NIGHTINGALE. 223 



Men. The bird ordained to be 



Music's first martyr, strove to imitate 



These several sounds; which, when her warbling 



throat 



Fail'd in, for grief, down dropped she on his lute, 

 And brake her heart! 



We clip from the ably edited "Inquirer" 

 of May 23, 1842, the following notice ofthe 

 death, in a similar manner to Ford's grace- 

 ful description, of one of these delightful 

 birds in Richmond, Virginia. Who can 

 now say that poetry is not the eloquence 

 of truth. 



"One of the admired Nightingales we 

 spoke a few days ago of having been in- 

 vited to hear, sang itself to death one or 

 two mornings since. The two were in 

 separate cages, suspended, one in the 

 porch, the other in an adjacent room. 

 They appeared to be engaged in a trial of 

 their musical powers, and were exerting 

 all their strength, rattling their wings, 

 ruffling their feathers, jumping about their 

 cages, varying and swelling their songs, 



