The nightingale with so mery a note Answered him, that all the wood_e_ rong So sodainly, that, as it were a sote, I stood astonied; so was I with the song Thorow ravished, that till late and longe, Ne wist I in what place I was, ne where; And ay, me thought_e_, she song even by mine ere. Wherefore about I waited busily, On every side, if _that_ I her might_e_ see; And, at the last, I gan full well aspie Where she sat in a fresh grene laurer tree, On the further side, even right by me, That gave so passing a delicious smell, According to the eglentere full well. Whereof I had_de_ so inly great pleasure, That, as me thought, I surely ravished was Into Paradice, where _as_ my desire Was for to be, and no ferther to passe As for that day; and on the sote grasse I sat me downe; for, as for mine entent, The bird_de_s song was more convenient, And more pleasaunt to me by many fold, Than meat or drinke, or any other thing. Thereto the herber was so fresh and cold, The wholesome savours eke so comforting That, as I demed_e_, sith the beginning Of th_ilke_ world was never seene or than So pleasaunt a ground of none earthly man. And as I sat, the bird_de_s harkening thus, Me thought_e_ that I heard_e_ voices sodainly, The most sweetest and most delicious That ever any wight, I trow truly, Heard in _here_ life; for _sothe_ the armony And sweet accord was in so good musike, That the voices to angels most was like.' In this passage the poet has let loose the very soul of pleasure. There is a spirit of enjoyment in it, of which there seems no end. It is the intense delight which accompanies the description of every object, the fund of natural sensibility which it displays, which constitutes its whole essence and beauty. Now this is shown chiefly in the manner in which the different objects are anticipated, and the eager welcome which is given to them; in his repeating and varying the circumstances with a restless delight; in his quitting the subject for a moment, and then returning to it again, as if he could never have his fill of enjoyment. There is little of this in Dryden's paraphrase. The same ideas are introduced, but not in the same manner, nor with the same spirit. The imagination of the poet is not borne along with the tide of pleasure--the verse is not poured out, like the natural strains it describes, from pure delight, but according to rule and measure. Instead of being absorbed in his subject, he is dissatisfied with it, tries to give an air of dignity to it by factitious ornaments, to amuse the reader by ingenious allusions, and divert his attention from the progress of the story by the artifices of the style: