374 TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



only comparable to the voice of this insect. Homer, 

 in his lUiad, compared his good orators to the Cicadas, 

 ' which, in the woods, sitting on a tree, sent forth a 

 delicate voice.'' 



" However, the complimentary bards do not have it 

 quite all their own way, for here and there a protest is 

 heard against the common praise. Virgil, in his 

 Georgics, speaks of the Harvest-flies as insects of a dis- 

 agreeable and stridulous tone, and accuses them of 

 bursting the very shrubs with their noise. Whether 

 this is a case of national jealousy, or evidence that the 

 musical ear of Italy was as delicate then as now, I will 

 not undertake to decide.'' 



"It seems impossible," the ^Mistress said, "that so 

 cultivated a people as the ancient Greeks could have 

 been so destitute of musical taste as to attribute such 

 virtues to the discordant squeaking of a male Cicada. 

 It is really hard to believe !" 



" Perhaps," the Doctor suggested, "you may prefer 

 to explain the fact by a not uncommon social phenom- 

 enon nowadays. Have you not observed that it only 

 needs that a few people of approved position and taste 

 should declare a thing 'divine,' in order to bring the 

 mass of so-called 'society' on their knees before it? 

 Pray, how could the Greeks oppose tiie dictum of their 

 literary guild and autliorities of culture, combined 

 with the tradition of their ancients ? It would have 

 been higli presumption to trust their own ears in the 

 face of such testimonies. But here is another ]irotest 

 which, perhaps, will not commnnd the ladies' sympa- 



