The Birds of Shakespeare 
and his servants upon Christopher Sly, he 
was asked 
Wilt thou have music? Hark! Apollo plays 
And twenty caged nightingales do sing. 
Nor can we forget the magnanimous offer 
of Bottom when he wanted to play the 
part of the lion, and the danger of his 
frightening the duchess and the ladies was 
pointed out to him: 
But I will aggravate my voice so, that I will 
roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will 
roar you an ’twere any nightingale.” 
The romance of the nightingale’s song 
was never more thoroughly discarded than 
by Portia when she returned from her 
memorable trip to Venice and found a light 
and music in her hall. She remarked to 
Nerissa that by night music sounds much 
sweeter than by day, and received in reply 
the explanation that “ Silence bestows that 
virtue on it, madam.” Portia, however, 
1 Taming of the Shrew, Induction, Scene li. 33. 
2 Midsummer-Night’s Dream, 1. ii. 72. 
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