_Nightingale and Thorn_ (Vol. iv., pp. 175. 242.; Vol. v., p. 39.).--The
origin of this fancy has not yet been reached. The earliest mention of
it that I have met with is by Gascoigne:
"And thus I sing with pricke against my brest,
Like Philomene...."--_Steele Glas_, v. 145.
Again, in _The Spanish Tragedy_:
... "Haply the gentle nightingale
Shall carol us asleep ere we be ware,
And, singing with the prickle at her breast,
Tell our delight."
And in _The Two Noble Kinsmen_:
"O for a pricke now like a nightingale,
To put my breast against."--_Act III. Sc. 4._