[Footnote 1: The epithets "heavenly," "holy," "solemn," &c., represent
the nightingale's song, as spoken of by Keats, as the bird's "plaintive
_anthem_;" by Mackay, as its
"_Hymn_ of gratitude and love;"
and by Moore also, in his account of the Vale of Cashmere, as
"The nightingale's _hymn_ from the Isle of Chenars."
In _A Proper New Boke of the Armony of Byrdes_ (quoted by Dibdin, _Top.
Antiq._, iv. 381.), of unknown date, though probably before 1580, the
nightingale is represented as singing its Te Deum:
"Tibi Cherubin
Et Seraphin
Full goodly she dyd chaunt,
With notes merely
Incessabile
Voce Proeclamant."]
[Footnote 2: Chaucer (_Troilus and Creseide_) imagines the nightingale
to "stint" at the beginning of its song, and to be frightened at the
least noise.]
[Footnote 3: This, and the epithets of "sole-sitting" and "unseen,"
refer to the nightingale's love of solitary seclusion.]
[Footnote 4:
"He slep no more than doth the nightingale."