136) BRITISH AND EUROPEAN BIRDS. 



Of habits unsocial — affection devoid, 



His nurse's own children are by him destroy'd. 



The reader will have the goodness to remember, that the poet 

 here quoted is not Thomson, the author of the Seasons, but 

 William Thompson, author of Sickness, a Poem, Hymn to May, 

 and some Garden Inscriptions, which well deserve the attention 

 of the lovers of poetry. 



"The Nightingale, as soon as April bringeth 

 Unto her rested sense a perfect waking, 

 Which late bare earth, proud of new clothing, springeth, 

 Sings out her woes, a thorn her song-book making." 



Sir Philip Sidney. 



In this passage it is evident, that Sidney supposed the night- 

 ingale a dormant winter bird, — one of the seven- sleepers. Not- 

 withstanding its limited range of residence in this country, it is 

 said to be found on the continent as far north as Sweden. Its 

 wiuter residence is supposed to be Asia; of course, the warmer 

 parts. The sonnets and other addresses to the Nightingale are, 

 in our own language, innumerable ; some have been already al- 

 luded to in the Introduction ; one by Milton, beginning 



"O Nightingale! that on yon bloomy spray 

 Warblest at eve when all the woods are still:" 



has been much admired. Another by Mrs. Charlotte 

 Smith, the first line of which is 



u Sweet poet of the wood, — a long adieu!" 



has been also frequently quoted in the miscellanies. An evening 

 address to the Nightingale, by Shaw, has also had an extensive 

 circulation. They all, with very few exceptions, make the 

 song and sentiments of this bird melaucholy, sorrowful, or at 

 least pensive. For other observations on this charming bird, 

 see the Introduction. 



