each other, both showing an antiquity approaching to the Deluge, and pointing to an Oriental descent, the mind is compelled to acquiesce in the Scriptural history of the origin and progress of the human race, even independently of the proofs which are supplied by Revelation. CH. O'CONOR. THAT THE NIGHTINGALE MAY BE A MORNING SONGSTRESS. MR. R. Barker, in your 53rd No., has an entertaining descant on the Nightingale, which bird he endeavors to prove not only an evening but also a morning songstress. The opinion appears correct. Mr. B. quotes Philostratus: Καὶ οὔπω, ξένε, τῶν ἀης δόνων ἤκουσας οἷον τῷ χωρίῳ ἐναττικίζουσιν, ἐπειδὰν δείλη τε ἥκῃ καὶ ἡμέρα ἄρχηται. Bewick, quoted also by Mr. B., says that they generally sing at night, not that they never sing in the morning. My principal object in the present address is to furnish Mr. Barker, though not with the direct, yet clearly the circumstantial evidence of Sophocles in favor of his opinion from the Tragedy of Electra. The play, it is known, opens with the Prologue of Orestes' Guardian, who addresses his charge as they are approaching the city of Argos; in the vicinity of which he points out to him lo's Grove, the Forum of Apollo, and on the left, says he, "there is the celebrated Temple of Juno:" at last he points out the royal residence of his murdered parent Agamemnon, which be fitly terms Πελοπιδῶν πολύφθορον δῶμα, from whence he says πρὸς σῆς ὁμαίμου καὶ κασιγνήτης λαβὼν, ἤνεγκα, κἀξέσωσα, κἀξεθρεψάμην, κ. τ. λ. Then, accosting him as shortly to become the avenger of his Father, he says νῦν οὖν, Ορέστα, καὶ σὺ φίλτατε ξένων ἑῷ α κινεῖ φθέγματ ̓ ὀρνίθων σαφῆ ! Here is plainly the landscape of the early dawn, the description of morning-which is placed out of all doubt by the Guardian's concluding words: πρὶν οὖν τιν' ἀνδρῶν ἐξοδοιπορεῖν στέγης, ξυναπτέον λόγοισιν· ὡς ἐνταῦθ ̓ ἴμεν, ἵν ̓ οὐκ ἔτ ̓ ὀκνεῖν καιρὸς ἀλλ' ἔργων ἀκμή. The next character in the scene is Orestes, who, after an eulogium of his Guardian's devoted fidelity, narrates the Oracle of Apollo, and then instructs him in what manner, pursuant to the divine mandate, they were to proceed in executing the terrible visitation. They approach the portals of the palace, now become the residence of Ægisthus. Here Electra is heard sighing within the apartment. Grief had driven her from her pillow, and she is preparing to come out to vent her sorrows to the solitude of the morn. The Guardian takes her for one of the domestics, for he says to Orestes, καὶ μὴν θυρῶν ἔδοξα προσπόλων τινὸς who replies,—but from conjecture, ἆρ ̓ ἐστὶν ἡ δύστηνος 'Ηλέκτρα; θέλεις The Guardian dissuades him from remaining at the portal, but enjoins him, in conformity to the Oracle, first to go and offer oblations at the tomb of his father. They therefore depart, and Electra (on the stage) appears out of doors. She first thus apostrophises the morning Ὦ φάος ἁγνὸν, καὶ γῆς ἰσόμοιρος ἀὴρ—κ. τ. λ. vs. 87. That she is out of doors appears from an exclamation immediately following τῶν δὲ πατρῴων πρὸ θυρῶν ἠχω πᾶσι προφωνεῖν. Here she is observed by the Virgins of Argos, who form the Chorus; and joining her in execration of the murderers, nevertheless endeavor to console her, and assuage her grief. She will hear of no consolation-she had just said, ἀλλ ̓ οὐ μὲν δὴ λήξω θρήνων, στυγερῶν τε γόων,κ. τ. λ. And in answer to their repeated efforts to soothe her she replies νήπιος ὅστις τῶν οἰκτρῶς οἰχομένων γονέων ἐπιλάθεται,— ἀλλ' ἐμέ γ' α στονόεσσ' ἄραρε φρένας, Ιτυν, αἶὲν Ιτυν