 
 
 " Aspice, quas plumis gratia morte manet !" 
 
 " Yet true, as dying bj' yon oak tlicy lay, 
 " And in sad union sigli'd their souls away ; 
 " See, the carv'd stone their drooping wings sustains ! 
 " See ! E'en in death each plumy charm remains !" 
 
 The chorus of bards who have sung the fate of the cocks, 
 and their fair restoration by the chisel of their destroyer*, have 
 allowed but little share in the event to accident; and, with the 
 freedom always conceded to poets, have generally attributed to 
 Chantrcy all the credit that could have been due to him, 
 had he been in intention, as well as in execution, the most un- 
 rivalled and inimitable of sportsmen. The warrant of poetic 
 licence was not required to authorise their regarding him as 
 one of the most graceful of artists. 
 
 It is not a little singular, that, notwithstanding the remark- 
 able nature of the incident, and the pains taken by the 
 Sculptor to ensure the accurate preservation of its date, by 
 
 * " Cosi od' io die solcva la hincia 
 " D' Achillc, e del suo padre, esscr cagione 
 " Prima di trista, e poi di buona mancia." 
 
 Dantk: Inferno, xxxi. 4 — C.
 
 IXTRODUCTIOX. 
 
 XXV 
 
 carving it on the marble on which the woodcocks are sculptured, 
 it appears, on investigation, that the date so inscribed is a 
 wrong one : — the fact being, that the \vonderful shot was fired 
 on the 20th of November, 1829, while the marble bears 1830. 
 But that the former is the correct date, seems now^ to be well 
 ascertained, not only from the following entry in the Holkham 
 Game-book for that year, which was inserted by Archdeacon 
 Glover, himself one of the party, and signed by Mr. Coke; 
 but also from the evidence of Mr. Spencer Stanhope, who is 
 therein named as one of the witnesses, and who, on being 
 lately appealed to by Mr. Collyer, has given his conclusive 
 testimony to the same efi'ect. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE HOLKHAM GAME-BOOK. 
 " Game, &c., killed. 
 
 1829. 
 
 By whom. 
 
 BQ 
 
 Pi 
 
 tn 
 
 s 
 
 m 
 
 93 
 
 1 
 
 CO 
 
 o 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 "H 
 in 
 
 m 
 
 .5 
 
 Nov. 20th. 
 
 Mr. Chantrey ) 
 Mr. Glover 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mr. Stanhope ■ 
 
 9 
 
 10 
 
 79 
 
 48 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 Mr. Coke 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ilr. Dighy 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tota 
 
 1 . . 
 
 151 
 
 

 
 xxvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " QuARLEs New Plantations. 
 " Amidst the events of this clay it is especially worthy of 
 " being recorded^ that Mr. Chantrey killed at One Shot Two 
 " Woodcocks ; and, considering this exploit as among the many 
 " illustrious atchievements_, if not the most extraordinary, of 
 " that great and extraordinary man, it was unanimously pro- 
 '' posed to Mr. Coke, that the spot should be henceforth 
 '' handed [down] to Posterity, and the honours of the In- 
 " dividual perpetuated, by the name of Chantrey Kill being 
 " given to it ; assured that no Sculptor in Europe had ever 
 '' done before so much in the art of shooting, [Mr. Chantrey] 
 " having but the day before killed at one shot a hare and u 
 
 " rabbit. 
 
 (Tiios. WiLLM. Coke. 
 Archdeacon Glover. 
 J. Spencer Stanhope." * 
 
 Mr. Stanhope has also been good enough to furnish us with 
 the following particulars of the occurrence, as it first became 
 known to him, and gave occasion to his lines on " the joyous 
 " Chantrey." f l^y those who kuew the personnel of the 
 Sculptor, and in what manner of guise he W'as wont to be 
 " got uj) " for a regular day's sport among the bushes, the 
 
 * In a duplicate of the above memorandum, which was given to Chantrcj', 
 and has Leon preserved among his ]\ISS., the name of Mr. (or Captain) 
 Digby is added to the list of witnesses. 
 
 t See below, No. CLI., p. 93.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxvii 
 
 " joyous countenance " and the " Peruvian bat " will both be 
 recognised as very graphic features in the scene depicted. * 
 "Writing to his friend Mr. Collycr, Mr. Stanhope says; — 
 " Perhaps you would like to have my recollections of the day. 
 '^ Chantrey was placed in the gravel-pit that you will renieniber 
 " just under the Hall. I was standing next to him, but hid 
 " from him by the bank formed by the pit. Knowing how 
 " keen a sportsman he waSj I was amazed at seeing him 
 '^ running up to me without bis gun, just at the moment 
 " when the hares were passing us in all directions ; but w hen 
 " I saw him w'aving his Peruvian hat over his head, and dis- 
 " tingviished his joyous countenance, I knew that all was right. 
 — " ' Two COCKS AT ONE SHOT ! ' burst from him, and an- 
 " nounced to me the feat that he had performed. ^^ . 
 
 This triumph was, as may be imagined, hailed by the 
 assembled sportsmen w ith wonder and applause : and on its 
 announcement, Mr. Coke, himself an enthusiastic lover of 
 the chase in all its forms, marshalled the whole party, — 
 ^' guns," keepers, and beaters, — in line ; he then made 
 Chantrey pass along the ranks ; and, as he passed, each 
 
 * la the selection of their sporting costume, great philosophers as well as 
 great artists seem to give full pla\' to their fancy. See the amusing descrip- 
 tion of the dress— including a hroad-hrimmed hat covered with ncarht doth — 
 in which Sir Humphry Davy " inglorius" loved the rivers and woods; as given 
 by Dr. Paris, in his "Life of Davy," p. 189, ed. 1831. See also Lockhart's lively 
 delineation of the same illustrious chemist, after a fall into a " flow-moss," —
 
 xxviii IXTRODUCTIOJf. 
 
 individual in succession uncovered^ and made a formal obei- 
 sance to the Hero of the Day. * 
 
 The difficulty of Chantrey's exploit appears to increase, 
 when it is known that he had the use of only one eye ; which 
 was the left one. " All of a sudden/' says a recent writer, 
 " on some subject connected with blindness being glanced at, 
 " he [Chantrey] turned to me a very agreeable pair of deep- 
 " grey eyes, and said, * Do you know, Sir, I was born, it is 
 " ' supposed, blind of one eye, and it was never discovered till 
 " ' I was ten years old ? . . Now, can you,' he said, turning 
 " a somewhat handsome countenance upon me," ' tell which 
 " ' of my eyes is blind ? Do you guess which it is ? ' I 
 " looked up into his face. There was an expression of thought 
 " and mild good-sense in both eyes. They were both clear, 
 " and free from any apparent disease or weakness. They were 
 " searching, without being staring. I could at first see no 
 " difference; but, after looking earnestly for some time, I 
 " noticed in one a tiny speck, or rather discolourmcnt, on the 
 " pupil ; — so slight, that I do not believe any one could have 
 " observed it [without the closest inspection] . ' That,' 1 
 " whispered, ' is the — the defective eye.' ' No, Sir, it is not 
 
 " his habiliments garnished with mud, slime, and mangled ^^•atcr-cl•esses," — 
 in the "Life of Scott," pp. 432-433. ed. 1842. 
 
 * This anecdote we received from that admirable ornithologist and excel- 
 lent man, the late Mr. Yarrell, to whom it was told by our mutual friend The 
 Hero himself.
 
 .^ 
 
 IXTRODUCTIOK xxix 
 
 "*" merely defective ; it is blind : but I do not let my sitters 
 " know it.' " * 
 
 The gun of Chantrey, which was adapted to his peculiarity 
 of sight, was thus, like the bow of Ulysses, a weapon which 
 no one but its rightful lord was able to use with ease ; but in 
 his hands it was all-powerful, and on this occasion certainly 
 caused, although in a different sense from that intended by the 
 old chronicler, a memorable "fall of woodcocksJ" f 
 
 That a day so illustrious in the annals of Holkham was 
 allowed to close without further convivial celebration of the 
 great event of the morning, in accordance with the usual 
 princely hospitalities of that mansion, is not probable : — • 
 
 " TepTvvov in Kvvayias 
 "■ Tpan€^a n'kijprjs'" J 
 
 " Sweet, after lumting, is the well-fiU'd board," 
 sang the hunter Hippolytus of Euripides more than two 
 
 * " Recollections of Literary Characters and Celebrated Places," by Jlrs. 
 Thomson, London, 1854. Vol. ii. pp. 175-G. 
 
 + " Terms applied to the different kinds of birds assembled in companies : 
 " A sege of herons, and of bitterns ; an herd of swans ; of cranes, and of 
 " curlews ; a dopping of sheldrakes ; a spring of teels ; a covert of cootes ; 
 "a gaggle of geese; a badclynge of ducks; a sord or sute of mallards; a 
 " muster of peacocks ; a nye of pheasants ; a bevy of quails ; a covey of part- 
 " ridges ; a congregation of plovers ; a flight of doves ; a dule of turtles ; a 
 " walk of snipes; a fall of woodcocks ; a brood of hens; a building of rooks; 
 "a murmuration of starlings; an exaltation of larks; a flight of swallows; 
 " a host of sparrows; a watch of nightingales; and a charm of goldfinches." 
 Strutt's " Sports and Pastimes of the People of England," p. 33, ed. 1810. 
 
 J Eur. Hippol. 1. 109.
 
 XXX INTRODUCTION. 
 
 thousand years ago; and the hearts and voices of sportsmen 
 have ever since re-echoed his sentiment. But as to the liba- 
 tions which Mr. Coke and his guests, on the particular occasion 
 of which we have spoken, may have offered to A}kj11o the 
 Archer, to his sister Goddess of the Silver Bow, to the Fauns, 
 the Dryads, the Oreads, or Bacchus, our authorities are silent, 
 and some of the party might possibly have been oblivious : — 
 while on such subjects, it behoves us to remember, — 
 
 " Est et fideli tuta silentio 
 " Merccs. Vetabo, qui Cereris sacrum 
 " Yulgarit arcan^e, sub iisdem 
 
 " Sit trabibus, .... mecum ! " * 
 
 Besides Chantrey's beautiful sculpture of the woodcocks now 
 preserved at Holkham, and of which the original cast, or 
 model, t is placed in the Chantrey Gallery at Oxford, open 
 
 • Hor. Carm. III. ii. 25-28. 
 
 + Sometimes, though inaccurately /^termed the model in clay. '" That which 
 " is kept," (says Sir Henry Russell, in the Appendix to Mr. Jones' ' Rccollec- 
 " ' tions of Chantrey"), "and which is^ called the model, is, in truth, only the 
 " first cast in plaster : . . . the clay is covered with a thick coating of 
 " plaster, and, as soon as the plaster has got dry and firm, the clay is picked 
 " out piecemeal. The cavity left in the plaster has then in its turn become a 
 " mould, and is filled with other plaster which forms what becomes at last 
 " the model to be preserved. From that model the copy in marble is cxe- 
 " cutcd, not by the sculptor himself, but by his workmen, who, in the use of 
 " their chisel, are guided by an instrument applied to the surface of the stone, 
 " their office being exclusively one of mechanical rule and measure. In tlie 
 " construction of this instrument. Sir Francis told me he had himself made 
 '•' considerable improvements." " You will smile," says Chantrey in a letter 
 to James Watt in 1818, "when I tell you that I have very much improved
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxi 
 
 to the inspection of all, another scarcely less interesting 
 memorial of the birds exists in a painting by Sir Edwin 
 Landseer, executed by him for his brother-artist and sports- 
 man Sir Francis.* In this fine work of our greatest 
 painter of animals, the woodcocks are introduced rather as 
 accessaries than as the principal subject; the chief place on 
 the canvass being occupied by a portrait of " Mustard,'^ a 
 terrier of the true Dandie Dinmont breed, presented to 
 Chantrey by Sir Walter Scott. f IMustard is reposing, with 
 out-stretched paws, and head " en garclej" facing the sjjectator, 
 on a table covered with a crimson cloth, watching intently the 
 movements of a cat^ whose head and fore-paw are seen slyly 
 stealing from under the table-cover, her eye glaring on the 
 
 " upon the bungling instrument -wliicli we have been in the habit of using, 
 " and which you have seen : though I have not diminished the labour, the 
 " accuracy is much greater." (" Mechanical Inventions of James Watt," vol. 
 ii. p. 374, cd. 1854-) 
 * So Gresset has sung of the apotheosis of Ver-Yert ; — 
 " Pour le garder a la race future, 
 " Son portrait fut tire d'apr^s nature. 
 
 " On lui rendit tous les honneurs funebres 
 " Que I'Helicon rend aux oiseaux celebres." 
 f " A great lover of dogs," says Mr. Jones, " he always had some ; but two 
 " were most prized by him — the one a fine pointer called Hector, liver- 
 " coloured and white, and, in addition to perfect sagacity in sporting, the most 
 " gentle and affectionate servant that ever master had. The other was a 
 " terrier of the Dandie Dinmont breed, presented to him by Sir "Walter Scott. 
 " This animal, called Mustard, was of the roughest wiry kind when he came 
 " into Chantrey 's possession ; but each succeeding year smoothed his coat and 
 " increased his bulk, and he became a striking example of the efFccfs of luxury
 
 xxxii IXTRODUCTION. 
 
 couple of ■woodcocks, which are hiid side by side, with their 
 heads hanging down, on a lower shelf of the table. On the 
 table, near Mustard, lie Chantrey's modelling-tools and snuff- 
 box ; and in the back-ground stands his bust of Sir Walter. 
 
 This picture, of which the design, the grouping, and the 
 rich, yet mellow and life-like colouring, are equally admirable, 
 is now in the possession of Lady Chantrey, and has never 
 been engraved. Size, 3 feet 6 inches in height, by 3 feet 
 9 inches in width. 
 
