29 JUNE 1912, Page 32

THE NIGHTINGALE.

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR.") Sin.,—It is now well known and admitted that the poem called "The Flower and tho Leaf" was not written by Chaucer. Its probable date was after 1450—at least half a. century after his death. My Glossary to Chaucer gives eleven references for "nightingale." The word " merily" occurs in this connexion once only, viz., in "The Manciple's Tale," 1. 34. The word "blythe," i.e., blithely, also occurs once in 1. 79 of "The Romaunt of the Rose."—I am, Sir, Ste., WALTER W. SKEAT.