_Character of the Song of the Nightingale_ (Vol. vii., p. 397.; Vol. viii.,
pp. 112. 475.).--One poet, not so well known as he deserves, has escaped
the observation of those who have contributed to your valuable pages the
one hundred and seventy-five epithets which others of his craft have
applied to the "Midnight Minstrel." I allude to the Rev. F. W. Faber, in
his poem of the _Cherwell Water Lily_. This poem his now become scarce, so
I send you the lines to which I refer, as the "summary of epithets" which
they contain, as {652} well as their intrinsic beauty, render them worthy
of notice:
"I heard the raptured nightingale,
Tell from yon elmy grove, his tale
Of jealousy and love,
In thronging notes that seem'd to fall,
As faultless and as musical,
As angels' strains above.
So sweet, they cast on all things round,
A spell of melody profound:
They charm'd the river in his flowing,
They stay'd the night-wind in its blowing,
They lull'd the lily to her rest,
Upon the Cherwell's heaving breast."
To those interested in this subject, so full of historical and classical,
as well as poetical associations, I would mention that a late Master of
Caius College, Cambridge, the Rev. Dr. Davy, printed some years since, for
private circulation, a small pamphlet entitled _Observations on Mr. Fox's
Letter to Mr. Grey_, in which he refutes that eminent statesman's theory of
the _merry_ note of the nightingale. This pamphlet is so full of elegance
and classical research, that it is much to be regretted, not only that it
has never been published, but that it is the _only work_ of the learned
author--the friend and associate of Porson, of Parr, and of Maltby. I
possess a presentation copy, which, as only a very few copies were printed,
I would gladly lend to any of your readers interested in this curious and
long-pending controversy.