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SONNET [55] LV. The Return of the Nightingale. Written in May, 1791.

1 BORNE on the warm wing of the western gale,
2 How tremulously low is heard to float,
3 Thro' the green budding thorns that fringe the vale,
4 The early Nightingale's prelusive note.
5 'Tis Hope's instinctive pow'r that, thro' the grove,
6 Tells how benignant Heav'n revives the earth;
7 'Tis the soft voice of young and timid love
8 That calls these melting sounds of sweetness forth.
9 With transport, once, sweet bird! I hail'd thy lay,
10 And bade thee welome to our shades again,
11 To charm the wand'ring poet's pensive way,
12 And soothe the solitary lover's pain;
13 But now! such evils in my lot combine,
14 As shut my languid sense, to Hope's dear voice and thine.

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Title (in Source Edition): SONNET [55] LV. The Return of the Nightingale. Written in May, 1791.
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Genres: sonnet

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Smith, Charlotte Turner, 1749-1806. Elegiac sonnets, and other poems. By Charlotte Smith. The first Worcester edition, from the sixth London edition, with additions. Printed at Worcester [Mass.]: by Isaiah Thomas, sold by him in Worcester, and by said Thomas and Andrews in Boston, 1795, p. 75. xix,[2],22-126,[2]p.,[5] leaves of plates: ill.; 15 cm. (12mo) (OTA N22357)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Other works by Charlotte Smith (née Turner)