"
Indeed the rose, in Oriental poetry, is seldom mentioned without her
paramour the nightingale, which gives reason to suppose that this
bird, in those countries where it was first celebrated, had really
some natural fondness for the rose; or perhaps for some insect which
took shelter in it. In Sir W. Jones' translation of the Persian
fable, of "The Gardener and Nightingale" we meet with the following
distich.
_"I know not what the rose says under his lips, that he brings
back the helpless Nightingales with their mournful notes.
One day the Gardener, according to his established custom, went to
view the roses; he saw a plaintive nightingale rubbing his head on
the leaves of the roses and tearing asunder, with his sharp bill,
that volume adorned with gold."_
And Gelaleddin Ruzbehar,
_"While the nightingale sings thy praises with a loud voice, I am
all ear like the stalk of the rosetree."_
Pliny, however, in his delightful description of this bird, says
nothing, I believe, about the rose.
(7) Les Perses semblent etre les premiers hommes connus de nous qui
parlerent des anges comme d'huissiers celestes, et de porteurs
d'ordres.
_Voltaire, Essai sur les moeurs et l'esprit des nations.
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