Walthamstow.
MR. CUTHBERT BEDE gives, in his list of epithets of the nightingale,
"solemn," as used by Milton, Otway, Graingle. How the last two employ the
term I do not know, perhaps they {113} copied from Milton; but he uses it,
not as an epithet exactly, but to express the frequency of the bird's
appearance. "Night, her _solemn_ bird," means the _customary_ attendant of
the night: _solemn_ being used in the classical sense, and derived front
_soles_. So Virgil, "Solemnes tum forte dapes et tristia dona ante urbem in
luco," &c.
The word _solemn_ probably acquired its present signification from the
staid manner in which Englishmen go through their customary ceremonies.
"They took their pleasure _sadly_," as Froissart has it.