and begged to be a fharer with her in her pleasure. She who had never known what it was to enjoy a pleafure without him, who never had known what it was to conceal the fecrets of her heart from a parent, informed him of what had happened that and the preceding evening. take poffeffion of his heart; faying, "that he was not a jot more fenfible than the Grecian artist, who fell in love with a statue." Altamont endeavoured to obviate his ridicule, as well as he could; but lovers, though fruitful in finding out excufes, do not always produce the beft: instead therefore of convincing Antonio, he only gave a larger scope to his raillery. Bentivolio heard her with attention, and begged that the next time they went to the grove, he might make one of the party. Sapphira confented in the sweetest accents of filial fubmiffion, adding, "that his company would not only be an honour, but a protection, as they should not chufe to be difcovered by the unknown harmonist with-juft by her foot, fhrieked, and fainted out fome one to guard them." Sapphira over-heard this converfation, and looking at Alicia with an eye that wanted no interpreter, was going to whisper, when cafting her eyes downwards, fhe efpied a large toad away in the arms of her father. Altamont and Antonio hearing her fhrieks, rushed out of the wood, with their fwords drawn, to the protection of the diftreffed beauty. Their appearance alarmed Alicia, who thinking that they were affaffins, ran away; but her feet entangling in the grass, she fell down, and Antonio, fheathing his The ap At the time appointed Alicia waited on Sapphira, who acquainted her with her father's requeft, and they all three moved towards the grove. When they came within hearing of the flute, they were agreeably pleased to find that the original Dilettanti was accompanied by a friend, and that they were playing a concerto, infword, ran to her affistance. which the brilliancy of their fingers, prehenfion which Alicia was in, made and the powers of their execution ap-her withdraw her hand from Antonio, peared inexpreffible. Bentivolio was who had taken it to raise her up. But not lefs delighted than the two friends, on his affuring her that her fafety was and would scarcely breathe for fear of his only intention, and that humanity alarming the unfeen musicians, and was the only motive of his appearance, thereby robbing himself of a pleasure fhe fubmitted to receive his affiftance. he could never think too long; but if ever fo long must think it even then too short. Altamont, and Antonio his friend, were fo intent on their play, that they did not over-hear the approach of their delighted vifitors; they changed their tunes feveral times, and, tired with the harmonious fport, fought to recover their breath by a short refpite. When Altamont ceafed he entertained Antonio with the occurrence of the preceding evening, adding "that he had ever fince that incident been reftlefs, that fleep was very unwilling to clofe his eyes, and, when it did, the unknown graces fwam before his eyes and haunted him in his very dreams." Antonio bantered him for his fimplicity, in fuffering a mere ftranger thus to By this time Sapphira had recovered from her fwoon, and her father, fhocked at the hoftile appearance of the Dilettanti, asked them the reason of their fwords being drawn, and whether they had concerted a scheme to attack unguarded virtue, and ruin female innocence ? Altamont, to vindicate himself and his friend from the obloquy which was caft upon them, affured them that Sapphira's fhrieks had given him and his friend the alarm; and thinking it might proceed from a female in diftrefs, they drew their fwords, and rufhed out of the wood to protect her ho nour. (To be concluded in our next.) ОС Occafional Letters to Bob Short. OCCASIONAL LETTERS To BOB SHORT. (Continued from Page 180.) I hate the face, however fair, A MOORE. FFECTATION in any woman creates difguft; but in a woman naturally handfome it is an unpardonable fault: if the cannot gain the esteem of her acquaintance by an open and candid behaviour, he never must expect it by an affected one. I was led into this way of thinking from fome obfervations I made a few weeks ago, on being accidentally in company with a young lady, in many refpects amiable, and poffeffed of a fine perfon; yet, in feveral things, affected to an extreme, which, in my opinion, greatly leffened all her other accomplishments. 401 Could my fair country-women be perfuaded to content themselves with the charms which nature, like a generous mother, has bestowed on them, how confiderably would the happiness of the thoughtful part of our fex be increafed in their company and converfation!--But whilft they had rather liften to the fulfome, common-place compliments of every fopling they meet, fooner than endeavour to gain one honeft heart, they will, in time, (however their beauty may render them followed for awhile) at length fink into obfcurity and contempt. Like the rofe, which to-day is blooming, and attracting every eye, and to-morrow is faded and trampled under our feet. The gay, the giddy, the vain, and affected, may, perhaps, fmile with ineffable contempt on the writings I prefent to their view. The finished coquet, who had rather fee herself encircled with a croud of flattering Goxcombs, than confent to blefs the man who doats on, who adores her, may think me fome difappointed lover, who, having merited the difregard of the fex, can find no better employment than to fnarl indifcriminately at all for the faults of a few. The fullen prude may defpife these impotent attacks, when he finds her affectation countenanced and fupported by fuch numbers, who, like her, render themfelves odious by the practice of it: but the few, the difcerning few, who applaud my fentiments, will more than repay the author's toil and study.Ye blooming, beauteous nymphs, there are fome who can find themselves cleared from the almost univerfal charge I have brought; thefe, and thefe only, I wish to