112 
THE LANGUAGE OF BIR^S. 
upon niy pillow, was I soothed by the sweetest 
strains ; first, very softly, in a low tremulous tone, 
then raising them higher and louder, and again sinking 
them almost to a whisper, till they gradually had the 
effect of lulling me into the sweetest slumber. This 
lovely serenader sung, at night, from a bay-tree, near 
the house, but I never heard him during the day. 
The voice of the nightingale, at night, is thought, 
by some persons, to be expressive of melancholy, 
though, during the day, they consider his notes rather 
of a cheerful tone. Chaucer eulogizes this bird in 
the following strain : — 
And at the last, the bird began to sing 
So passing sweetly, that by many fold 
It was more pleasant than I couth devize : 
And whan his song was ended in these wise. 
The Nightingale, with so merry a note, 
Answerid him, that alle the wode yrang 
So sodainly, that as it were a sote, 
I stode astonied, and was with the song 
Thorow ravished ; that, till late and long, 
I ne wist in what place I was, ne where, 
And agen, methought, she sang even by mine ere. 
