Crass. NIGHTINGALE. 
Whifper’d it to the woods, and from their wings 
Flung rofe, flung odors from the {picy fhrub, 
Difporting, till the amorous bird of night 
Sung fpoufal, and bid hafte the evening ftar 
On his hill-top to light the bridal lamp. 
Thefe, lull’d by xzightzngales, embracing flept ; 
And on their naked limbs the flowery roof 
Shower’d rofes, which the morn repair’d. 
Thefe quotations from the beft judge of me- 
lody, we thought due to the {weeteft of our fea- 
thered choirifters; and we believe no reader of tafte 
will think them tedious. | 
Virgil feems to be the only poet among the an- 
tients, who hath attended to the circumftance of 
this bird’s finging in the night time. 
Qualis populea meerens Philomela fab umbra 
Amiffos queritur foetus, quos durus arator 
Obfervans nido implumes detraxit: at illa 
Flet no&em, ramoque fedens miferabile carmen 
Integrat, et mccftis late loca queftibus implet. 
Georg. IV. I. 511. 
As Philomel in poplar fhades, alone, 
For her loft offspring pours a mother’s moan, 
Which fome rough ploughman marking for his prey, 
From the warm nett, unfledg’d hath drage’d away ; 
Percht on a bough, fhe all night long complains, 
And fills the grove with fad repeated ftrains. 
F, Warton. 
Pliny has defcribed the warbling notes of this 
bird, with an elegance that befpeaks an exquifite 
fenfibility 
369 