pleafe, and these I am fure will approve my labours. That she is pofleffed of an unlimited fhare of wit and sense, is a truth I would not wish to be thought to call in queftion; yet in this they both fail her, and he has not a fufficient degree of fortitude to forbear affecting many actions and phrafes, which neither belong to, nor become her. I am not the only one who is of this way of thinking; many of her beft friends and acquaintance agree with me; and although the may think that because he is poffeffed of beauty, fhe ought to be refpected and exempted from flander or reproof for trivial faults, yet let her remember the eyes of the public are not fo partial as the How difgutting is it to fee a young eyes of her friends; and, befides, all woman, who is obliged to fupport herwho fee her know not that the is pof- felf by her induftry, aping the befeffed of thofe many excellent quali-haviour, drefs, and manners of those ties which render her the very fpirit of the company the honours with her prefence, and the cannot, therefore, expect any favour from ftrangers, who may be difguiled at her outward behaviour at first fight. VOL. X. who are by far her fuperiors! - How difagreeable to herfelf (as well as her friends) muit be her ferious reflec tions, if he ever permits ferious thoughts to intrude, to see herself furrounded and conducted to public places. 3 F of of refort by a train of empty coxcombs, and thereby excluding the man, who perhaps fighs in fecret for, and is well enabled to make her happy! Surely fuch a man would be mad to explain his paffion to one, whofe favours he fees partook of by fuch numbers. When a young female's heart is once opened to pleafure, it is an arduous task to return to the plain paths "THE INGALE. of virtue: hence it is fo many prof- NATURAL HISTORY of the NIGHTtitute their charms to fupport this pride; for when once they enter the roads of pleasure, they dread to retract, and look on a plain tradesman as beneath their notice, though perhaps they have no expectations that one in a better fituation will offer himfelf on honourable terms. Reafons like these oblige me to think and wifh (without afpiring to be a politician) that the legislature might and ought to adopt fome mealures to hinder the farther growth of luxury and drefs, to keep perfons in their proper ftations, or, at least to tax all who dreffed beyond their rank. By this means, I fatter myself, much money might be raised, as the obftinacy of the English would make them drefs without controul, even if they fuffered otherwife, to enable them to pay the tax. But I am wandering from my fubject: affectation has been productive of the ruin of many, and, I fear, will of many more: be warned, therefore, my fair and amiable countrywomen, in time; be contented with your feveral flations, and know this truth, that men of fentirent, men of underftanding, are beit pleafed with thofe charms of nature unadorned by any decorations of art. HE nightingale," fays Pliny, "that for fifteen days and nights, hid in the thickest shades, continues her note without intermiffion, deferves our attention and wonder.— How furprifing that fo great a voice can refide in fo fmall a body!-Such perfeverance in fo minute an animal! With what a musical propriety are the founds it produces modulated!—The note at one time drawn out into a long breath; now stealing off into a different cadence, now interrupted by a break, then changing into a new note by an unexpected tranfition; now feeming to renew the fame ftrain, then deceiving expectation! She fometimes feems to murmur within herfelf; full deep, fharp, fwift, drawling, trembling; now at the top, the middle, and the bottom of the fcale! In short, in that little bill feems to refide all the melody which man has vainly endeavoured to bring from a variety of mufical inftruments. Some even feem to be poffeffed of a different fong from the refl, and contend with each other with great ardor. The bird overcome is then feen only to difcontinue its fong with its life." This bird is fomewhat larger than a I cannot conclude this letter with-redftart: in its plumage it refembles out returning my grateful acknowledgments to the perfon to whom this and the former are addreffed, for his obliging card, to the Editor for his condefcending to patronize them, as well as for inferting my pieces in general, (and here I would publicly affure him, entertain the greateft fenfe of the favours conferred, and fhall ever ac the female of that fpecies, but it is of a longer body, and more elegantly formed. The bill is fharp-pointed, like that of the throftle, about half an inch in length, and of a dufky colour; the infide of the mouth is yellow, and the corners of the bill are also yellow, Pliny's Nat. Hift. Lib. X. Chap. 29, as Natural Hiftory of the Nightingale: as in young fparrows: the head, back, and coverts of the wings are of a pale tawny, dashed with olive: the throat, breaft, and upper part of the belly are of a light gloffy afh colour, but lower near the vent the feathers are white. The tail is near three inches long, and confifts of twelve feathers of a deep tawny red; the rump and feathers that cover the root of the tail are of the fame colour. There are eighteen quill feathers in each wing, the exterior webs of which are of a dusky red. The legs and feet are of a flesh colour in fome, but in others dufky. The irides of this bird are yellow, and the eyes are remarkably large and piercing. In this fpecies there are no particular marks to diftinguifh the cock from the hen, though in general it may be obferved the colours are more lively in the former. 403 every poet mentions it with delight.