 By those who sympathise with the combined pursuits of 
 art, literature, and sport, no further apology than is contained 
 in the preceding pages may be required for the little volume 
 now laid before the public. IMindfnl of the maxim, that 
 " Life is short, but Art is long," * such critics will not be 
 apt to object to the life, or death, of the lower animals being 
 made a subject of either painting, sculpture, or poetry; nor 
 cynically to remark, — 
 
 " I 've seen much finer ■woodcocks, ripe and real, 
 " Than all the nonsense of their stone ideal!" 
 
 But, if a pointed precedent of classical authority were 
 sought for themes of this sort being admitted into verse, it 
 
 " and repletion ; yet his obesity and indolence did not diminish his devotion 
 " to his master and Lady Chantrey, but entitled him to the indulgence he 
 '• received, and made him an object of favour to all his master's friends." 
 " Recollections of Chantrey," London, 1849, pp. 157-8. 
 * Hippocr. Aph. I.
 
 Introduction. xxxiii 
 
 might be found in the famous statue, by Myron, of the ap- 
 parently less dignified subject of a cow and her calf; on which 
 no fewer than thirty-six e])igrams, preserved in the Greek 
 Anthology, were written. * " INIyron was the fellow-labourer 
 " of Polyclitiis in the work-room of Ageladas, and the most 
 '•'skilful artist in the management of bronze;" . . "Great 
 '•' in his gods and men, and even in such trifles as cups and 
 " paterre, J\Iyron was equally great in his representation of 
 '' animal nature; and his lowing cow with the sucking calf 
 " has been immortalised by a great number of witty epigrams, 
 " which commend the illusive truth of the representation with 
 " all sorts of ini^enious turns. Even in Cicero's time this cow 
 " stood in the great square at Athens. It was afterwards 
 " brought to Rome ; where, in the days of Procopius, it might 
 " be seen in the Temple of Peace." f " Here," said Goethe, 
 speaking of the same statue, '' we have a subject of the highest 
 " sort; — the nourishing principle which upholds the world, 
 " and pervades all Nature, is here brought before our eyes 
 " by a beautiful symbol. This, and similar images, I call the 
 " true symbols of the Omnipresence of God." J 
 
 Such elegies, too, as in ancient times those of Ovid, on 
 
 * Antholog. Grffic, torn. ii. pp. 245-250; and 261-2. Ed. Lips. 1829. 
 
 t Hellas, or the Home, History, Literature, and Art of the Greeks. By 
 Friedrich Jacobs. Translated by Oxenford, pp. 302-3. 
 
 t Conversations of Goethe, with Eckermann, and Soret. Translated by 
 Oxenford, vol. ii. p. 398. 1850.
 
 xxxiv IXTRODUCTION. 
 
 Corinna's parrot, " Psittacus, Eois imitatrix ales ab Indis/' 
 and of Catullus on Lcsbia's sparrow, " Passer, delicise mese 
 " puellrc," and " Lugctc, Veneres, Cupidinesquc ; " or, in 
 modern times, those of xVndrew INIarvell on tlie death of his 
 milk-white fawn ; of Gray, on a favourite cat drowned in a 
 vase of gold fishes; of Gresset, on the parrot Ver-Vert ; of 
 Rogers, " Epitaph on a Robin Redbreast ; " or of the late 
 Lord Grenville on his dog Tippoo ; may still further be held to 
 justify the elevation of the Woodcocks to the pedestal on which 
 Chantrey and his poets have placed them : even if, by the 
 unsportive or the profane, those poor " much-bemused " birds 
 be deemed no better than what Sir Thomas Browne has 
 quaintly styled " wingy mysteries, and airy subtleties."* 
 
 It only remains for the Editor to acknowledge with gratitude 
 the aid he has received from very many quarters. In par- 
 ticular, his thanks are due to the Earl of Leicester, and to 
 the Rev. Robert Collyer, Rector of Warham, Norfolk, for their 
 unreserved communication of all the epigrams on the subject 
 hitherto preserved at Ilolkham, (twenty-seven in number), 
 as well as of every other detail which seemed likely to 
 prove interesting : — to Lord Brougham, t at whose sugges- 
 
 * " Ecligio Medici," p. 21. cd. 1S45. 
 
 t The circumstance of Ijord Brougham having suggested Chantrey's Wood- 
 coclcs as a theme for tlie classic pen of Lord Wclleslcy, and of his having 
 also transmitted to Holkham one at least of the two epigrams composed 
 on the same subject by Bishop Maltby, led to a common belief that on the
 
 IXTRODUCTIOX. xxxv 
 
 I 
 
 tion Lord Wellesley wrote his very elegant verses, an:l who 
 has further enhanced tlie value of the present collection by 
 contributing- to it those of the Right Rev. Bishop JMaltby, 
 the late Sir John "Williams, and the late Lord Tenterden : 
 — to Lady Chantrey, who in the kindest manner placed in 
 the Editor's hands, for examination and selection, the j\ISS. 
 collected by her late illustrious husband on this, his favorite 
 subject: — to the Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Oxford; the 
 late Baron Alderson; the late Lord Jeffrey; the Rev. Dr. 
 Moberly, Head-Master of Winchester School ; the Rev. Dr. 
 Scott, Master of Balliol College, Oxford; Hudson Gurncy, 
 Esq. ; Serjeant Wrangham ; Peter Cunningham, ' Esq. ; and 
 the Rev. John jNIitchell Chapman, Rector of Tendring, Essex, 
 for the epigrams, whether original or derived, which they have 
 transmitted: — and to INIiss Wall, whose drawing of the marble 
 monument at Holkham, beautifully etched by J\lr. Rcdaway, 
 forms the Frontispiece of the volume. 
 
 Mr. Rcdaway's etchings have so happily illustrated the 
 subjects proposed to him, that it may be remarked of them as 
 honest Izaak Walton has done of the engravings of " the 
 
 same occasion Lord B. had committed what Byron calls " flirtation with the 
 " ilusc." This erroneous accusation, however, we are now enabled, on the 
 verj' best authority, to refute : — " that," says his Lordship, in a letter to us, 
 " being out of my line altogether." It must be regretted that his Lordship 
 should have left untouched any species of writing, which he would so 
 surely have adorned.
 
 XXXVl 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Trout; and other fishes/^ in liis Complete Angler: — " Next 
 " let me add tliis^ that he that likes not the hook should like 
 '^ the excellent pictures . . whieh I may take a liberty to 
 " commend; because they concern not myself," 
 
 For the appearance in this place of the Brace of Pheasants 
 which form a Tail-piece to our Introduction; and which are 
 engraved from a drawing by Chantrey; we have to thank the 
 obliging courtesy of his accomplished friend INIr. PcnU; whose 
 own contributions to the literature of sport are so favourably 
 known to the world, and have been more than once referred to 
 in these pages. The name of the Artist, the beauty of his 
 design, and the kindred nature of the subject, may probably 
 be thought to warrant the admission of those pheasants into 
 the same Cover as the Woodcocks, without their being accused 
 of trespass. 
 
 And so the Editor takes leave of his gentle reader: — re- 
 questing him, in the words of Geoffrey Crayon, " if he should 
 " find here and there something to please him, to rest assured 
 " that it was written expressly for intelligent readers like 
 'Miimsclfj but entreating him, should he find anything to 
 " dislike, to tolerate it, as one of those articles which were 
 " obliged to be written for readers of a less refined taste."* 
 
 J. p. M. 
 * " The Skctch-Book," by Washington Irving, vol. ii. p. 342.
 
 TAIL-PIECE. 
 DRAWN BY THE LATE SIR FRANCIS CHANTREY, R.A.
 
 B
 
 L'EN VOL 
 
 " Go, little book !" and of the Sculptor tell 
 la minyVd strains of sportsmanship and fancij, 
 
 How the tiro voodcocks, by his dart that fell, 
 Were rais'd immortal by his necromancy. 
 
 Go, and if tauyht to bend thy timid bow 
 
 By Graces in ichose fane he ivorshipp'd ever, 
 
 And if the woodland Muse, and Love, bestow 
 Some arron-s keen to arm thy sportive quiver ; — 
 
 If Fan, and jocund Mercury, attend 
 
 Thine archer-aim, and dij) its shafts in pleasure, 
 
 And 7'adiant Artemis her favour lend 
 
 To the ivild ivoodcraft that ctichants thy leisure ; — 
 
 Yet, as thy weapons hurtle in the yrove, 
 
 Their playful jliy Jit ivith harmless error n-inyiny. 
 
 In distant si/mphoiiy be heard above, 
 Some hiyher notes melodiously rinyiny,
 
 L'ENVOI. 
 
 Soft music uxindering from purrr spheres, 
 
 In waves of mystic siveefness earthward swellin(j, 
 
 Attuning to sublimer themes our ears, 
 
 Of Life Restored, and Deathless Union telling ; — 
 
 So maifst thou hope to wake a sun-bright smile, 
 An echoing gladness from the breeze to borrow, 
 
 Some hour of pensive longing to beguile. 
 
 Smooth a sad broiv, and grant bri(f truce to sorrow ; 
 
 So mag to thee, — (0 unexpressive prize .') — 
 The grace, the glory, and the joy be given, 
 
 To teach some thoughtful heart, some gentle eyes, 
 
 In S])orts of Earth the Meanings Deep of Heaven ! * 
 
 J. P. M. 
 
 " Hoher Sinn liegt oft in kind'schem Spiel." 
 
 " Meaning deep lies oft in childish play." 
 
 Tliekla, einc Geistcrstimmc : Sciulij'-.r.
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 Reader ! these woodcocks^ once '^ a liappy couple/' 
 Or plumage rich, bills long, and pinions supple. 
 Forsaking wild Norwegian swamps, that bred them, 
 For milder vales, and springs that better fed them, 
 At Holkham liv'd in chaste connubial rapture, 
 Billing, — and boring, — but escaping capture. 
 In quiet and confidence their souls possessing. 
 Earth daily gave them bread, and Heaven a blessing; 
 The blasts of autumn beat upon them lightly, 
 Their days were halcyon, and their nights were sprightly. 
 A life serene and sunnv while it lasted, 
 Till death's dark shadow the fair prospect blasted. 
 
 Long will tlie Dryads of those groves remember 
 That fatal morning, in a drear November, 
 Which saw great Chantrey, sport with sculpture blending, 
 His hostile way to Holkham's covers wending;
 
 niOLOOUE. 
 
 •4- 
 
 
 Wliilo, as in arms the sylvan host assemblM, 
 
 The conscious woodcocks knew their doom, and trcmbl'd. 
 
 Lo ! in the dingle, deep in fern and brambles. 
 The rustic company of beaters rambles ; 
 Up through the glade their serried phalanx rushes, 
 Now bend the saplings, and now crash the bushes ; 
 Through brake and briar the eager spaniels follow, — 
 Sudden they quest, — " Mark ! Cocks!" the keepers holloa ;- 
 One deadly shot athwart the thicket glances, 
 And both cocks fall before thy gun, Sir Francis ! 
 
 AW^ll might'st thou carve, elate with joy and glory, 
 Those two fair birds, to celebrate the story; 
 Both in thy chisell'd stone, so proudly boasted, 
 And — (quite as happily) — when they were roasted. 
 The cocks, performing thus a double duty. 
 Feasting the lips with trail, the eyes with beauty, 
 Were, as in Collect orthodox suggested, 
 First " mark^l" and then " ivell inwardly digested." 
 
 Eehold then. Header ! yon fair couple lying 
 Moulded in marble, glorious and undying; 
 Their life's gay flights, and death's sad flutt'rings over, 
 I'eaccful they rest, on Leaves in this Green Cover,
 
 "Where many a barely, in sympathising verses, 
 Their loving- life and wondrous death rehearses, 
 Hanun duarum avium In Memoriam, 
 Et in magnam Francisci Chantrey cjhrium ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 
 " All archer slew, well skiird to wield the bow, 
 " To him a glorious triumph ; to us, woe ! " 
 
 IIoM. II. a, ]l»t3 7. 
 
 " With solemn rites between 
 
 Twas sung, how they were lovely in their lives, 
 And in their deaths had not divided been." 
 
 Campbell: Gertrude of W>iitrninii. 
 Part II., Stanza xxxiii. 
 
 '■ To this urn let those repair 
 " That are either true or fair ; 
 " For these dead birds sigh a prayer." 
 
 Shakespeahe : Thrcnos. 
 
 " Kill (TCpfas (f)aivr](Tas"¥AlE\ IlrEl'OENTA Trpnarjv8a.^^ 
 
 " And thus tu ihoii bis Wi.vcia) WuKUS address'd." 
 
 HoM. ]i.. A, 337.
 
 WINGED WO EDS, &c. 
 
 I. 
 Tkaxiteles simipta pharetia, telisque Dianre, 
 
 Venatorque novus per neuius arma movet : 
 Acris at ilia acies ubi primuni intenderet arcmn, 
 
 En ! trajecit aves una sagitta duas ! 
 " Parce meis, ne siiit vacufe " Latonia " svlvis " 
 
 Increpat^ '^ et propria siste sub arte manum:" 
 Ille, De^e monitu atque animosior arte resumpta, 
 
 " Diva " ait " b.TC culpse sit tibi poena nicse, 
 " Fonam inter medios, saciata uuibracula;, saltus 
 
 " Sigiiu quibns verse restituentur aves; 
 " Verse in morte tamen^ quales jacuere sub alta 
 
 " Ilice^ jamquc aniina deficiente pares; 
 " Aspice languentes detlexo in marraore pennas ! 
 
 " Aspice ! qufe plumis gratia moi'te manet ! 
 " Has Tu Diva tuas ne dedignare sub aras 
 
 " Accipere^ h?ec poenfe stent monunienta rae?e.
 
