NIGHTINGALE. 
48f 
them that ranks so high for his exquisite melody as 
the nightingale. We must confess, however, that 
he owes something to the stillness of the hour when 
he executes his plaintive strains ; for after having 
heard a full chorus celebrate the Author of Nature, 
and proclaim the bounties of Him who sustains 
them, it is a delightful novelty, in the evening, to 
hear the nightingale begin to sing by himself, and 
continue his notes till the night be far advanced. 
This superiority over the rest of birds, has made 
him justly the favourite of the poets ; and Milton, 
in describing the approach of evening, has not for- 
gotten his nocturnal vigils : 
“ Silence accompanied j for beast and bird — 
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests — 
Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale. 
She all night long her amorous descant sung. 
The good old Walton too, whose favourite diversion 
induced him to spend so many hours by the side 
of the brook, has acknowledged the pleasure which 
he frequently received from this musical bird, in a 
pious ejaculation to his Creator. 
The nightingale is very solitary, and seems so 
much attached to the same situation that he gene- 
rally continues in it during the season. This cir- 
cumstance did not escape the observation of our 
Shakspeare. 
Jul. Wilt thou be gone ? it is not yet near day; 
It was the nightingale, and not the lark. 
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear ; 
Nightly she sings on yon pomegranate tree : 
Believe me, love, it was the nightingale. 
