"his griefs
Melted away within him like a dream,
Ere he had ceased to gaze, perhaps to speak."
J.
Nightingale and Thorn (Vol. iv., pp. 175. 242.; Vol. v., pp. 39. 305.).
—Is it known to your correspondents who take an interest in this subject, that the nightingale, when she builds her nest, inserts a thorn about an inch long in the centre of it, probably to lean her breast against.
During my angling excursions I often get comfortably housed at a little farmer's in Berks, and in conversation with him, about two years ago, relative to the habits of the nightingale, he mentioned this peculiarity, adding that he carried a nest home with a thorn an inch long built strongly through the middle of it. I recollected at the time the subject had been treated by some of our poets, but was not aware that it had any practical applicability.
In Berkshire they say of the nightingale's plaintive ditty:
"I've a thorn in my breast,
And can get no rest."