 •' Sic Tibi Isetifico resonet clainorc Citliunoii, 
 " Tavgctii ft vai'iis sint Tibi ])lc'iia tcris ; 
 
 " Sic Tiui (li'lubfis auro servetui' liiiajio, 
 
 " Cm vitaiii, atquc aiiiniosj ct dccus Ijjse dabo/' 
 
 Marquis Wellesley.
 
 ON" CHANTREY'S AVOODCOCKS. 13 
 
 II. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 Praxiteles with Dian's qvxiver stood, 
 All archer-novice, aiming in the wood : 
 First of the eager band his how he drew, 
 But with one arrow, lo ! two woodcocks slew ! 
 The Goddess chides : — " Thy miird'rous hand restrain, 
 " O spare my groves; — thy chisel wield again !" 
 
 Proud of her words, and of his own lov'd art, 
 " Let this," he cries, " atone my guilty dart; — 
 " Sculptur'd by me, the birds with life-like grace 
 " Shall breathe, restor'd to this fair woodland place ; 
 " Yet true, as dying by yon oak they lay, 
 " And in sad union sigh'd their souls away ; 
 " See the carv'd stone their drooping wings sustains ! 
 " See, e'en in death each plumy charm remains ! 
 " These, Goddess ! take, accepted at thy shrine, 
 " And of my fault this monument be Thine.
 
 14 WINGED WORDS 
 
 " So may for Thee Citlircron glad resound; 
 " For Thee, Taygetus with game abound ; 
 " So may Thy form stand ever, gold-enshrin'd, 
 " By Me inspir'd with beauty, life, and mind ! " 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON CITANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 15 
 
 IIT. 
 
 THE SINGLE AND THE DOUBLE BARREL. 
 
 A liAI,I,A]>. 
 
 Unto Holkham^s mansion proud 
 
 Chantrey erst resorting, 
 Heard some gallants bragging loud 
 
 Of their feats in sporting. 
 
 Triumphs they o'er countless game 
 
 Sang in fables pleasant : — 
 How the lightning of their aim 
 
 Thunder-smote the pheasant; — 
 
 How 
 
 they bagg'd 
 
 a thousand head 
 
 Missing ne'er a 
 
 partridge ; — ■ 
 
 Orb] 
 
 L-ought down 
 
 the red- deer dead, 
 
 At 
 
 a mile, ^vith 
 
 cartridge !
 
 16 * WINGED WUllDS 
 
 Each one with his ncighbuur vied 
 In some wondrous stoiy, 
 
 Each exploit was magnified 
 Throuiili a mist of a;1orv ! 
 
 Chantrey vow'd that he woukl shun 
 Botli romance and trouble, 
 
 And would beat, with single gun, 
 All the rest with double ! 
 
 Books were open'd, bets were made, 
 In that sportive quaiTel ; 
 
 Ten to one were freely laid 
 ^Gainst the single ban-el. 
 
 Then he flush'd two woodcocks fair 
 
 In a lonely cover, 
 At a single shot he there 
 
 Gaily knock'd them over; 
 
 And the couple, kilFd so well. 
 Rich in varied leather. 
 
 Peaceful as in death they fell, 
 Sculptur'd he together :
 
 ox CIIANTREY'8 WOODCOCKS. 17 
 
 Soft as down he carvM their wings, 
 
 Mild as May their faces; 
 Lovely, loving, languid things. 
 
 Fast in Death's embraces ! 
 
 Well doth thus this marble shew 
 
 How his skill hath done it ; 
 Praise be unto him who so 
 
 Made the bet, and won it ! 
 
 Now God save our noble Queen, 
 
 And all jolly good cocks ; 
 And may all their foes be seen 
 
 Fallins: like those woodcocks ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 18 WINGED AVORDS 
 
 IV. 
 
 " Tvufxa TVfifiart Tier a i.' 
 
 JEacn. Afjam. 1430. 
 
 Tlvpirvoov eVke /3e\os, to/xos eylrv^coae aiSrjpo9' 
 
 (JUV TV^(x>V, TV^OiV' OVO aTV^l]9 o TVireis. 
 
 \ils davaros Btacrolcri, Kat eis /3tos e/c davaroio, 
 Kt;^ evos, €U7ra\a/x(p xeipc iropt^ofxevo?. 
 
 EfSofO" , (iW VTTVOV fxaX ejepcn/j.ov' co irapohira, 
 EiV(l)r]fji€t' ptTTas e^eyepels TTTepvjcov. 
 
 Kev. Robert Scott. 
 
 A'. 
 
 TITE SAME TRAN.SLATKl) INTO KNGLI^Il. 
 
 " To avenf/e blow hy hloii\" 
 
 Swift fire destroyed, sharp steel rcstor'd their lives 
 Rare shot ! Nor hapless who, tlms slain, revives ! 
 One death to both, — one life from death again, 
 By one skill'd hand bestovv'd upon the slain. 
 They slumber, — but how linhtly ! — Passer-by, 
 Be still, lest thou awake them, and they fly ! 
 
 J. P. M.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 19 
 
 A' I. 
 
 Et/coVe T(oS^ e(n7](T€v, evos \tdov eKTre^owre, 
 AvTos evo9 TiiKTCdv eK /SeXeos Ba/juaaas. 
 
 "ApTejJbi, aoX S' <ive6r]K6, (paycov Twpvide fiev av-ros 
 "^n I3a\ev, oTTTrjaas' aoi 8 (ittoSovs \l0ivo). 
 
 'AW' tkrjOi, Bed' fJLoka 'yap (^epet a^i airoiva, 
 "^D- (})dyev (1) T e^aXev decs ttciXiv aOavarw. 
 
 J. Riddell. 
 
 Yir. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSI.ATEJ) INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 He carv'd these two, both springing from one stone 
 Sportsman and artist, and his shot, were one. 
 First having kill'd, he cook'd and ate the pair. 
 Then raised to Artemis this sculpture fair. 
 Be gracious, Goddess ! since he doth restore 
 Immortal, what he kill'd and ate before ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 20 WINGED WORDS 
 
 VJII. 
 
 From kindred cocks, when robb'd of lil'e, 
 
 How wide the fate we boast ! 
 Their chisel is the carving knife, 
 
 Their bed a bed of toast : — 
 Whilst Chantrey's hand, by which we fell, 
 
 The loss of life supplies ; 
 And bids us thus, our talc to tell, 
 
 From marble bed to rise. 
 
 Sir Hussey Vivian.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 21 
 
 IX. 
 
 To^evTTJpos dirX^ %^*P €<pov€Vcre ^o\r)' 
 "Nvv OavciTOV Tiaiv dvOe/xivrj, 6r]pr]s re rpoTraiov, 
 %Tr](T€V aei^coous etSst XafiirporepM. 
 
 M. P. W. Boulton. 
 
 X. 
 
 THE SAME, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 We two, escap'd from dreary Scythia's snow. 
 Died by one arrow from an archer's bow : — 
 He, now^ remorseful, here in deathless grace 
 Restores our forms, bright trophy of his chase. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 22 WINGED WORDS 
 
 XI. 
 
 Chantrey kill'd these woodeocks flying 
 
 At a single shot ; 
 They, as life departed, sighing 
 
 " Now we go to pot ! " 
 
 But, his chisel swift applying, 
 
 He upon the spot 
 Carv'd them both where they were lying. 
 
 And said, " You shall not V 
 
 Thus, his twofold weajjons plying, 
 
 Endless fame he got, 
 And the eocks, in life undying. 
 
 Share the angels^ lot ; — 
 
 Better fate, there 's no denying, 
 
 Than on earth to rot ; 
 Though, perchance, my versifying 
 
 Aid it ne^er a jot ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 XIL 
 
 Rais'd to the sylvan Genius of the place, 
 Stands this fair marble, blest by every Grace : 
 Where feather'd forms, warm-breathing, softly tell 
 How by one fate two hapless lovers fell. 
 
 Sleep, gentle spirits ! and of each fond breast. 
 Of guile unconscious, peaceful be the rest ; 
 While here mankind the twofold triumph view 
 Of noblest Art, to simplest Nature true. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 24 WINGED WORDS 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Life in Death, a mystic lot. 
 
 Dealt thou to the winged band : — - 
 Death, — from Thine mierring shot, 
 
 Life, — from Thine undying hand. 
 
 ■Right Rev. the Bishop of Oxfoid. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Lovely and pleasant in tlieir lives, in death 
 
 They undivided shall for ever be : 
 Since both, by thee at once bereavM of breath, 
 
 To life, Sculptor ! are restor'd by thee ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 »■ 
 
 ON CHANTREY'S AVOODCOCKS. 25 
 
 ■r 
 
 XV. 
 
 Chantreii manus hasce vulnere uno 
 Binas stvavit aves. Eisdem is uno — 
 (Tantum utvimque valebat ille dextra !) — 
 Vitam restituit creantis ictu 
 Scalpri : postmodo nee nioriverentur. 
 
 Archdeacon Wranaham. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 THE SAME, TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 The hand of Chantvey by a single blow 
 At once laid these united woodcocks low. 
 But the same hand, — (its double skill so great), — 
 By single blow their life did re-create, 
 No more henceforth to dread the stroke of fate. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 26 
 
 AVINGED WORDS 
 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Their good 
 
 , and ill, from the same source they drew; — 
 
 Here slirin'd 
 
 in marble by the hand that slew ! 
 
 
 Lord Jeffrey. 
 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 For their r 
 
 eft lives the slaught'rer to atone 
 
 Here gives au 
 
 L immortality in stone ! 
 
 
 Lord Jeffrey. 
 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The same 5 
 
 skilFd hand that took their lives on high, 
 
 Here, on this 
 
 marble, bids them never die ! 
 
 
 Lord Jeffrey. 
 
 
 XX. 
 
 He hit the 
 
 birds: and. with an aim as true. 
 
 And liand as 
 
 skilful, hit their likeness too ! 
 
 
 J. P. M.
 
 ON CIIANTREYS WOODCOCKS. 
 
 27 
 
 XXI. 
 
 
 The woodcocks' fate let choral woodlarks warble; 
 
 
 Though dead, they live in never-dying marble. 
 
 
 Honor'd in death, by Chantrey's art, they stand 
 
 
 Amidst the great, the lovely of the land. 
 
 
 J. S. Duncan. 
 
 
 XXII. 
 
 
 The life the sportsman-artist took. 
 
 
 The artist-sportsman could restore ; 
 
 
 As true and warm in every look. 
 
 
 And far more lasting than before ! 
 
 
 Lord Jeffrey. 

 
 xxin. 
 
 In life, One slew us. Now, with nobler liightj 
 And clad by Him in panoply of light, 
 We rise, transfigur'd, to our kindred skies, 
 Two stainless, deathless, Birds of Paradise ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Sculptor, who slew these two in one ! 
 Sportsman, who sculptur'd them in stone ! 
 Unique shall be thy double feat 
 AVhich thus " made unity so sweet ! " * 
 
 J. P. M. 
 
 * Tennyson : " Tlic Two Voices."
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 29 
 
 XXV. 
 
 CHANTREY'S BATTUE. 
 
 Winter's morn is redly breaking, 
 
 While through Holkham's russet woods 
 
 Ring loud echoes, rudel^^ waking 
 All their slumb'ring solitudes. 
 
 Musically onward crashing 
 
 Nearer swells the mingl'd sound ; — 
 Timid hares, from thickets dashing, 
 
 Meteor pheasants, gleam aroimd. 
 
 See ! the smoke is faintly wreathing, 
 
 And the flash electric flies. 
 Light far-darting, death quick-breathing, 
 
 Where two noble woodcocks rise ;
 
 30 WINGED WORDS 
 
 Swift the singly-pealing thunder 
 Blasts the wildly-winging game, 
 
 And at onee, — joy and wonder! — 
 Fall both eocks to Chantrey^s aim ! 
 
 Not with sportsman's rapture only 
 Marks his watchful eye the pair 
 
 Dying in that copsewood lonely, — 
 (Ah, how dolorously fair !) — 
 
 For, with godlike triumph burning, 
 Now his thoughts artistic glow. 
 
 And his chisel glitters, turning- 
 Birds to seraphs here below. 
 
 That to future times the story 
 May yon breathing marble tell 
 
 How on Holkham's field of glory 
 Those united woodcocks fell ; — 
 
 How the twain, whom love and duty 
 Bound unto each other's side. 
 
 In their sweet spring-time of beauty 
 Undivided there had died;
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 31 
 
 Death with equal hand composing 
 
 Both quick spirits to their rest, 
 And the grave's dark portal closing 
 
 On their union with the blest ! 
 
 In the old heroic fashion 
 
 nesting on their stony tomb, 
 They shall move to mild compassion 
 
 Gentle hearts that learn their doom ; 
 
 And, since thus all men may know it, 
 
 Therefore need the words be few 
 Which a friend, — though not a poet, — 
 
 Chantrey ! sends, for love of you ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 32 WINGED WUllDS 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Uvp KXeyJras, top TnfKov ipeyjrv^Mae WpoixrjOevs, 
 Aulvov }jaTpaTTTev Vopyovos ojjfia /xopop' 
 
 OuTOs 8 ovXofxevos viKa irupoevTt /SeXefMvo), 
 }s.uv \L0(p eixy^v^Mv ^coypel uTToWv^evovs. 
 
 M. P. W. Boulton. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 THE SAME, TRANSLATED INTO ENOLISII. 
 
 Thy fire, Prometheus ! warni'd to Ht'e the clay,- 
 
 A stony death thine eye, Medusa ! shed ; — 
 But Chantrey^s fiery bolts unerring slay, 
 
 His breathing stone re-animates the dead. 
 
 M. P. W. Boulton
 
 ox CHANTllEY'S WOODCOCKS. 33 
 
 X XV I II. 
 " Lateritiam invnit, marmoreaiii rcliqitif.'' 
 
