BRAKE NIGHTINGALE. 



331 



" When I was a lad, and in France, I not only studied the 

 habits of many of the birds of that country, or those which 

 resort to it during the season of reproduction, but made con- 

 stant inquiries respecting them among the country people. One 

 day, after partaking of a delicious breakfast of buck-wheat 

 cakes and sweet milk, under the roof of a ' paysan,' I chanced 

 to ask him what he knew of the ' Rossignol." ' Ah ! Mon- 

 sieur !'' replied the goodman, ' c'est un oiseau qui chante joli- 

 ment.' I went on and asked him, ' pray can you tell me 

 what it says when it sings V My host scratched his ear, ac- 

 cording to the custom of men of his rank, and after a while 

 answered, ' Oui, Monsieur.' If I recollect aright, I rubbed 

 my hands, smiled, and desired him to describe it to me. He 

 rose, straightened himself, coughed a few times, and in a very 

 decent musical tone sung out the following ditty. 



S; 



m 



t 



(*J 



Le Bon Dieu in'a don-ii6 une femme. Que j'ai tant. 



* 



f-p- 



^P 



-^ 



1 I r 



tant, tant bat- tue, Que s'ilm'endonneune autre, Je 



&i 



t 1^' 



-^-Zr 



^^^^F^^^ 



la bat-ter-ais plus, plus, plus, plus, Qu'un petit, qu'un petit, qu'un petit ! 



" I thought this quite original, and even now would venture 

 to say that you have never, Reader, seen it in print before. 

 It is however in point of fact a most true description of the 

 expressions, if I may so speak, of the nightingale's notes, and 

 marks the compass of that bird's voice, the emphasis placed 

 on the different notes, and the terminating cadences, in what 

 I would call a happy manner. 



" There exists a singular arrangement of nature relative to 



