THE NIGHTINGALE. 



291 



Behold," 



a little further back the veil wherein he conceals himself, 

 said Moses, " behold him who passes, 

 I have seen him by the skirts." " Is 

 it not he," said Linne, "who passes? 

 I have seen him in outline." And 

 for myself, I close my eyes; I per- 

 ceive him with an agitated heart, I 

 feel him stirring within me on a 

 night enchanted by the voice of the 

 nightingale. 



Let us draw near ; it is a lover : 

 yet keep you distant, for it is 

 a god. The melody, now vibrating 

 with a glowing appeal to the senses, 

 anon grows sublime and amplified 

 by the efiects of the wind; it is a 

 strain of sacred harmony which 

 swells through all the forest. Near 

 at hand, it is occupied with the 

 nest, their love, the son which will 

 be born; but afar, another is the be- 

 loved, another is the son: it is 

 Nature, mother and daughter, eternal 

 love, which hymns and glorifies it- 

 self; it is the infinite of love which 

 loves in all things and sings in all : 

 these are the tendernesses, the can- 

 ticles, the songs of gratitude, which 

 go up from earth to heaven. 

 * * * * 



" Child, I have felt this in our 

 southern fields, during the beauti- 

 ful starry nights, near my father's 

 house. At a later time, I felt it more keenly, especiall}^ in the 