 Augustus, that mightiest mortar-compounder, 
 Left Rome made of marble, of brick having found her 
 So the sculptor may say, of our life who bereft us. 
 That feathers he found us, but marble he left us ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 His bow but once when skilful Chantrey drew, 
 The two fair woodcocks which his arrow slew 
 Rewarded well his singleness of aim. 
 And thoughts unconscious of such double game ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 D
 
 34 ■ AVINf!l':D W()i;i)S 
 
 XXX. 
 
 The snowy hills of Norway bred us, 
 The silver springs of Holkliam fed us ; 
 A scul])t()r, as we wing'd our way, 
 IK'ld out his cun and made us elav: 
 But, sorrowing for us as we fell, 
 To marble turn'd us by a spell. 
 Princes and peers Hock'd in a bevy, 
 And said, " How glorious, done in gravy \" 
 Geologists look'd marvelling on, 
 But, feeling, cried, " By Heaven, a stone I " 
 A\ hile Buckland, that supreme dissector 
 Of things in flint, said, " Lads, a lecture!" 
 
 Allari Cuniiingham.
 
 ON CIIANTllEYS WOODCOCKS. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Cliantrey, thy hand, twice-skill'd, destroys to save, 
 Dealing swift doonij to rescne from the grave ! 
 We gaze, and wonder; envying their lot 
 That only pair whom fate divideth not ; 
 Till Faith low whispers : — " Souls that seek the sky, 
 " Like mated birds, in death but seem to die ; 
 " But, when frail links of time dissever'd be, 
 '' Unite in firmer bonds, eternally ! " 
 
 Rev. n. Shulc.
 
 36 WINGED WORDS 
 
 XXXIl. 
 
 His fortunate skill must be great, we will own, 
 Who can kill and preserve his two birds with one stone. 
 
 p. B. Duncan. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 "■ Two birds with one stone : " — but the proverb has wit 
 If one stone revives both the birds it has hit ! 
 
 J. Jekyll. 
 
 XXXIV 
 
 Xa^xpe, j3a\(oVf >y\v\p'as, SiS Siaaov Oavjjb tTroirjcas' 
 AiTTTV^oi cv OavuroLs, SiTTTV^oc cafiev aec. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 llIK .SAME THANhI,.\TKn INTO KNGI.ISH. 
 
 With gun, or chisel, thou art (loul)ly clevei- : 
 Chantrey ! Thy twins in death, arc twins for ever,
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 37 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 OiTjirep Nto/??;? ixoiprj T0L7]8e Kat i]ijuv 
 YiCTTLV o'it^vpols Kai, jxaKapeacnv ojxov' 
 
 H/Ae^y 'yap 6avo[xev ^vavTpoto j3e\eacn Sofievres, 
 Kai' \i6(p aOavarovs avros i0t] k6 iraXiv. 
 
 C. C. Felton. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 THE SAME TllANSLATEl) INTu ENGLISH. 
 
 Happy at once and miserable, we 
 Seem to partake the fate of Niobe ; 
 For, perishing- by Chantrey's dart, we die, 
 And 111 his marble live immortally. 
 
 J. P. M.
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Each bullet, tlit-y say, lias its own proper billet, 
 And sharp nntst a shot at a cock be. to kill it; 
 But here is a trigger, when neat fingers ])ull it, 
 That brino-s down two bills and two cocks with one bullet ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Ask why such honour Chantrey cloth await, 
 Surpassing others witli a twofold fame? 
 Ill arts or arms it ever is the fate 
 Of those who double others in their aim.
 
 ox CIIANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 39 
 
 XL. 
 
 At Holkhain, for s]nn-t, on a day that was set, 
 
 , Tom Coke and some merry com|)ainons were met; 
 
 And Chantrey, to try his fine aim, all in fun 
 
 Discarded the chisel, and shoulder'd the gun. 
 
 But soon as a chance in the cover he got, 
 
 Two woodcocks he kilFd at the very hrst shot; — 
 
 The birds on this monument prettily tell 
 
 How calmly they died, lying just as they fell. 
 
 He shot them, and ate them, and sculptur'd them too ; 
 
 I wish, my dear Chantrey, that I had been you ! 
 
 In art, sport, or feasting, let Chantrey alone 
 
 For cleverly killing two birds with one stone ! 
 
 J. F. 1^..
 
 40 Wl^UED WUUDS 
 
 ALL 
 
 ApTe/j,i. aot, ruB ay(i\fia0' o TO^evrrjp aveOrjKev, 
 Os jBioTOVi hiaaovs TOvaS ecpoi'evae fxovos' 
 
 Aevp lOl, dav^aarcp 9 evp);<jeis rcoB iin tv/jL^m 
 Kfi-^v^ov T€ \l6ov Kat, iTTepoevTa ^lov. 
 
 J. P. M. 
 
 XLIl. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 To tliee^ Artomis ! the archer g'ave 
 
 This sculptur'd image of the birds he slew :— 
 
 Behold a miracle ! for o'er their grave 
 
 Their marble wiiig-s fly, as in life they flew ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 41 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Long may this spotless marble tell, 
 When Chantrey fir'd, two woodcocks fell ; 
 
 They met their doom together ; 
 But now, by his transcendent art, 
 Into new life be bids them start. 
 
 And makes them live for ever ! 
 
 Hon. Frederica A7i?on. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Death's fatal shaft, with lurid lightning^s glow, 
 And swift-compelling, laid these victims low : 
 Sad Love, beneficent, forbade to die, 
 And imag'd here their immortality ; 
 Then told in poesy, with tuneful breath. 
 Of Love's revenge on the dark deed of Death. 
 
 K.
 
 42 WINGED WORDS 
 
 XLV. 
 
 '• En ! FtUrilir iiuilH." 
 
 One shot of Cluuitrey shcw'd his power, 
 By which he kill'd the twain ; 
 He prov'd it in a happier honr, 
 And gave them life again. 
 
 XLVl. 
 
 Us at once a sportsman clever 
 
 Sk'W, yet made to live for ever : — 
 
 ])eath we met, fi'om death when Hying; — 
 
 Endless life we gain'd by dying! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 43 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 In Arctic zones the gliding streams 
 A glacial rock cong(;ar(l remain, 
 
 Till, rous'd by Phoebus' fiery beams, 
 They wake to sparkling life again : — 
 
 But we, by Chantrey's tire laid low, 
 
 Frozen in death insensate lie. 
 And, chang'd to sculptur'd marble's snow, 
 
 Slumber in immortality. 
 
 E.
 
 44 WINGED WUUDS 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Quji moriraur clextra in lucem revocamur ejidciu ; 
 Quse vitam abstraxit, vivere deinde dedit. 
 
 Ah ! tVlix utrinqiic manuSj — qua* iicmpe perirc 
 Nos jubet hac, iliac posse peri re vetat ! 
 
 Archdeacon Wrangham. 
 
 XI.IX. 
 
 THE SAME TKANSLATE1> INTO EN<;I,IS1I. 
 
 By the same hand \vc fall, and we revive; 
 He, who desti'oy'd us, bade us thenceforth live. 
 Twice happy hand ! which, while it bids us die, 
 Bids us in marble live innnortally. 
 
 Archclc'acoa Wianaham.
 
 ON CHAN TEE Y'S WOODCOCKS. 45 
 
 L. 
 
 yi^avrpelos wXea ' varepov h cirotKriaas 
 AOavarov wh c^eipoTf^vrjaev ^lov. 
 
 Rev. R. Collver. 
 
 LI. 
 
 THE SAME TKANSLATED IKTO ENGLISH. 
 
 By two-fold blow, though single shotj 
 We were by Chaiitrey slain ; 
 
 "Whose sculpture, pitying our lot, 
 Here made us live again. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 46 WINOED WOTjns 
 
 LII. 
 
 Let passing sportsman hail the favour'd »\)ot 
 Wliere tVll two woodcocks at a single shot; — 
 Fell Ijy a hand for different deeds more known, 
 Imparting grace and breath to shapeless stone. 
 Once more he bids them die, and once again 
 Start into life, demanding to be slain. 
 Master of either art, this vase to fame 
 Chantrey ! shall give thy chisel and thine aim ! 
 
 Sir Robert AOair. 
 
 1,111. 
 
 One shot tir\l Chantrey, throngh the greenwood straying, 
 At once yon couple of fair woodcocks slaying, — 
 Poor unsuspecting victims to their feelings, 
 Too I'udely wounded by such double dealings ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON CHANTllEY^VS WOODCOCKS. 
 
 J. IV. 
 
 Uuo eodcmque ictu nos auceps stravit ; at idem 
 
 ^'Etemas mira, reddidit ai'tc faber. 
 Ergo non iterum coeli super ardua rapta) 
 
 Fall em us varia tela necemque via. 
 Quid refert ? Vivse volitamus in ore virorum, 
 
 Scandit ct setherias gloria nostra plagas. 
 
 Rev. W. G. Cookesley. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 At once a fowler shot us both ; and then 
 His skill as sculptor made us live again. 
 We never more, swift dashing through the sky, 
 From darts and death in various course shall fly. 
 What matter? For our fame preserves our lives. 
 And in yon realms fethcrial still survives ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 48 WINGED WORDS 
 
 I.VI. 
 
 Uno conatu felix^ unfiquc sagitta, 
 
 Chantreii biiias dextra cecidit avcs; 
 " Arte me-X cccidistis/' ait; " potiora repoiio, — 
 
 " Arte inea seternuui vivitc marniorcfc." 
 
 Archdeacon Wrangbam. 
 
 LVII. 
 
 TllK SA.MK TllANSLATEI) lNTi> KNC I.ISIl. 
 
 Successful by a single aim and dart, 
 
 Chantrey's right hand these double woodcocks slew ; 
 Yet, bright reward ! — the victims to his art 
 
 His art in marble makes to live anew ! 
 
 J. P. M.

 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 49 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 Once, Stranger ! these twin monumental birds 
 With thee and their own kind the common lot 
 Of all that live, contentedly did share. 
 Of form for feats of airy swiftness fram'd, 
 And wings for migratory voyage apt, 
 Their plumage dusk as by nocturnal shades 
 EmbrownM, yet dappl'd like the wild-deer^s fawn, 
 Brindl'd and barr'd with sudden rufous gleam ; 
 But all untinctiu"'d with Pavonian dyes, 
 Or such as Asian pheasants mirror back 
 From opal morning and the sapphire noon, 
 Or purple blaze of amethystine eve; 
 Somnambulant, they roam'd the hills at dark, 
 With Avakeful eye reposing in the day : 
 The deepest thickets their congenial home, 
 Their roof the varnish'd holly, and their couch 
 The green frond-coronets of shelter'd ferns ; 
 Where Love was sole companion of. their rest, 
 And all the thoughts that pillow'd them were joy.
 
 50 WINGED WORDS 
 
 But two dread hunters, Chantrey and fierce Dcath,- 
 Unmeet allies, and leagu'd for baleful end, — 
 Too surely guided by the springing hound 
 Prowling with kindred pnrpose to destroy, 
 Together chas'd them in unsever'd flight, 
 And, hurling but one jav'lin, those Avhom Love 
 Indissolubly link'd, brought to the tomb. 
 
 Death's work was done : and, grim, he fled away. 
 Grinning Avith loathly gladness as he ran. 
 Fresh quarry to strike down ; regarding not, 
 Wolf-like, the bleeding victims he had torn. 
 
 But Chantrey linger'd; for him wonder smote 
 At his own deed ; and pity for the slain. 
 And soft repentance too, and secret shame 
 At his too dire accomplishment of woe ; 
 And rising grief Avell-uigh to bitter turn'd 
 The sweet enchantment of successful skill. 
 Half with a sigh, and half witli tender smile, 
 He, gazing still with tremlding on the scene. 
 In sculpture breathing of eternity 
 This fair memorial carv'd, of living stone. 
 
 Now from the sadness of their fall redeemed. 
 And all ])olhition of the dust, the birds 
 
 iff-
 
 OlSr ClIANTltEYS WOODCOCKS. 51 
 
 Shine from afar, })ure, sacred, and serene; 
 With pUuucs immaculate as tlaking snow, 
 Or as the argent feathers of a dove 
 Whose pinions ghtter in tlic pearl of dawn. 
 
 Such metamorphosis, O Stranger ! learn 
 Awaiteth gentle spirits : who, in peace 
 And undivided harmony of soul. 
 Abiding meekly on their native earth 
 As the Supernal Father's rule ordains. 
 Can yet soar upwards upon Heaven-borne wing. 
 Urg'd by true prescience of those brighter realms. 
 In life, they seek the skies ; and, at its close. 
 Steadfast behold, as with an angel's face. 
 Through parting clouds, the Light of Endless Day ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 52 AVINOED WORDS 
 
 LL\. 
 
 Stay, Reader ! here, that these may tell 
 How at one shot two woodcocks fell 
 
 By one of deathless name : 
 Immortal Chantrey laid them low^ 
 His chisel has aveng'd the blow, 
 
 And doubFd all his fame. 
 
 Hon. Frederiea Alison 
 
 LX. 
 
 E^ dirXov GOV, Xavrpe, /3t\ovs (.^deipofieO^ afxcf^o)' 
 E/c aov, xLavrpe, Konecos yiyfOfxeO a'ChioL. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 THE SAJll'; THANSLATKIi INTO KNCI.ISII. 
 
 Chantrey, once aanmg, shot us dead, though two; 
 Chantrey, thrice joyous, s(;idj)tin-'d wjiom he slew.
 
 ox niANTKEY'S WOODCOCKS. 
 
 LXII. 
 Uno ictu iiioriinuv simul uiio vivimus ictn. 
 
 Veiy R.-/V. H. H. Milman. 
 