- At the confummation of the nuptials of our primæval parents, Milton again introduces his favourite bird to chaunt the marriage fong, and all nature feems to exult, all nature seems to concur in expreffing her joy at the fuperlative happiness of the bleffed pair! -The earth Gave figns of gratulation, and each hill; Sung fpoufal, and bid hafte the evening ftar Book VIII. VERSE 510, &c. Though the nightingale has no exterior charms, no beautiful colours to pleafe the eye, though he is not diftinguished for the fineness of his dress, and the elegance of his plumage, he has other qualifications to recommend him, other accomplishments which render him truly amiable. The melody of his voice fufficiently compen-Difporting, till the am rous bird of night Flung rofe, flung odours from the spicy shrub, fates for his want of beauty, and no other bird can vie with him in the foftnefs, the ftrength, the boldness, and the variety of his notes. Though he does not exceed the fparrow in magnitude, he is the loudest warbler of the woods, and the most pleasing of all the grove. Its melody is fo foft, and its tuneful tranfitions fo fweet, that it fooths the imagination, agree-night, and the Saxon word you, to bly lulls the mind, delights the ear, fing, expreffive of the time of its harand wonderfully elevates the hearts of mony. They begin their fong at the thofe who liften with attention to its approach of eve, and commonly perinimitably pleafing ftrains, Lovers of fevere in it the whole night. 'Tis true nature, and those who are fond of re- it fings frequently in the day too when tirement in particular, it charms in a the weather is ferene; but the duiky peculiar manner, and nothing can af- hour is its favourite feafon : and when ford fuch foft and innocent mufic to the whole creation is folemn and hufhthem who are addicted to folitude and ed in filence, methinks its fong is more contemplation, as the agreeable tril-pleafing, and ftrikes the mind with an lings of this night-warbling bird. agreeable awe and veneration. This bird is the more valued, becaufe it entertaine us when all the ret are filent. It takes its name from Philomela (if we may ufe the poe- When the fable fhadows are ftretchsical epithet) has in all ages been high-ed over the earth, and fober eve fucly esteemed and admired, and almoftceeds the golden day, delightful is the 3 F2 foft middle of April, and leaves us in Auguft. Where the nightingale and other fmall birds of paffage retire when they forfake this ifland, cannot with any certainty be determined. Indife putable it is that they repair to fome warmer climate; and to me it seems probable that Spain or the fouth of France is their winter afylum, as they are abfolutely incapable of very diftant flights. foft melody of ture'ul Philomel! de-appearance in our country about the lightful are her harmonious ftrains to chear the gloom of night, and animate the folitary groves! Nothing can be more agreeable to the traveller as he firolls along the darkfome glade, or purfnes his way through the lonely wood!-The philofopher and the mufician liften with equal ardor in the folitary grove, to hear "the fober-fuited fongitress trill her lay !"-How pleafing when all the tribes of nature, all the families of the earth are buried in fleep; when the linnet and the gold-ming of the nightingale is in fome finch, the blackbird and thrush, the foaring lark, and all the reft of the mu fical choir have dropt their notes, and are retired to their repofe; then how pleafing to walk by the light of the filver moon, and to catch the foft, the fweet modulations of the nightly ferenader!-Often at even will I range the dewy mead, and steal along the filent fhade, to hear the trilling tale of the mournful warbler. I have often obferved that the co measure regulated by the weather, and the state of the feafon. When the fpring has proved forward, it has been feen here in March, and the cock has been heard to fing at the beginning of April, efpecially toward the evening, when the air has been ferene. This prefent year, the feafon being remarkably mild, and much forwarder than ufual, the nightingale I obferved was here before April commenced; and indeed almoft all the other birds of paffage that vifit this ifland in the fpring, were arrived by the middle of that month. On the contrary, when the fpring comes late, and is cold and fevere, as it fometimes happens, the nightingale, and all our fummer birds that annually migrate from one country to another, are retarded in their paffage, and are never feen here till the vernal feafon is very far advanced, This inimitable fongftrefs is a great lover of folitude and night. It frequents cool and fhady places, and is ufually feen in hedge-rows or low bushes, as it delights in no high trees, except the oak. For weeks together, if undisturbed, it will fit upon the fame tree, unless when moved to fatisfy the calls of hunger. Shakespear, there fore, very properly defcribes the nightingale fitting nightly in the fame place. Singing at night is a peculiarity comThe haunts of the nightingale are mon to the nightingale only, no other chiefly thick hedges, low coppices, and birds found in Great Britain exerting bushes, efpecially where there are little themselves at that feafon. When it rivulets, brooks, or ftreams of water pours its charming notes at this time near them it alfo delights in folitary through the filent vale in the lonely groves, fequeftered meadows, fhady meadow, it is generally found perch- places, and the most retired fituations. ing in the thickelt covert of fome large It ufually hides itself in the clofeft tree or bufh, which it feldom leaves bushes under covert, and confequently till the morning dawns. The fame ce- is but feldom feen. It is naturally of lebrated bard I mentioned before has a fhy difpofition, and is greatly intialfo touched upon this circumftance-midated at the light of a man, or any As the wakeful bird Sings darkling, and in fhadieft covert hid, This admirable choirifter, the moft celebrated of all the feathered tribe, is a regular emigrant. It makes its rapacious bird. In a few days after their arrival in this country they begin to pair, and at this time the cock is more frequent in his fong, in order to attract the attention of the female, and allure her to fubmit to his embraces. In their amo |