ὀλοφύρεται, ὄρνις ατυζομένα! Διὸς ἄγγελος! At TάleTα the sentence is evidently broken, and she is diverted from the train of her ideas by the sudden mournful notes of a nightingale abruptly exclaiming, a pé x. T. λ. Now let it be remarked that the play has but just commenced, and we are still in the morning: the opvis áruloμéva must therefore be considered as one of the early choristers remarked by Orestes a short time before his sister's exclamation, when, as already quoted, he says— λαμπρὸν ἡλίου σέλας ἑῷα κινεῖ φθέγματ ̓ ὀρνίθων σαφῆ. Aristotle in his "Ars Poetica" writes, "oxnvoygacíav Tapeσκεύασε Σοφοκλης.” In the decoration which he prepared for this Tragedy the morning-scenery was no doubt represented, and the nightingale's notes imitated on the stage. We find indisputable evidence of this, and the imitation of the sounds of other animals in the "Aves" and "Rana" of Aristophanes, and the "Scurra et Rusticus" of Phædrus. We find an allusion in Lucretius: At liquidas avium voces imitarier ore Ante fuit multo quam lævia carmina cantu I collect from these extracts the evidence that Sophocles considers, and represents the Nightingale as a morning songstress. The ignorance of the fact, and the consequent rarity of the opinion, may have arisen from a very natural cause. That is, the ears and other senses of those who should furnish evidence of this bird's matin-song are fast under the influence of the drowsy god, and are 999 of the thousand who are in the way of hearing the Nightingale in the evening. But the early rising and discriminative ear of the Ornithologist may establish the truth. also beg to suggest that though the Bird in our country may never have been heard, and does not sing in the morning, it may, nevertheless, in more congenial climes. Such is Attica; such in particular was the district of Colonos, of which Sophocles appears to have been a native-of this place he has left us a splendid elogium in his " Œdipus ì Koλw." The frequency of the Nightingale he displays as a singular trait of this delectable situation: *Ευΐππου, ξένε, τᾶσδε χώρας θαμίζουσα μάλιστ ̓ ἀήδων χλωραῖς ὑπὸ βάσσαις, ver. 669. I τὸν οἰνῶπ ̓ ἀνέχουσα κισσὸν, φυλλάδα μυριόκαρπον, ἀνάλιον, χειμώνων.—κ. τ. λ. If this songstress divine does not already, I fervently pray she soon may change her plaintive strains to notes of joy, and both evening and morning chaunt the resurrection of the Liberty of Greece!! Liverpool, August, 1823. J. W. Note.-I consider also the declaration of Aristotle as almost decisive of his opinion that this Bird is a morning as well as an evening songstress, 'Η δὲ ἀηδὼν ἄδει μὲν συνεχῶς ἡμέρας καὶ νύκτας δεκαπέντε ὅταν τὸ ὄρος ἤδη δασύνηται· μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ᾄδει μὲν, συνεXus douxÉTI.—as quoted 53. page 100. by Mr. Barker. For if it sings (συνεχῶς) continually, ἡμέρας καὶ νύκτας, “ days and nights," I think we are permitted to conclude that the philosopher means both morning and evening. PUERILIA. No. IV. [Continued from No. XLIX. p. 14.] nova proles Artubus infirmis teneras lasciva per herbas Ludit. 1.-Fragmentum. Lucret. 1. 260. Assiduitate videndi et diuturna consuetudine assuescunt animi.-Cic. Quin age, et extremæ glacialia littora Thules 'Slightly altered from Silius Italicus. Fons, et turbineum jaculatur ad æthera fumum. quora, et ingenti cogens Notus agmine nubes, 2.-Rex Henricus Somnum alloquitur. 2 Ita Ms. pessundato metro. Hujusmodi autem apdaμov in puerili carmine ignoscendum. 2 Sensum adimentibus; ut xàv ăpuλnos, &c. |