 LXII I. 
 
 THE SAMK TRANSLATED INTii ENGLISH. 
 
 We died together, by the same 
 All-skilful hand which gives us fame. 
 
 p. B. Duncan. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 (1.) 
 Qua simul oceidimus dextm servamur eadem. 
 
 p. B. Duncan. 
 (2.) 
 Nos una dextra moriendo vivimus una. 
 
 p. B. Duncan. 
 
 LXA\ 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENCLISII. 
 
 The same hand death and life could give :- 
 By yours we died, l)y yours we live. 
 
 p. B. Duncan.
 
 54 WINGED WORDS 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 Els IXOpOS dfX^OT€pOL9' evl JUp ^\r)6eVT€ /3€\€flV(p 
 
 ^EiTTdfieO' varaTi7]v ecs W.-^epovra ^vyrjV. 
 Mr] K\auar]s' 6 jSaXiov jdp ayei jBioi^ e/c OavaroLO, 
 ^ Kvr\ S' l^aixepiwv earajxeO uOavaroi. 
 
 Kev. W. Sclwyn. 
 
 1,.\VI1. 
 
 IDEM LATINE HKDDITl M. 
 
 ■ Una ])crcin])ti niiicliinri, iiovissiinam 
 TTuji I'ugam volannis usque ad Tartarum. 
 Maud est dolenduiu : quippe qui vitani abstulit, 
 Brevissiiuam furatus, seternam dcdit. 
 
 Rev. G. Moberly.
 
 ox CHANTltEY'S WOODCOCKS. 55 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 THE SAMK TliANSLATPH) IXTO EKGLI!S11. 
 
 0). 
 Both had one fate : their lives together end ; 
 And both to gloomy Acheron descend. 
 ]\lourn not their end, — nor deem their fate severe, 
 Fix'd by transcendant art immortal here. 
 
 Rev. W. L. Bowles. 
 
 I.XIX. 
 
 (2.) 
 To both, one fate : — for us one jav'lin slew. 
 And our last flight to Acheron we llew. 
 Weep not : — our slayer life fioni death doth give, 
 xVnd we, once mortal, now undying live. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 56 WINGED WORDS 
 
 LXX. 
 
 " A cheeiful life is Avliat the Muses love, 
 
 " A soaring spirit is their prime delight;" — * 
 
 Then joyous Chantrey, flushing in the grove 
 These soaring cocks, Tuust be Apollo quite ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 LXX I. 
 
 Die ! ^niul tiie scenes ye lov'd so well, 
 The woodlnnd glade, tlie flovv'ry lea : 
 
 Live ! and in breathing marble tell 
 Your victor^s double victory ! 
 
 K. 
 
 * Wordsworth : Sonnet XLII. Vol. III. p. 44. ed. 1S46.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 57 
 
 T.XXIT. 
 
 He merits well Tiuiotheus^ prize 
 And sweet Cecilia's crown, 
 
 Who rais'd, immortal, to the skies 
 The woodcocks he brought down ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 LXXTII. 
 
 Go, gay retriever ! and to Chantrcy tell 
 That here, obedient to his gun, we fell : — 
 Then to the world this further record give, 
 That here, immortalised by him, we live ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 58 WINGED WORDS 
 
 LXXIV 
 
 ''nXeaey dfxcporepovs ajjua he^tos' bv Be TrapeiXe 
 To^evry'jS, TXvTrrr]? avOis tSw/ce ^ioi>. 
 
 Poight Rev. Bishop Maltb^^ 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 TlIK SAME TUANSLATEJ) INTu KNIILISH. 
 
 At once his skill slew both : l)nt in tlie j-tuvc 
 The life the Archer took, the Sculi)tor gave. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 
 
 59 
 
 LXXVI. 
 
 li/is i]v io^6UTt]i, Kac I kvirryjs, tv oe to TVfx/xa 
 Ols he jSios /3pa-^vs i)i^, viiv yever ul'Sios. 
 
 Rjght Rev. Bishop Maitby. 
 
 
 LXXVII. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 1 
 
 (!■) 
 Archer and Sculptor, one ; and one the blow ; 
 And two brief lives were made immortal so ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 LXXYIII. 
 (2.) 
 The Sportsman and the Sculptor, one : — the blow 
 Was one, that laid two fluttering victims low. 
 Chantrey's bold hand, that snatch^l their fleeting breath. 
 Bids them in marble here defy the stroke of death. 
 
 Right Rev. Edward Otter, Bisliop of Chichester.
 
 60 WINGED WORDS 
 
 I.XXIX. 
 
 Ill sport immortal as in art, 
 Chantrey is <i-ifted to outgo 
 
 All others; — 'tis his hap))y part 
 To double all that they can do. 
 
 R. M. Bncow 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 " <SV^'. uhi fiitri roanit. iiilis iihjrcfiis iii Im'hix, 
 " A (I rada MceamJri concinil <(lliiis olor." 
 
 Ovid: Episf. VIT. 1. 
 
 The swan, by smooth ]\f;ean(l<'r's tide, 
 First sang its funeral dirge,- — then died. 
 These woodcocks do a harder tiling, 
 For first they die, and then they sing! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON CHANTllEYS WOODCOCKS. 61 
 
 LXXXI. 
 
 A rare success was Chantrey's lot^ — 
 lie bagg'd us at a single shot ; 
 And, to commemorate his skill, 
 In marble made this lle-form'd Bill ! 
 
 J. p. AI. 
 
 LXXXII. 
 
 Here lie the fruits of Chantrey^s gun : — 
 Two woodcocks, — vet the shot but one ! 
 O had he been content to kill 
 " The Bill, and nothing but the Bill \" 
 
 Sir Edward Hall Alderson.
 
 62 WINGED WORDS 
 
 LXXXIII. 
 
 Through ffither, swift yon woodcocks flew,- 
 At once one arrow ])ierc'd the two, 
 Sped from the bow a Sculptor drew : — 
 
 SkilFd to destroy, yet prompt to save, 
 The lives he took, agahi he gave, — 
 A glorious victor o'er the grave ! 
 
 In brighter form, behold ! they rise, 
 On nobler wing they seek their skies. 
 And soar to life that never dies ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 LXXXIV. 
 
 Occisor au servator estne Chant lius 
 Diccndus, uno qui trucidat viilnere 
 Binas aves ; misertus arte dein sua 
 Csedem rcpendit, — piseniio plusquam pari, — 
 Donando vitam ncmpe, qua tolli uequit. 
 
 Archdeacon Wrang?iain. 
 
 LXXXV. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 Shall Chantrey he call'd a Destroyer, or not ? 
 lie slaughters, indeed, his two birds at one shot : 
 But pitying- his victims, with generous endeavour 
 To make more than amends, by his chisel so clever 
 He revives them to live on in marble for ever ! 
 
 Archdeacon Wrangham.
 
 64 AVINGED WORDS 
 
 LXXXVI, 
 
 Here the work of a sportsman and scul])t(n' you see, — 
 In beauty and skill how they seem to agree ! 
 l?ut two birds at one shot! this must sure be a blunder, 
 'J'wo birds with one stune had been less of a wonder ! 
 
 H. Levcester. 
 
 LXXXVII. 
 
 The sculptor kill'd them at one shot, 
 
 And, when the deed was done. 
 He carved them, — lirst, upon one toast, 
 And then, upon one stone ! 
 
 Lord Jeffrey.
 
 ON CHANTREYS WOODCOCKS. 65 
 
 l.XXXVIII. 
 
 Can Envy's tootli such taste and skill assail? 
 Yes ! — Gluttons saj, " Tlu>y want- the toast and trail \" 
 
 J. S. Duncari. 
 
 LXXXIX. 
 
 The carver's knife in vain their limbs shall sever, - 
 In Chantrey's marble they unite for ever. 
 
 p. 3. Duncan. 
 
 xc. 
 
 TaivSe Bvoiv, Oavaros, /xapfiapeos re ^los. 
 
 XCI. 
 
 THE SA.ME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 Chantrcy ! two fates thy single blow doth give; — 
 Both Avoodeocks die, yet in thy sculpture live. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 66 WINGED WORDS 
 
 XCIl. 
 Tvfx/xaTOs €K 'Kavrpov 8i7r\P]i> \e/\.a\;>?/<:oTe fioipau, 
 "nXeae vco fioXi^os, ^mvt wrreSMKe Koirevs. 
 
 Archdeacon Glover. 
 
 xcin. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 Thoiii;li lall'n by Chantrey's handj we yet sui'vivc; 
 His gmi may kill, his ehiscl makes alive. 
 
 Archdeacon Glover. 
 
 XCIV. 
 ' 1 1 cTf iJKtTi-jv Btcraous ^aXeecv oloar , tnrei ecaiv 
 \\0avaTOi Oavaroi aPjS vtto, ^avrpe, '^epos. 
 
 .). 1'. M. 
 
 xcv. 
 
 THE SAME T1;AXSLATEI> INTii EN(;LI.SII. 
 
 In vain, Cliaiitrey ! tliou dost slay the two, 
 SiiK-e l)v thy hand Death doth immortal tiTow. 
 
 J. P. M.
 
 ON U1IA.NT1!J:VS WUODCOCKS, 67 
 
 XCVI. 
 
 Icnd^ vc jollv irunncrs all, an car unto my song, 
 And if it is hut very short, it won't detain you long; 
 And you shall hear how it befell, one fine November day, 
 That Chantrey on a sudden came where these two woodcocks lay. 
 
 The turnings and the twistings of their flight were all in vain, 
 For soon as they got up to fly, he brought them down again ; 
 Together they fell pleasantly, and comfortably lay, 
 AVhile he made pretty game of them, quite in an easy way ! 
 
 And now within the mansion of a noble of the land, 
 
 By Chantrey's self in marble carv'd they yonder proudly stand; 
 
 And may both you and I be shot, if ever we did see 
 
 A sj)ortsman or an artist that w as half so good as he ! 
 
 J. P. M.
 
 68 WINOET) WOTIDS 
 
 XCVII. 
 
 W'c ried from Norway o'cv the German wave, 
 Aiid^ j)il^-rims^ here we found an early grave ; 
 Hard fate was ours; for here, at Holkham farm, 
 AVe deem'd the stranger had been safe from harm. 
 But llcav'n consol'd us with our victor's name, 
 And he that slew us gave us deathless fame. 
 
 K.ev. W. G. Cookesley. 
 
 xcvm. 
 
 Here onee two woodeoeks were, and tlien '' were not, 
 
 "For Chantrey took them ;" 
 He shot, and carv'd tlie couple, nor forgot 
 
 With care to cook them : 
 Now, in remembrance of so rare a shot, 
 
 He bids me book them, 
 And tell that deathless lionor was their h)t 
 
 When hfe forsook tliciii. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S AVOODCOCKS. 69 
 
 XCIX. 
 
 Nos transvolantes pethera, unica nece 
 
 Perita coutixit uiaDUs. 
 Peritife nunc ipsa poenitens suse 
 
 Hoc erigit piaculum ; 
 Vitam per onine tempus hoc in niarmorc 
 
 Insigniorem conferens. 
 
 M. P. W. Boultou. 
 
 c. 
 
 THE SAME TKANSLATEli INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 L^s twain, as through the air we Hew, 
 A skilful hand uniquely slew. 
 Then rais'd, (repenting its own skill,) 
 This expiation of the ill ; 
 Conferring, in this sculptured stone, 
 For our brief life, a nobler one. 
 
 J. P. M.
 
 70 WINGKD WORDS 
 
 CI. 
 
 Witli twofold (loath lie barb'd his dai-t, 
 And wingM it with unerring skill :— 
 
 Yet, Sculptor! thy consummate art 
 Doth rather uiahe alive thiin kill ! 
 
 J. P. M. 
 
 CMI. 
 
 xVmaz'd I View the consecrated spot 
 Where Chantrey killM two woodcocks at a shot; 
 For yonder, lo ! his breathing victims arc, 
 More deathless than in lite, and loveliiu- far! 
 
 J. P. M.
 
 
 ON 
 
 CHANTKEYS WOUDCUCKS. 
 
 71 
 
 
 
 cm. 
 
 
 
 "^PO^OS 
 
 'T-rreplSopeov Kpaiirvals ttt 
 
 epvyecraL 
 
 (puyoine, 
 
 AfKpOi OIXOV 
 
 Trtl'VTT) x^^P '^"''" 
 
 efiap-yfre fi 
 
 opor 
 
 H vvv 
 
 deiOTtpa re^VT) kuWiop 
 
 1 Ic, 
 
 
 'OiKTeipovaa 
 
 '^apiv, Kai jziou 
 
 aevaov. 
 
 
 
 
 
 M. P. W. BoulLou. 
 
 
 
 CIV. 
 
 
 
 
 T!IE 
 
 SAME TUANSL.VTED INTO 
 
 ENGLISH. 
 
 
 From 
 
 Hyperborean snows as swift 
 
 we flew, 
 
 
 A skilful hand us 
 
 both united slew ; 
 
 
 
 Wbicli,- 
 
 -pitying 
 
 now, — with art diviner gives 
 
 
 A fairer 
 
 grace, a s 
 
 ,oul that ever lives. 
 
 J. 
 
 P. M.
 
 WINGED WORDS 
 
 CV. 
 
 Nobis gemellis^ ct gcmcllo vulncre 
 Ictis^ manus qute straverat vitam dedit, 
 Ilaud denuo cxtinguendam. '*' Id undo fit, refer." 
 Cliantreius idem qui necat, moi'i vetat. 
 
 Archileacon Wrangham. 
 
 CVI. 
 
 TUK SAME XKANSLATIiD IKTO EKGLISil. 
 
