Class II. NIGHTINGALE. 3% 



Whifper'd it to the woods, and from their wings 

 Flung rofc, flung odors from the fpicy fhrub, 

 Difporting, till the amorous bird of night 

 Sung fpoulal, and bid hafte the evening liar 

 On his hill-top to light the bridal lamp. 



'Thefe, luU'd by nightitigales, embracing flept ; 

 And on their naked limbs the flowery roof 

 Shower'd rofes, which the morn repair'd. 



Thefe quotations from the bed judge of me- 

 lody, we thought due to the fweeteft of our fea- 

 thered choirifters •, and we believe no reader of tafte 

 will think them tedious. 



Virgil feems to be the only poet among the an- 

 tients, who hath attended to the circumftance of 

 this bird's fmging in the night time. 



Qualis populea moerens Philomela fub umbra 

 Amiflbs queritur foetus, quos durus arator 

 Obfervans nido implumes detraxit : at ilia 

 Tlet noaenu ramoque fedens miferabile carmen 

 Integrat, et mceftis late loca queflibus implet. 



Georg. IV. 1. 511. 



As ?hilo77iel in poplar Ihades, alone, 

 For her loll offspring pours a mother's moan. 

 Which fome rough ploughman marking for his prey. 

 From the warm neil, unfledg'd hath dragg'd away ; 

 Percht on a bough, Ihe all night long complains. 

 And fills the grove with fad repeated llrains. 



F» Warton, 



Pliny has defcribed the warbling notes of this 

 bird, with an elegance that befpeaks an exquifite 



fenfibility 



