London Birds. 13 



self ; and once, in his writings though certainly only 

 to put the word into the mouth of Valentine, the love- 

 sick Gentleman of Verona we find the inevitable 



" Nightingale's complaining note." 



By-the-bye, if nothing to do with Milton, and 

 Shakespeare had come down to us but their poetry, 

 we should not have had any great difficulty in ar- 

 riving at a fairly true idea of the sort of lives the two 

 men lived by merely comparing the manner in which 

 each refers to birds. 



Take, for instance and there are plenty of other 

 passages at least as much to the point such little 

 touches, fresh from Nature, as 



" Far from her nest the Lapwing cries f away,' 

 My heart prays for him, though my tongue do curse," 



in the " Comedy of Errors." Or in " Much Ado about 

 Nothing " 



" Look, where Beatrice like a Lapwing runs 



Close to the ground to hear our conference." 

 Or 



" Like an eagle in a dove-cote, I 

 Fluttered your Volscians in Corioli." 



One hears the clatter of the wings, as the startled 

 Pigeons break out all round. 



Contrast these with any of Milton's allusions to 

 birds. " Birds of Jove " driving before them " birds 

 of gayest plume," " ravenous fowls " hurrying to a 

 field of battle, or 



" Vultures on Imaus bred 

 Disfledging from a region scarce of prey 

 To gorge the flesh of lambs," &c. 



It is not necessary to multiply instances. In almost 