 To us twin birds, who by one twin wound fell. 
 The hand that smote, by some strange mii'aele. 
 Gave back a life, — for ever to remain ! 
 " IIow may this be ? " you ask, " I pray, explain :" 
 Chantrey^s great name resolves the mystery ; — 
 The twain his aim destroy'd, his art forbade to die. 
 
 Archdeacon Wrangham.
 
 evil. 
 
 (2.) 
 
 We twins, struck by one twin blow, 
 From the liancl that hiid us low 
 
 Gain'd immortality : — 
 Problem solv'd by Chantrey's skill, 
 Which tirst prov'd his power to kill, 
 
 And then forbade to die ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 74 
 
 WINGED WORDS 
 
 CVIII. 
 
 Diiv'n fi'om the North that would have starv'd theui^ 
 This was the way that Chantrey sarv'd them, — 
 He shot them first, and then he carv'd them ! 
 
 Hudson Gurncy. 
 
 CIX. 
 
 C'haiitrcv iinciitcd tlic bust of i^Min-locks, 
 U liu li eocks one hammei', and hammers two eocks ! 
 
 J. P. M. 
 
 ex. 
 
 Pledge of the sculj)tor's skill and sportsman's aim, 
 
 Again we live and lly, in Chantrey's fame ! 
 
 Kev. J. Statler.
 
 CXI. 
 
 As swift through air from Baltic frosts wc flevv, 
 Both at one sliot a hand unerring slew : 
 Which now, i-epenting of its murderous skill, 
 By art diviner expiates the ill, 
 Raising us here, from sportsman's gun secure, 
 In nobler life eternal to endure. 
 
 U. p. W. Boulton. 
 
 CXI I. 
 
 Sir Francis must sure have been much in the habit 
 Of missing each partridge, hare, pheasant, and rabbit; 
 For once when he kill'd, by a shot transcendental, 
 Two woodcocks, the verdict was " Death Accideiitai I" 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 76 WINGED WOEDS 
 
 CXIII. 
 
 Nobis ct fonuji, et vita, fatoque gciiicllis, 
 Una inanus vitaui sustulit, una (U-dit ; 
 
 Nam qui detraxit vitani viventibus, illc 
 Arte sua jussit viverc marniorcas. 
 
 Archdeacon Wrangham. 
 
 CXIV. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATKD INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 Closely in form, in lite, in death allied, 
 
 The hand that kilFd us, and reviv'd, was one ; 
 
 For lie, by whose sure sportsmanshij) we died, 
 lias bid us live innnortally in stt)ne. 
 
 Archdeacon. Wrangham.
 
 ON CIIANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 
 
 77 
 
 CXV. 
 
 
 En ! unh, mortem^ Scythicos linquentibvis 
 
 agros, 
 
 Mirificam nobis Anglia dura declit ; 
 
 
 At non duva tamen, nobis qure hoc niarmore pulchro 
 
 Sterna vita dat siniul alma frui. 
 
 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CXVI. 
 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 
 Ah cruel England, with strange slaughter 
 
 blasting 
 
 Us two poor birds, from Scythian climates flying ! 
 
 Yet kind, not cruel, since she grants us 
 
 , dying, 
 
 In this fair marble, life for everlasting ! 
 
 
 
 J. P. M.
 
 ex VI I. 
 
 Yvom Chantrey's fi'un, at one dread shot, 
 
 Two woodcocks here were slain; 
 Bat Chantrey's chisel inourn\l their lot. 
 
 And bade them live again. 
 
 ^Vilat sportsman would not gladly tind 
 
 His own for Chantrey's name? 
 What woodcock would not die resign'd. 
 
 To earn such deathless fame ? 
 
 Archdeacon Glovor.
 
 ON chantui<:y.s woodcocks. 
 
 ex VIII. 
 
 Master of citlicr urt ! tliy works proclaim 
 Equal in both thy chisel and thine aim ! 
 
 Sir Robert Adair. 
 
 CXIX. 
 
 We fell together^ victims to the wile 
 
 Of Chantrey, and his arms of sylvan strife. 
 
 blest and glorious death ! — happy guile ! — 
 Which thus betray'd us to eternal life ! 
 
 J. P. M. 
 
 cxx. 
 
 Medusa's power thou, Chantrey ! niak'bt thine own; 
 Like hers, thy victims are transform'd to stone. 
 
 C. Verral.
 
 CXXI. 
 
 One in their life, and one in deatli, 
 They unrepining yiekl their breath, 
 
 And leave their woods and skies ; 
 Since He whose hand liath laid them low 
 A brighter fate ran thns bestow, 
 
 Thcv fall, au-aiii to I'ise ! 
 
 hap])y pair, together blest, 
 In airy loveliness ye rest. 
 
 Triumph of godlike power : 
 Restoring to the Sculptor's name 
 The 2;ift of that immortal fame 
 
 He gave your dying hour ! 
 
 Rev. J. J. Campbell.
 
 CXXII. 
 
 Two woodcocks, Chantrey ! — if the tale be true, — 
 
 At once fell victims to thy fatal gvin. 
 Love sadly whisper' d, that the birds were two, 
 
 But the fond heart, by which they liv'd, was one. 
 
 Therefore to celebrate this faithful pair 
 
 In glorious sculpture lives their image still : 
 
 Bright souls, united in affection rare. 
 
 Which Time had hallow'd, and Death could not chill ! 
 
 A gentle spirit animates the stone. 
 
 Warm as with fire descending from above. 
 
 To teach the world, radiant two in one ! 
 The holy lesson of your perfect love ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 G
 
 82 AVINGED WORDS 
 
 cxxiir. 
 
 Nos ab Hyperboreo fugicntcs frigorc, catlem 
 
 ]\Iire corripuit morte perita manus : 
 Arte magis mira nunc hoc in marmore confert 
 
 Vitam perpetuam, uobiliusquc dccus. 
 
 M. P. W. Boulton. 
 
 CXXIV. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 The hand^ witli wondrous skill that struck us dead 
 Together, as from Arctic cold wc fled. 
 With art more wondrous in this marble blends 
 A nobler grace, and life that never ends. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 83 
 
 cxxv. 
 
 Sir Francis here sculptures two woodcocks he got 
 When sporting at Holkham, both kill'd at one shot ; 
 Their fate and his fame shall thus ever be known^ — 
 They ask'd him for life^ and he gave them a stone ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CXXVI. 
 
 Not cypress bring, nor bays, but green sham-rocks : 
 Nor let tV Hibernian lay provoke thy mocks, 
 Which sings how dead we live, two stone wood-cocks ! 
 
 M. P. W. Boulton.
 
 84 WINGED AVORDS 
 
 CXXVII. 
 
 Sly Cupid one day, to his great joy and wonder. 
 Shot both of the woodcocks you sec hanging yonder : — 
 In confidence strict I may whisper between us 
 The rogue had been chasing the poultry of Venus ; 
 And, taking the cocks to be pigeons or sparrows. 
 He spitted them both upon one of his arrows : — 
 Sure proof that those beautifnl " birds of a feather " 
 Had rather too closely been flocking together ! 
 
 Depicting them dead in each other's embraces. 
 An image of stone was next carv'd by the Graces, 
 To serve as a record of warning and terror 
 To other young cocks that might stray into error; 
 The hens, (pretty things !) too, in pity exhorting 
 To mind well their eye-sight when Love goes a-sporting, 
 Remembering always how sad and how stupid 
 This couple appear, the poor victims of Cuj)id ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON CHANTEEY'S WOODCOCKS. 85 
 
 CXXVIII. 
 
 'H ^^ve, V(pv davarov [xev evL Trpoeireix-^ev o'Ccttco, 
 
 LKova o 7]/j,eT6pav ets eTvirwcrev avr]p, 
 Ais 8 oye Oav/xaaiav ourcos eireSei^aro re'^vrjv, 
 
 ©ety fpyw ypa(j)LSo)V epyov eKTj/BoXcrjs' 
 xlTot [Jbvr]^ ecrrijcrev ayprjs, r; a'^erA.LOV epyov 
 
 OiKjecpas, trepov vutv aireZooKe /3iov. 
 
 D. B. Monro. 
 
 CXXIX. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 One man, Stranger ! kill'd us with one dart, 
 And in this marble our true image drew ; 
 
 Twice thus he prov'd the magic of his art, 
 The Sculptor carving what the Archer slew. 
 
 To grace his spoils, or mourning in his heart 
 His cruel deed, he gave us life anew. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 86 WINGED W()i;i)S 
 
 I 
 
 • 
 
 cxxx. 
 
 Iliacrovs olwvovs [xev locov Xavrpetoi tv aAcret, 
 ^vOus aeifivrjaro) ro^ov tKaixyjre %epf 
 
 AvTMv S' ovK d^ajxapre' Sia TTTepvyoiv yap olaros 
 Wl^^i', hiaawv Kai Kare/xapy^e jjlovos. 
 
 Tlavaufievos Be (^ovoto, koKov roh aydXpi avtdijKep, 
 Ety a:ei SetvPj^ [xvcijia Kuvayeaias. 
 
 J. P. M. 
 
 . CXXXI. 
 
 THE SAME TRAN:LATED IKTO ENGLl!:;]!. 
 
 Clianti'cy beheld tuo woodcocks in a wood. 
 And straightway bent his trusty bow and good ; 
 He miss'd them not, for swift his arrow flew, 
 Piercing their wings, and both the woodcocks slew. 
 He then set up for ever in this place 
 This stone, fair record of his skilful chase. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON" CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 87 
 
 CXXXII. 
 
 Vixerunt, vivimt^ vis quanta entis ! eadem 
 Ad vitam reduces qua periere manu ! 
 
 J. G. Children. 
 
 CXXXIII. 
 
 THE SAME TKANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 They liv'd^ tliey live : — the hand by which they died, 
 -0 force of life ! — a second life supplied. 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CXXXIV. 
 
 OpviOas TovTovs fj-ev tTU\/r «/x o repiTLKipavvos 
 V\vTnris, TOP Ouvarov t ooXeae 7ravSa/j,aT0)p. 
 
 J. P. M. 
 
 cxxxv. 
 
 TUE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 The sculptor both these birds with lightning-bloAV 
 At once destroyed^ and Death, a mightier foe. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 88 AVINGED AVORDS 
 
 CXXXVI. 
 
 They fly, they fall; by Chantrey's hand they die; 
 Yet live, for he to life gives immortality. 
 
 R. M. Bacon. 
 
 cxxxvir. 
 
 By Chantrey's hand together we were slain, 
 By Chantrey's hand, behold ! we live again. 
 
 CXXXVIII. 
 
 When Chantrey, crafty artist ! came, and at this couple 
 popp'd. 
 
 They knew the game was up with them, and so the twig 
 
 they hopp'd ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CXXXIX. 
 
 At once two woodcocks fell ; yet each survives ; 
 For he who slew them had insur'd their lives ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 OK CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 89 
 
 CXL. 
 
 O iraat KXecvos l^avrepos KaXov/nevos 
 ovao ooXeaev kovk coXea ev pcirr] fxta. 
 
 CXLI. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 By famous Chantrey's hand, and at one shot. 
 These woodcocks perish'd, and yet perish'd not. 
 
 J. .p. M. 
 
 CXLII. 
 Ne moriare, inori. 
 Cum mortem comitentur honores haud morituri, 
 Noune operse pretium est, ne moriare, mori ? 
 
 Archdeacon Wrangham. 
 
 
 
 
 
 CXLIII. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 
 
 To escape death hy dying. 
 
 
 
 
 Since death is follow^! by fame so 
 
 un 
 
 dying. 
 
 
 'Tvvere wisdom to escape from death 
 
 by 
 
 dying. 
 
 
 
 
 J. P. 
 
 M.
 
 90 WINGED Wor.DS 
 
 CXLIV. 
 
 'Hfxas 7j6us KTelve, tcretvas S' (OKTeipe, \1Oovpyo9, 
 XXalvau S' oWvfMevois a/jL(f)i/3a\cov XlOcViju 
 
 Afx(f)OTLpois Bct)K€ ^(iOJ]V, rjfjuv re Xidcp re, 
 EdvOus T CK 6vi}T0i)V earufLeO uOuvaTOt. 
 
 Rev. W. E. Jelf. 
 
 CXLV. 
 
 THE SAME TllANSLATED INTO EXGUSII. 
 
 Jove slew lis ; and then, pitying us slain^ 
 Swath'tl in a stony shroud our effigies. 
 The stone, and us, His power inspir'd again, 
 
 And lo ! we mortals now immortal rise ! 
 
 J. r. u.
 
 OJSr CHANTilEY'S AVOODCOCKS. 91 
 
 CXLVI. 
 
 Not by the sculptor's hands this feat was clone : — 
 His Gorgon aspect tuvn'tl these birds to stone ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CXLVII. 
 
 Eager for hfe, the sportsman's path we cross'd, 
 And more than life we gain'd, but paid the cost. 
 His hand, responsive to a twofold aim^ 
 Doom'd us to death, and dealt us lasting fame. 
 
 Rev. J. L. Petit.
 
 92 WINGED AVOKDS 
 
 CXLVlll. 
 Simidtas, Simulatio, et Dissimulatio. 
 Venator sculptorque simul^ petit arma ncmusque, 
 
 Ilasque diias volucres trajicit ille simul. 
 " Perpetua esto/' orat, " tarn pcrjucimcla simultas, 
 
 " Ponam et sylvanis Dis simulacra simul. ^' 
 Vivas tunc simulat volucres ; artemquc triumphis 
 Marmorcis meraorans, arma nemusque simul. 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CXLIX. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISn. 
 
 He seeks the wood, sculptor and sportsman rare, — 
 At once his arrow slays these woodcocks there ! 
 " Still let them live, " he cries, " in deathless grace ; 
 " Their sculptur'd forms shall consecrate the place." 
 He carves the birds, to life and Nature true ; — 
 In marble triumph sport and sculpture too ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 93 
 
 CL. 
 
