Not a bird hath taught her young,
Nor her morning's leffon fung
In the fhady grove;

But the Nightingale in darke *

Singing, woke the mounting Larke

She records her love.

Shepheard's Pipe. 3 Eclog,

But Browne attributes the custom of teaching, to other birds as well as the
Nightingale, defcribing a place of retirement, he says,

Wherein melodious birds did nightly harbour:
And on a bough, within the quickning fpring,
Would be a teaching of their young to fing.

Song 3. B. 1.

See Andrew Marvel's " Appleton House," who touches upon the Nightingale, p. 65. Vol. I. Cooke's Edit.

Drayton defcribes with great fpirit a confort of birds, in which the Nightingale is highly distinguished:

When Phoebus lifts his head out of the winter's wave,
No fooner doth the earth her flowery bofom wave,
At fuch time as the year brings on the pleasant spring,
But hunts-up to the morn the feath'red fylvans fing:
And in the lower grove, as on the rifing knole,
Upon the highest spray of every mounting pole,
Thofe quirifters are perch't with many a fpeckled breaft.
Then from her burnifht gate the goodly glitt❜ring East
Gilds every lofty top, which late the humorous night
Befpangled had with pearl, to please the morning's fight:
On which the mirthful quires, with their clear open throats,
Unto the joyful morn fo ftrain their warbling notes,
That hills and vallies ring, and even the echoing air
Seems all compos'd of founds, about them every where.
The Throftel, with fhrill fharps; as purposely he fong
T' awake the luftlefs fun; or chiding, that fo long
He was in coming forth, that should the thickets thrill:
The Woofel near at hand, that hath a golden bill:
As nature him had markt of purpose, t' let us fee
That from all other birds his tunes fhould different be:
For, with their vocal founds, they fing to pleasant May;
Upon his dulcet pipe the Merle doth only play.
When in the lower brake, the Nightingale hard-by,
In fuch lamenting ftrains the joyful bours doth ply,
As though the other birds fhe to ber tunes world draw.
And, (but that Nature by her all-conftraining law)

This is Milton's:

as the wakeful bird

Sings darkling

38. B. 3. P. Loft.

Each

Each bird to her own kind, this feafon doth invite,
They elfe, alone to hear that charmer of the night,
The more to use their ears) their voices fure would spare,
That moduleth ber tunes fo admirably rare,

As man to fet in parts at first had learn'd of her.

Poly-Olbion, 13 Song.

See likewife a very minute and accurate defcription in Sylvefter's Du Bartas, p. 44. Fol. Edit. 1641. See p. 1319. 4. Vol. 1536 ibid. Drayton Oldy's Edition.

To accumulate yet more instances, of a fimilar nature would be neither difficult nor unpleafing:

Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus,

Singula dum capti circumvectamur amore. VIRG.

To him who has been "long in populous cities pent," who has feldom been accustomed to view " each rural fight" with poetical eyes, and to ❝each rural found" has turn'd a deaf or an undelighted ear, thefe notices, it is feared, will feem moft diminutive and frivolous; but to others who have heard from this bird

-Strains that might create a foul

Under the ribs of Death,

in the luxurious groves of Hertfordshire, it is hoped, however unimportant they may be, that they will at least be confidered as not incurious.

Page 118. Meaning, that they had fo exhausted their country (Normandy) by the forces they had draughted from it already, that its cities were left defolate and uninhabited. The expreffion is aukward; but the idea is forcible, and not unlike what Thomson says of the effects of the plague:

for weedes at Normandie by this in porches groe.

Empty the streets, with uncoub verdure clad;

Into the worft of defarts fudden turn'd

Rather proclaim it (Weftmoreland) through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

Let him depart. SHAKSPEARE.

Page 120.

this is my ground or grave.

See the Speech of Alric in Claudian on invading Italy.

Hanc ego vel victor regno, vel morte tenebo
Victus humum.

De Bell. Gent. 530.

Page

Page 126.

And in the faces of their foes your women, in despight,
Should fling their fuckling babes.

How exquifitely unnatural is a profeffion of lady Macbeth's in this way:

I have giv'n fuck, and know

How tender 'tis to love the babe that milks me,

I would, while it was fmiling in my face,
Have pluck't my nipple from his boneless gums
And dafht the brains out, had I but fo fworn
As you have done to this-

Page 125. Her name is written indifferently Voadicea, Boodicea, Bunduica, and Bondicca. Selden's Notes on Drayton.

Those who may be inclined to examine into the history of this nation, are referred to a very masterly enquiry, entituled, " A Differtation on the origin and progrefs of the Scythians or Goths," by the able and ingenious Mr. Pinkerton, lately published. To this Gentleman (if there is not an impertinence in the manner of my doing it,) I would recommend as a motto for many of his works the following verfe:

Πρὸς σοφίην μὲν ἔχειν τόλμαν, μάλα συμφορόν ἐστι.

Poet Min. Græci. p. 515. 1635 Edit. Cantabrig.

Page 127. For the circumstances of this interview, fee Livý 11. Lib. See alfo Plutarch's life of Publicola.

SUPPLEMENT.

1

SUPPLEMENT.

Notwithstanding the following incidental Remarks bear no relation to particular passages in the Extracts which compose these volumes, yet they are intimately connected with fome of the refpective Authors from whom thefe Extracts are taken; and being in themselves both too foreign as well as too extenfie for infertion in the courfe of the notes, it was thought necessary to give them a place here.

F. QUARLES.

In felecting from this author, I have been obliged to omit many of his beauties from their unfortunate intermixture with the most unpardonable vulgarifms; in gathering flowers from fuch foils, weeds will unavoidably obtrude themfelves; in order however that the elegance and exactness of fome of his fimilies, which were too short to be admitted into the body of the book, may not be overlooked, I take the opportunity of introducing them to the reader here, and thould think that critic more faftidious than clear-fighted, who fhould be difpleafed with them.

Even as the foyle (which April's gentle showers
Have fild with fweetneffe. and enrich't with flowers)
Reares up her fuckling plants, still shooting forth
The tender bloffomes of her timely birth,
But, if deny'd the beams of cheerly May,"

They hang their withered heads, and fade away;