 The wood re-echoed loud^ and Chantrey slew 
 At once^ two beauteous woodcocks as they flew ; 
 But when in haste the sylvan band drew near, 
 They found the woodcocks turnM to marble there 
 Each feather'd grace retaming when they died, 
 His art divine the birds had petrified ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CLI. 
 
 Two Avoodcocks fall at his one shot 
 The joyous Chantrey smil'd to sec ; 
 Then, pitying their untimely lot, 
 
 He gave them immortality. 
 
 J. Spencer Stanhope.
 
 CLII. 
 2[ori Lucrnm. 
 Viximus; fatoquc, Cliantrio enccantc, ccssinms : 
 Chantrio sculpentc, vitani scnipitcrnam vivimiis. 
 Ergo nobis ille csesis efficit mori lucrum ! 
 
 Archdeacon Wrangham. 
 
 CLITI. 
 
 TnE SAME TRANSLATED INTO KNGLISU. 
 
 Death a Gain. 
 
 We Yiv'd ; by Cliantrcy were together slain ; 
 And by his art for ever live again. 
 Thus, to us dying he makes death a gain. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 95 
 
 CLIV. 
 
 While sapient rules each grave grammarian gives, 
 Here an anomaly in marble lives ; 
 Priscian might try to comprehend, in vain. 
 How dual birds were singularly slain ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CLV. 
 
 One was the shot; — twofold the plumy spoil; — 
 Triple the glory of the Sculptor^s toil; 
 For thrice th' unrivall'd hand must honor'd be, 
 Which, bright monument ! thus lives in thee ! 
 
 • J. p. M.
 
 96 WINGED WORDS 
 
 CLVI. 
 TovaS' 6 Tlpa^tT€\r)$ afia Se^toy t^eXev opvLs' 
 Tiwat 8\ (^opare to (Tt]/x ,) vcrrepov ol \l6ivoi. 
 
 Sir John 'Williams. 
 
 CLVII. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISU. 
 
 These birds at once by Chantrcy's skill were slain ; 
 But in the marble, lo ! they live again ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 , CLYITT. 
 
 Uno nos eadem casu qure forte peremit, 
 Ecce immortales reddidit arte manus. 
 
 Lord Tenterden. 
 
 CLTX. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 He who by chance at once us woodcocks slew, 
 liO ! by his art hath made ns live anew ! 
 
 J. P. M.
 
 ON CHxVNTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 97 
 
 CLX. 
 
 The cocks are two : — the shot was one : — 
 Chantrey had double-cocked his guii ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CLXl. 
 
 A double skill the sculptor here may boast. 
 Who carv'd them first in stone, and then on toast ! 
 
 CLXIl. 
 
 Sculpteur-chasseur, ton bizarre genie 
 Donne en meme terns la mort et la vie ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CLXIII. 
 
 THE SAME TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 Well might that sportsman-sculptor's skill surprise us. 
 Who first could kill, and then immortalize us ! 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 H
 
 98 WINGED WORDS 
 
 CLXIV. 
 x^avTpov %etp i'w TcoSe tottm iror wyaXfjb avedi]Kev, 
 Olv irpiv (ivra^ i/SaXev, KaivoiroLovaa (jivacv. 
 
 CLXV. 
 
 THE SAMK TEANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 Cliaiitrey, who erst us both to death pursued. 
 Here placed this sculpture, and our life renew'd. 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CLXVI. 
 
 Sine morte mori. 
 Sic nos, fclices voUicrcs. juvat ire sub umbras, 
 Soainoque reterno sic sine morte mori. 
 
 J. p. M. 
 
 CLXVI I. 
 
 THE SAME TUANSLATED INTO ENGLISH. 
 
 To die without death. 
 Thus to the shades we happy woodcocks fly, 
 And thus, in sleep eternal, deathless die. 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 CLXVIII. 
 
 How liberal Mr. Coke must be 
 If with delight he still can see — 
 (What every one with terror fills) — 
 A man who brings in such long bills ! 
 
 R. IJ. Bacon. 
 
 CLXLX. 
 
 Two long bills of Chantrey, at once falling due^ 
 jNIet a ready discharge, at the bank where he drew ; 
 J\lay we ever be furnished with shot in the locker 
 To pay all our bills thus according to Cocker ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 100 WINGED AVORDS 
 
 CLXX. 
 
 Qiiidam ex antiquis "Periisscm ni periissem'^ 
 Dixit : idem poterunt diccrc nunc et aves. 
 
 Archdeacon Wrangham. 
 
 CLXXI. 
 
 THE SAME IMlTATElJ IN ENGLISH. 
 
 As once an ancient sage did sing, 
 These woodcocks now may say: — 
 
 " He sav'd our clay from mouldering 
 " By moulding us in day." 
 
 J. p.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 101 
 
 CLXXir. 
 
 Chantrey, by genius prompted to excel, 
 When first the fatal tube he tried, 
 
 Sad victims to his new-found skill 
 Two beauteous woodcocks died. 
 
 Repenting quick the cruel deed 
 
 And urg'd by pity to atone. 
 He claims his magic chisel's aid, 
 
 And turns them into stone. 
 
 Thus sacred Justice is appeas'd, 
 
 Each bird in breathing marble lives : 
 
 While the immoi'tal fame they gain 
 The sculptor shares and gives. 
 
 W. T.
 
 102 AYIXfiED WOEDS 
 
 CLXXllI. 
 
 Unhappy birds ! the jest of every tongue, 
 First shot, then carv'd, and niurder'd hist in song, — 
 If all let tly at yon, wherefore, I pray. 
 May I not have a shot as well as they ? 
 
 Rev. Joseph Power. 
 
 CLXXIV. 
 
 ANSWER TO TIIK AliOVi:. 
 
 " Shoot,' if yon please," — the cocks serene reply; — 
 " As for your hitting us, that 's all my eye !" 
 
 J. r. M.
 
 ON CHANTREY'S WOODCOCKS. 103 
 
 CLXXV. 
 
 These birdsj that live in marble and in verse, 
 The Sportsman's, Sculptor's, Poet's praise rehearse 
 To fiitm-e times : — where then shall we award 
 The palm victorious, honour's bright reward ? 
 
 Of those same birds, my friends, I treasure still 
 A lasting memory Time will never kill ; 
 All have their tastes; — I mine;— and, to my eyes, 
 The Cook's the artist that deserves the prize ! 
 
 Rev. Joseph Power. 
 
 CLXXVI. 
 
 ANSWER TO THE ABOVE. 
 
 " If you must roast us woodcocks for your feast, 
 " Let Coke of Holkham be our Cook, at least ! " 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 104 WINGED AVOllDS 
 
 CLXXVII. 
 
 COCK WOODCOCK LOQUITUR. 
 
 When, losing all that he most clearly lov'd, 
 Job's faith and patience by the fiend were prov'd, 
 His sorest grief was, every one allows, 
 That Satan did not take away his spouse. 
 
 Chantrey hath cans'd to me a greater woe, 
 In sending mine, with me, to shades below ; 
 And, — worst of all, — he sculptures in a rock 
 Th' eternal sorrows of a hen-peck'd Cock ! 
 
 ■ J. p. M.
 
 ON CHANTEEY'S WOODCOCKS. 105 
 
 CLXXVIII. 
 HEN WOODCOCK LOQUITUE. 
 
 In hollies and bays of an evergreen cover, 
 We, fair Fanny Woodcock, and Billy my lover, 
 Were nestl'd all snug, notwithstanding hard weather, 
 And kept ourselves warm by close pressing together :- 
 We poor little souls thought of nothing but billing. 
 When cruel Sir Francis came, arm\l for our killing. 
 
 b} 
 
 We rose, and he fir'd at poor Billy, while flying. 
 Who fluttered and sank, and I saw he was dying : 
 So then I fell with him, and, by the same token. 
 The heart of his poor little Fanny was broken ; — 
 I just could discern, with my fast-failing glances. 
 The savage delight of that villain Sir Francis !
 
 106 WIXGED WORDS 
 
 Where hearts had been throbbing, and vows had been plighted, 
 Now Love Uiy a-bleeding, and Hope was all blighted: — 
 
 shame, tlnis to slay, for his sport in the covers, 
 Two youthful, and happy, and innocent lovers ! 
 
 1 wonder how he, if his wife bad thus perish'd, 
 Would have relish'd the loss of the Lady he cherish'd ! 
 
 I know that he carv'd us on toast at the table, 
 And then in white marble, (as well he was able,) 
 But as for one shot killing both, don't believe ye 
 The tale the arch-sculptor has fram'd to deceive ye ; 
 For Chantrey, to add to his sport and his glory, 
 I vow^ has invented a thundering story. 
 
 I was not shot by any such " Son of the Thunder/' 
 But could not have liv'd from my Billy asunder; 
 And, dying or dead, I endeavour to warble 
 That truth is here misrepresented in marble ; — 
 Two WOODCOCKS so kill'd never hung in a pantry: — 
 Put that in your pipe and smoke it, master chantrey ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 ON" CHANTEEY'S WOODCOCKS. 107 
 
 CLXXIX. 
 
 We pretty woodcocks, Stranger ! tell 
 How, flushed in Holkham's dingle, 
 
 Both in one evil moment fell 
 
 To Chantrey's shot, though single : 
 
 But from the grave, his pity deep 
 And Sculptor^s skill restore us; 
 
 And, as in marble bed we sleep. 
 Sweet requiems soiind o'er us. 
 
 Mourn not, as immature, our doom. 
 Nor falPn for ever deem us : — 
 
 Hark ! there ariseth from the tomb 
 An echo; — " Resurgemus ! " 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 EPILOGUE.
 
 ^^^1^1^, 'A,^^, /•' yfridou&au
 
 EPILOGUE. 
 
 Adieu, ye gentle woodcocks, now remov'd 
 From groves and valleys wliicL on earth ye lov'd ! 
 No more the tanglM forest-paths ye trace. 
 While moonbeams light each old familiar place ; 
 No more repose beneath the laureird shade. 
 Or at sweet sunset " haunt the wat'ry glade :"* 
 No more explore the wave that skirts the weeds, 
 "Where trembling breezes shiver in the reeds; 
 In bosky dingle, or on sedgy shore. 
 Your rapid wings resound, alas ! no more ! 
 
 Your further fate entrust we to His care 
 Who form'd, and loves, and feeds the fowls of air 
 
 * " Where doves in flocks the leafless trees invade; 
 '• And lonely woodcocks haunt the wat'ry glade." 
 
 Pope : Wimhor Forest, 1. 127-8.
 
 112 EPILOGUE. 
 
 Without "Whose will, through all Creation^s round, 
 
 A very sparrow falls not to the ground. 
 
 So, in supreme migration, may ye fly 
 
 Through purer sether to a happier sky. 
 
 Where, borne aloft on swift angelic wing. 
 
 Melodious carols bright bird-spirits sing:* 
 
 Where flowers of Paradise eternal blow, 
 
 And Heav'nly streams from founts perennial flow :■ 
 
 Where no dread gun by day, no springe by night. 
 
 Startles your quiet, or arrests your flight, 
 
 » See Ovid, Amok. II. Eleg. vi. 1. 49 52. 
 
 " Colic sub Elysio nigril nemus ilice frondens, 
 " Udaque perpetuo graminc terra, virct, 
 
 " Si qua fides dubiis, volucrum locus ille piarum 
 " Dicitur." 
 
 " A hill of Heaven dark ilex-groves surround, 
 " And dewy turf, with deathless verdure crown'd ; 
 " There, — (if aught doubtful we may dare to trust !) — 
 " Dwell pious birds, redeem'd from mortal dust." 
 
 So also Gresset, Ver-Vekt, Chant Quatrieme, 1. 170-173. 
 
 " Dans I'Elysee et les sacrSs bosquets 
 " Le mene au rang des lieros perroquets, 
 " PrSs de celui dont I'amant de Corinc 
 " A pleur4 Tombre et chant6 la doctrine." 
 
 " Him to the hero-parrots' home removes, 
 " In blest Elysium and the sacred groves : — 
 " Near him whose ghostly shade and sapient tongue 
 " Corinna's lover hath bcwail'd and sung."
 
 EPILOGUE. 113 
 
 And faithful spaniels, with their masters blest, 
 Have ceas'd from troubling weary birds that rest ! 
 
 Nor all unheeded shall your memory die, 
 Lost in the light of immortality ! 
 When future game shall fall, — as fall it must, — 
 And other fowlers be forgot in dust ; — 
 When Sculptor's toils, and Poet's dreams are o'er, 
 And these slight numbers shall be heard no moi-e, 
 Pow'rless the hand, " and mute the tuneful tongue," 
 Cold as the marble which they carv'd or sung, — 
 Still shall the breathing stone these birds portray, 
 And charm mankind at some far-distant day; 
 To Chantkey's Woodcocks fame unfading give, 
 And they, undying as his name, shall live ! 
 
 J. p. M.
 
 INDEX OF FIRST LINES. 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 " A cheerful life is what the Muses love .... 
 
 . 56 
 
 Adieu, j-e gentle woodcocks, now remov'd — Epilogue . 
 
 . Ill 
 
 A double skill the sculptor here may boast .... 
 
 . 97 
 
 Ah cruel England, with strange slaughter blasting 
 
 77 
 
 Amaz'd I view the consecrated spot 
 
 . 70 
 
 A rare success was Chantrey's lot 
 
 . 61 
 
 Archer and Sculptor, one ; and one the blow 
 
 . 59 
 
 ' ApT€[J.i, aoi TaS' dya\[j.ad^ 6 To^evn)p uvi6i]Kiv 
 
 . 40 
 
 Ask why such honour Chantrey doth await .... 
 
 . 3S 
 
 As once an ancient sage did sing 
 
 . 1 00 
 
 As swift through air from Baltic frosts we flew 
 
 . 75 
 
 At Holkham, for sport, on a day that was set ... 
 
 . 39 
 
 At once a fowler shot us both ; and then .... 
 
 . 47 
 
 At once his skill slew both ; but in the grave 
 
 . 58 
 
 At once two woodcocks fell; yet each survives 
 
 . 88 
 
 Augustus, that mightiest mortar-compounder 
 
 . 33 
 
 Both had one fate : their lives together end .... 
 
 . 55 
 
 By Chantrey's hand together we were slain .... 
 
 . 88 
 
 By famous Chantrey's hand, and at one shot .... 
 
 . 89 
 
 By the same hand we fall, and we revive .... 
 
 . 44 
 
 By two-fold blow, though single shot ..... 
 
 . 45 
 
 Can Envy's tooth such taste and skill assail i . 
 
 . 65 
 
 Chantreii manus hasce vulnere uno 
 
 . 25 
 
 Chantrey beheld two woodcocks in a wood 
 
 . 86 
 
 Chantrej-, by genius prompted to excel 
 
 . 101
 
 iia 
 
 INDEX OF FIRST LINES. 
 
 Chantrcy invented the best of gun-locks 
 Cliantrey kill'd these woodcocks flying . 
 Cliantrcy, once ainiiiig, shot us dead, though two 
 Chantrey, thy hand, twice-skill'd, destroys to save 
 Chantrey ! two fates tliy single blow doth give 
 Chantrey, who erst us both to death pursued 
 Closely in form, in life, in death allied . 
 Cum mortem comitentur honores hand morituri 
 
 Death's fatal shaft, with lurid lightning's glow 
 Die ! 'mid the scenes ye lov'd so well 
 Aicraovs olcovovs /xeV iScov XavTpeloi ev aXaet 
 Driv'n from the North that would have starv'd them 
 
 PAOE 
 
 74 
 22 
 
 52 
 35 
 65 
 98 
 76 
 89 
 
 41 
 56 
 
 86 
 74 
 
 Each bullet, they say, has its own proper billet 
 Eager for life, the sportsman's path we cross'd 
 HlKovf Tu>5' fCTTTjafV, iuos \i6ov eK7re(pou>T{ 
 Eis T]i/ To^evTr]i, Kcil TXvTTTTji, ev de to tv^jm 
 Ets jj-Ofjos dfjLCJioTtpois' €v\ yap ^Xrjdivre ^eXe/xi/oj 
 'Ek (T^j, XauTpe, fJiius irXtjyrjS StTrXT; Vrtf uudyKi] 
 En ! una mortem, Scythicos liuquontilnis auros 
 'E| utiAoG (tov, XavTpe, (^tXovs ((pSetpoped^ ("ipffioy 
 
 'Hpcis Zeiis KTflvf, KTeluas S' MKTfipe, 'Kidovpyos 
 H at) pdrrjv Sicraovs ^aXteiv oloar , enel eiTiv 
 
 38 
 91 
 19 
 59 
 54 
 65 
 
 I I 
 
 52 
 
 90 
 66 
 
 For their reft lives the slaught'rer to atone 
 From Chantrey's gun, at one dread shot 
 From Hyperborean snows as swift we flew 
 From kindred cocks, when rol)l)'d of life 
 
 26 
 78 
 71 
 20 
 
 Go, gay retriever ! and to Chantrcy tell . 
 
 " Go, little book ! " and of the Sculptor tell— L'Envoi 
 
 57 
 3 
 
 Happy at once and miserable, we .... 
 He caiv'd these two, l)Oth springing from one stone 
 He hit tiie birds : and, with an aim as true . 
 Ho merits well Timotheus' prize .... 
 
 37 
 19 
 26 
 57
 
 INDEX OF FIllST LINES. 
 
 117 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Here lie the fruits of Cliaiitrey's gun . . . . . 
 
 . 61 
 
 Here once two woodcocks were, and then "were not" , 
 
 . 68 
 
 Here the work of a sportsman and sculptor you see 
 
 . 64 
 
 He seeks the wood, sculptor and sportsman rare . 
 
 . 92 
 
 He who by chance at once us woodcocks slew 
 
 . 96 
 
 His bow but once when skilful Chantrey drew 
 
 . 33 
 
 His fortunate skill must be great, we will own 
 
 . 36 
 
 How liberal Mr. Coke must be 
 
 . 99 
 
 " If you must roast us Avoodcocks for your feast 
 
 . 108 
 
 In Arctic zones the gliding streams ..... 
 
 . 48 
 
 In hollies and bays of an evergreen cover .... 
 
 . 105 
 
 In life, One slew us. Now, with nobler flight 
 
 . 28 
 
 In sport immortal as in art 
 
 . 60 
 
 In vain, Chantrey ! thou dost slay the two .... 
 
 . 66 
 
 Jove slcvf us, and then, pitying us slain ..... 
 
 . 90 
 
 Let passing sportsman hail the favour'd spot .... 
 
 . 46 
 
 Life in Death, a mystic lot 
 
 . 24 
 
 Long may this spotless marble tell 
 
 . 41 
 
 Lovely and pleasant in their lives, in death .... 
 
 . 24 
 
 Master of either art ! thy works proclaim .... 
 
 . 79 
 
 Medusa's power thou, Chantrey ! mak'st thine own 
 
 . 79 
 
 Mlus TTod' y'juas diTrruxu) '^^f]y>l ^oAt)? ..... 
 
 . 45 
 
 Nobis et forma, et vil3., fatoque gemellis .... 
 
 . 76 
 
 Nobis gemellis, et gemello vulncre ..... 
 
 . 72 
 
 Nos ab Hyperboreo fugientes frigore, eadem .... 
 
 . 82 
 
 Nos transvolantes tethera, unica nece ..... 
 
 . 69 
 
 Nos una dextra moriendo vivimus una ..... 
 
 . 58 
 
 Not by the sculptor's hands this feat was done 
 
 91 
 
 Not cypress bring, nor bays, but green sham-rocks 
 
 . 83 
 
 Occisor an scrvator estne Chantrius ..... 
 
 . 03 
 
 OujTTfp Nio/3(;s fioipr] Tou]de Kal i]pA.u ..... 
 
 . 37 
 
 lend, ye jolly gunners all, an ear unto my song . 
 
 . 67
 
 ns INDEX OF riRST LINES. 
 
 
 
 I'AGE 
 
 Uncc, Stranger ! these twiu monumental birds 
 
 . 49 
 
 One in their life, and one in death 
 
 . 80 
 
 One man, Stranger! kill'd us with one dart 
 
 . 85 
 
 One shot fir'd Chantrey, through the greenwood straying 
 
 . 46 
 
 One shot of Chantrey shew'd his power .... 
 
 . 42 
 
 One was the shot ; — twofold the plumy spoil .... 
 
 . 95 
 
 O TTuaL kXcu'os XdvT€pos KaXoi'nevos ..... 
 
 . 89 
 
 "Opvidas TovTovs n(u eVvv//' oju' 6 TepniKfpavvos 
 
 . 87 
 
 Pledge of the sculptor's skill and sportsman's aim . 
 
 . 74 
 
 Praxiteles sumpta pharetra, telisquc Diana; .... 
 
 . 11 
 
 Praxiteles with Dian's quiver stood 
 
 . 13 
 
 Uvp KXi^lras, Ti)u Trr]\i)v euexj/vxoicre lipop.rjBivs 
 
 . 32 
 
 ILvpiTVOOv eiXe /3«Xos, ropos e\|/u;(co(re a'ldrjpos 
 
 . 18 
 
 Quidam ex autiquis " Periissem ni periissem" 
 
 . 100 
 
 Qua morimur dextra in lucem revocamur cfldem . 
 
 . 44 
 
 Qu3, simul occidimus dextrft. servanuir eadcm 
 
 . 53 
 
 Reader ! these woodcocks, once " a happy couple " — Prologue 
 
 7 
 
 llais'd to the sylvan Genius of the place .... 
 
 . 23 
 
 Sculpteur-chasseur, ton bizarre genie 
 
 . 97 
 
 Sculptor, who slew these two in one ! 
 
 . 28 
 
 Shall Chantrey be call'd a Destroyer, or not 1 
 
 . 63 
 
 " Shoot, if you please," — the cocks serene reply 
 
 . 102 
 
 Sic nos, felices volucres, juvat ire sub umbras 
 
 . 98 
 
 Since death is foUow'd by fame so undying .... 
 
 . 89 
 
 Sir Francis here sculptures two woodcocks he got . 
 
 . 83 
 
 Sir Francis must sure have been much in the habit 
 
 75 
 
 Sly Cupid one day, to his great joy and wonder 
 
 . 84 
 
 Stay, Header ! here, that these may tell 
 
 . 52 
 
 Successful by a single aim and dart 
 
 . 48 
 
 Swift fire destroy'd, sharp steel restor'd their lives . 
 
 . IS 
 
 The carver's knife in vain their liml)s shall sever . 
 
 . 65 
 
 Tlie cocks are two : —the shot was one 
 
 . 97 
 
 The hand of Chantrey by a single blow 
 
 . 25 
 
 —^ 1;* • • ■ \ . ■ . 

 
 INDEX OF FIRST LINES. 
 
 119 
 
 The hand, with wondrous skill that struck us dead 
 
 Their good, and ill, from the same source they drew 
 
 The life the sportsman-artist took . 
 
 The same hand death and life could give 
 
 The same skill'd hand that took their lives on high 
 
 The sculptor both these birds with lightning-blow 
 
 The sculptor kill'd them at one shot 
 
 These birds at once hj Chantrey's skill were slain 
 
 These birds, that live in marble and in verse 
 
 The snowy hills of Norway bred us 
 
 The Sportsman and the Sculptor, one : — the blow 
 
 The swan, by smooth Masander s tide 
 
 The woodcocks' fate let choral woodlarks warble 
 
 The wood re-echoed loud, and Chantrey slew . 
 
 They fly, they fall ; by Chantrey's hand they die 
 
 They liv'd, they live : — the hand by which they died 
 
 Though fall'n by Chantrey's hand, we yet survive 
 
 Through tether, swift yon woodcocks flew 
 
 Thus to the shades we happy woodcocks fly . 
 
 Th}' fire, Prometheus ! warm'd to life the clay 
 
 To both, one fate :— for us one jav'lin slew 
 
 To thee, Artemis ! the archer gave 
 
 TovaB 6 TIpa^iTe\r]s afia Septus e^fKev opvis 
 
 To us twin birds, who by one twin wound fell 
 
 Tvufiaros en Xavrpov SittXt}!/ XeAap^T^KOTe po'ipav 
 
 " Two birds with one stone :" — but the proverb has wit 
 
 Two long bills of Chantrey, at once falling due 
 
 Two woodcocks, Chantrey ! — if the tale be true 
 
 Two woodcocks fall at his one shot 
 
 Una perempti machinil, novissimam 
 Unhappy birds! the jest of every tongue 
 Uno conatu felix, unaque sagitta . 
 Uno eodemque ictu nos auceps stravit; at idem 
 Uno ictu morimur simul uno vivimus ictu 
 Uno nos eadem casu quae fort^ peremit . 
 Unto Holkham's mansion proud 
 Us at once a sportsman clever 
 
 PAGE 
 
 82 
 26 
 27 
 53 
 26 
 87 
 64 
 96 
 103 
 U 
 59 
 60 
 27 
 93 
 88 
 87 
 GG 
 62 
 98 
 32 
 55 
 40 
 96 
 72 
 66 
 36 
 99 
 81 
 93 
 
 54 
 102 
 48 
 47 
 53 
 96 
 15 
 42
 
 120 
 
 IXDEX OF FIEST LIXES. 
 
 Vs twain, as tlirough the air wc flow 
 
 I'AI.E 
 
 G9 
 
 Yenator sculptorque simiil, petit arma nemusque . 
 Vixorunt, vivunt, vis quanta entis ! eildem 
 Yiximus; fatoque, Chantrio enecante, cessimus 
 
 AVe died together, by tlie same .... 
 
 "We fell together, victims to the wile 
 
 Wo fled from Norwaj' o'er the German wave . 
 
 "We liv'd ; by Chantrey -were together .«lain . 
 
 "Well might that sportsman-sculptor's skill surprise ns 
 
 We pretty woodcocks, Stranger! tell 
 
 "We twins, struck by one twin blow . • . 
 
 "We two, escap'd from dreary Scythia's snow . 
 
 "When Chantrey, crafty artist ! came, and at this couple 
 
 AVhcn, losing all that he most dearly lov'd 
 
 "While sapient rules each grave grammarian gives . 
 
 "Winter's morn is redly breaking .... 
 
 "With gun, or chisel, thou art doubly clever . 
 
 "With twofold death he barb'd his dart . 
 
 'Kavrpe, 0(i\a)i>, yXv^l^as, hh ^icrcrov 6avfi (jTnu](T(is 
 XavTpov ;(fip vco rwSe tottm ttot uy(i\[J. avtCi]Kev 
 
 ^v^os 'YTTfp[iupeov Kpninvdls TTTepvyefTai rjnyDVTf 
 
 "Q'Kfrrev dp.(])OTepovi upn hf^ius' ov C)e nnpc'iKf 
 ' Q. ^-'vf, vu>v BavnTov ptv iv\ TrpoeTrep.ip'ev o'icnM 
 
 popr 
 
 92 
 87 
 94 
 
 53 
 79 
 68 
 94 
 97 
 
 107 
 73 
 21 
 88 
 
 104 
 95 
 29 
 3G 
 70 
 
 36 
 
 98 
 
 21 
 71 
 
 58 
 85 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON: WOODFALL ASD KINDF.H, ANGF.I. COI.KT, SKINNP.R STREKT.
 
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